First Sunday of Advent

The world around is full of sounds and images of the Christmas holiday. In fact, the retail world seemed to have Christmas on display along with Halloween decorations.

Can we pause for a moment and contemplate what can happen to us this time of the year when getting ready for Christmas becomes full of noise in our daily lives? There are gifts to buy, parties to prepare for, travel plans to make and decorations to put up. Music, the glitter of lights and decorations, and fragrances of pine trees and something baking in the kitchen can overwhelm our senses. So much is coming at us this time of the year that our pace of life can become stressful.

Maybe, if we allow ourselves a few moments of quiet reflection to contemplate that first Christmas when an infant was born in a stable, when our Savior entered quietly into the world, the noise of the holiday may fade as we enter into the calm of that stable in Bethlehem.

Maybe, by stepping away from the noise of the holiday, we will recognize what we are missing. There is a newborn baby laying quietly in its mother's arms with only the stars overhead glistening brightly to call our attention away from the noise around us and enter into the peace and love that calls to us from our new born Savior.

The first Sunday of Advent is an invitation to see our lives from a different perspective. It is the first day of preparation for the Holy Day when the Son of God became man and lay there in the arms of Mary. He has come for one reason, to open the doors of heaven for all people. To free us from the bonds of sin, the noises and distraction of the worldly and to show us the way to truth and peace.

Can we grant ourselves the time during Advent to walk gently toward Christmas Day with the hope of new life? The new life of a baby entering the world who will give us new life to enter into his everlasting world in heaven. If we can, then the holiday season that ends on Christmas Day will pale in comparison to the joyful celebration of the twelve days of Christmas.

Deacon Mike Mescall serves at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament (West Lafayette) and as the Director of Technology, Communications and Planning for the Diocese of Lafayette-in-Indiana.