The Lord is Already Among Us!

Greetings in Jesus and Mary....

Happy Third Week of Advent. Time is always flying by! I hope your Gaudete Sunday was joyful. After Mass, my husband and I helped my brother with his extensive train setup in preparation for when his adult children and grandkids come to visit from other states next week. It was a flash back in time...we were all kids again putting the village, tracks, lights and people in their places. It came out nice and his grand kids should have big eyes when it gets lit up and the trains and trolleys zip through the city! Super fun!

I love Advent because we not only anticipate the birth of Jesus at Christmas but are reminded that we also live in anticipation of Our Lord's Second Coming! Also, the Church reminds us that He whose glorious coming we await on Christmas, is already in our midst as well. He abides in our soul by His graces! We receive Him in Holy Communion each time we go to Mass. His life within us is a veiled one, mysterious, not to be seen with bodily eyes, not perceptible by natural means. "Your life," says St. Paul, "is hidden with Christ in God." (Col. 3:3) It is this life in Christ and with Christ that we can see a new, strong reason for the joy of Advent. This life through grace which we live is the fruit of that first Christmas. It is this grace which we pray may be strengthened in us on every Christmas day, as we draw closer to that great Christmas at the end of time, when the Saviour will appear again to consummate our redemption. In grace, we already possess that festive robe in which we are to await the coming of the Bridegroom for the heavenly nuptials. With grace, we possess the blissful certainty that we too, as St. Paul states, "will appear with Him in glory" (Col 3:4) HOW MUCH REASON, TRULY DO WE HAVE TO REJOICE!  Our entire lives and every minute of our lives should be lived with this great goal in mind....our last end!

Let us listen to St. John the Baptist during this Advent and all of our lives for that glorious end....AND ....."Prepare ye the way of the Lord!"

Prayer: "O God, with reverent admiration, with praise and thanks, I behold the wondrous preparation You did make for Your beloved Son, our Redeemer, over thousands of years. Grant that I too may zealously prepare the way for Him and His grace in my soul! Grant that my preparation may become perfect in silence and solitude, so that I may truly say in the holy night of Christmas: "While all things were in quiet silence, Your Almighty Word lept down from Your royal thone!" (Wisdom 14:18)

Holy Mother of God, pray for us to prepare well for the coming of Your Son not only for Christmas, His Second Coming but EACH TIME we receive Him in Holy Communion!

---

Bishop Sheen - Tidings of Great Joy

Incarnation/Holy Eucharist