Preparing for Christmas and our last end

PREPARING FOR CHRISTMAS AND OUR LAST END

Mt. 24: 37-44

The clarion call of Jesus on this the first Sunday of Advent is “Stay awake and be ready.”  Ready for what?  Ready for Christ's birth at Christmas.  A good question to ask ourselves on this the first Sunday of Advent is, if Jesus was to call me at this moment would I be able to say, “Yes, Lord.  I am ready”?  It would be a tragedy if the answer is “No”.

The secular world can teach us a lot when preparing for Jesus' coming at Christmas.  Christmas is four weeks away and yet for months the commercial world has been carefully planning for the event.  Advertisements, Promotions, Full Sale Preparations for the most expensive period of the year have begun months before the event.  Has the spiritual aspect of Christmas occurred to them, the true message of the celebration?  I doubt it.  So busy and involved are they with the purpose of making profits that Our Lord has been relegated to the background.  However, we could learn from these people, we could adopt their enthusiasm, diligence and hard work in making our spiritual preparation for Christmas.   

At the beginning of each day a prayer I love to say is, “Give me the strength Holy Spirit to do the work of this day and grant that at its close I may be found worthy of your trust in me.”  And so today at the beginning of the liturgical year of the Church our prayer could be, “Give us the strength Holy Spirit to do the work of this year and grant that at its close we may be found worthy of your trust in us.”  In our preparation for the birth of Jesus we should also invoke the help of Our Lady, who more than any other person made the perfect preparation for His coming.  Her approach was loving, humble, reverent and full of joyful expectation.  In this she was supported by Joseph, her husband, who was full of concern, devotion and great humility.  Together they made ready to welcome God’s Son.

What about asking our Guardian Angels to help us prepare for Jesus this Christmas?  Is it true that many of us never or seldom think about their daily presence with us?  If what I say is true, then we are losing the benefit of such great help that the Lord has given us.  I am sure as I write these words our Guardian Angels are smiling at each other and saying, “Isn’t it good that someone is bringing to people’s notice the valuable help that we can give those we look after?”  So in our individual preparations we should seek the help of our Guardian Angels too, to direct our thoughts and actions in a practical way to pray fervently, and respond with joy and love to the service of others.

Lord Jesus, may we heed Your clarion call to stay awake and be prepared for Your coming.  Let us resolve earnestly that after having welcomed You into our hearts we shall enter the New Year full of good intentions to follow Him, and to work for the establishment of Your Kingdom here on earth.

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