First Sunday of Advent – 01st December 2024
Well, it’s that time of the year again; Advent. We will have already seen the many sights and sounds of Christmas around us these last few weeks. The shops are already fully decorated with Christmas trees and lights, various sizes of Santa Claus adorn every shop window and Christmas songs and carols can be heard everywhere.
All of these things are an important part of the next few weeks preparation for Christmas. But they are not the most important of these next four Sundays in December. Despite what the shops, the media and all the wonderful advertisements on television are telling us; it is not Christmas; not yet! Advent too, has its own set of sights and symbols that gently lead and point us to what we are actually preparing for: The Birth of Jesus Christ.
The readings and prayers of the mass will try to get our attention as we are called to Prepare a Way for the Lord and his paths straight. We will meet and hear John the Baptist; the great messenger who comes with good news; ‘The Messiah is coming.’ He is a sign of hope and faith for us; he will ask us to get ready to welcome God’s Chosen One. The evergreen Advent Wreath with its candles burning brightly will help to make this journey of preparation prayerfully one week at a time. While the shops and the media will encourage us to move faster and to spend more, the prayers and symbols of Advent ask us to slow down so that we will not miss what is at the very heart of our Advent Journey: preparing our hearts, lives and homes to welcome and celebrate the birth of Jesus.