The Prophet Isaiah instructs: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” Our Gospel tells us: “Behold, I send my Angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee.”
For some the Advent season is overshadowed by Christmas. Therefore, the celebration of Christmas begins after Thanksgiving and ends with December 25th. By December 26th the Christmas tree is thrown to the curb and with it the celebration of Christmas.
Instead we must realize that Advent is an important season which calls us to prepare for the Lord’s coming among us. We have been called upon to prepare the way for the Lord by making straight the path of our life.
Despite Advent being a season of waiting it is not a season of passivity. In this season we are called upon to be active. Throughout this season we yearn, we search, and we prepare for the Lord’s coming. Advent has a penitential character attached to it because we are called upon to prepare. This preparation requires us to realize that we are in need of a Savior. We are only in need of a Savior if we have something that we need to be saved from.
All of us are sinners who are in need of the infinite mercy of God. We cannot be convinced that we have nothing that we need to be saved from. The Lord comes in order that we may be saved. Through our Advent preparation we should realize the many ways in which we have been called upon to open up the inn of our soul in order that room may be found for Him to enter in and dwell among us.
If we are found willing to enter fully into this season we will better be found prepared to encounter Christ at Christmas. We will be given every reason to rejoice not for worldly allurments, but the birth of a Savior. Each and every time that we assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we encounter this living Savior who comes to us under the appearances of bread and wine.
Advent prepares us for the coming of Christ by setting straight the path of our life to encounter Him. We must do preciously this when we encounter Him in the Most Holy Eucharist. There is no greater gift that we can encounter, but this. Let us always come to prepare ourself for our encounter with Christ Jesus.
He will truly come at the Nativity born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, He will come again at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, and He continues to come among us in the Eucharist. May we always be found ready to encounter Him by setting straight the path of our life for such an encounter.
