New Advent

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father… Matthew 16:27

Happy Advent!  Advent is my favorite…it is so filled with joy and hope and anticipation.  I love it because it means the teachers at school meet each morning for prayer.  I love praying with my work sisters and taking 15 minutes a day to soak up some peace and have conversation focused on something great makes my heart happy.  Last  year we couldn’t meet in the little chapel at school like we had in past years so when we returned to the practice this week it brought joy!!

On the first Monday of Advent  I showed a Fr. Mike Schmitz video about Advent and it kind of blew me away.  He’s amazing but this particular video knocked it completely out of the park.  We talk in class about how Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of Christ and think about his second coming.  I  never really gave the second coming much though to be honest but because of  Fr. Mike and a couple of other great Advent videos… I’m thinking now!  I’m going to combine the best parts of all I’ve learned into one post that might help your Advent as much as it has mine.

*We prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ on Christmas…we prepare to celebrate Christ the Baby.  I can honestly say I didn’t really get too far from this spot.

*We prepare for the second coming of Christ…either He will come to us at the end of time or we will go to Him.  Either way we’re preparing to meet him at the time of our judgement.

*Advent it about preparing for the coming of Jesus as the baby and Jesus the Judge…something to ponder.

*Fr. Mike challenged us to think about what Advent would look like if we knew we would meet Jesus on December 25th.  What if that was our last day…how would Advent be different?  What would we be truly be preparing for?  What would change?

*After some thought and prayer my idea of Advent preparation took a gigantic turn.  All of the sudden the shopping, decorating and Christmas prep didn’t seem as important.  It gave me great cause to really think about what I was actually preparing for.

*I asked the middle lovelies to think about it too and when I asked them what they thought would change; my favorite answer was…”I would focus on the things that matter.”  When I asked them what mattered to them they said, “That’s  pretty simple, loving God and loving others is what matters most.”  I suppose if we subscribe to that  powerful notion it about covers it all.

The coolest thing about it all is that thinking about Jesus the baby and Jesus the judge slams on the brakes and just brings peace.  It’s one of those stop everything and think kind of statements.  I put the link to the video below so if your Advent needs a direction and a jump start give it a watch.

A Seed To Plant:  If the purpose of Advent was prepping for heaven, what should your four candle wait include?

Blessings on your day!​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD357YYDk1A&t=45s