THE BISHOP'S CROZIER: Three essential Advent practices

By Bishop James R. Golka

We have entered into a new liturgical year and also into the season of Advent. In the busyness and distractions of getting ready for Christmas and all of the holiday celebrations, it can become very easy for us to lose sight of the importance of the Advent season and the spiritual preparation that the Church is calling us to before Christmas.   

So how are we to live out this season of Advent and prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus more deeply into our hearts and lives? I would like to suggest three “P’s” that are at the heart of the season of Advent:  Penance, Prayer, and Peace.

Penance
Advent, like Lent, is a penitential season.  Advent is centrally focused on the words of St. John the Baptist: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  (Matthew 3:2) Advent calls us to repentance, to call to mind our sins and our failings and to be reconciled with God so that we can be ready with new hearts to celebrate his first coming at Christmas. There is no better way to repent and turn away from sin and towards Christ than the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  This great sacrament of mercy not only brings about the forgiveness of our sins, but through the grace of Christ the Divine Physician, we are healed from our sin and our hearts are made new. As we pray in Psalm 51, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.”  (Psalm 51:10; 12) What greater gift can we give Jesus at Christmas than a clean and renewed heart in which he can reign as Lord and King of our lives? 

Prayer
Advent also invites us to deeper prayer.  Jesus desires to enter more deeply into our hearts so that we can have an intimate friendship with him.  This cannot happen without prayer.  Advent is the perfect season to make an intentional effort to move from “saying prayers” to “being in prayer.”  What is the difference?  The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us the difference when it states, “If our heart is far from God, the words of prayer are in vain” (No. 2562). Prayer is not just the recitation of words but the lifting up of our hearts and our very selves to God.  To reinforce this, the Catechism introduces prayer with the words of St. Therese of Lisieux who says, “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.” (2558) Advent is a season to grow more in intentional prayer which is a real conversation with God in which we talk to him like a friend, and also in prayerful silence listen to his voice speaking in our hearts.  This does take time, discipline and practice, but if we commit to spend a part of every day with God in prayer, we will grow in our friendship with him.  We also need to remember that it is not always the quality of prayer that matters most, but our fidelity to prayer. Father Jacques Philippe insists on this when he says, “Our first concern . . . should be faithfulness in praying, not the quality of prayer.  The quality will come from fidelity.  Time spent faithfully every day in mental prayer that is poor, arid, distracted, and relatively short is worth more, and will be infinitely more fruitful for our progress, than long, ardent spells of mental prayer from time to time, when circumstances make it easy.” (“Time for God,” p. 17) May this Advent season be a time that we can all grow in intentional and faithful prayer.

Peace
Advent is also a season of peace, for Jesus came to bring us peace.  The angels announce his birth by proclaiming, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14) Later, the very first words that Jesus speaks to his apostles after his resurrection are “Peace be with you.” (John 20:19) Jesus doesn’t promise peace in the sense that our lives will always be free from trials, suffering, and even persecution.  The peace that Jesus desires to give us is a heart that is at peace because we have a firm and calm trust in him. Advent is a season to open our hearts and lives to God’s peace, and to trust him more fully.  God has a plan for our lives, and he invites us to daily entrust ourselves to his wisdom and providential care, and it is precisely in this entrustment that we find true peace.  We turn again to the wisdom of Father Phillippe: “God is a God of peace. He does not speak and does not operate except in peace, not in trouble or agitation . . . Often we cause ourselves to become agitated and disturbed by trying to resolve everything by ourselves, when it would be more efficacious to remain peacefully before the gaze of God and to allow Him to act and work in us with His wisdom and power which are infinitely superior to ours.” (“Searching for and Maintaining Peace,” p. 6) Therefore, when we trust in God our hearts are at peace, and the Lord is able to work more efficaciously in our lives for he assures us that “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:30) 
My prayer is that as we prepare to celebrate the Incarnation of Jesus at Christmas and enter into the Jubilee Year of Hope, this Advent season is for all of us a blessed time to grow in penance, prayer, and peace.