Why Do We Close Our Hearts to Jesus?
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It’s the third week of Advent and we’re about 10 days away from Christmas Eve. How has your Advent been?
My Advent’s been a swirl of trying to be faithful to my prayer routine, the St Andrew Christmas Novena, doing a little more giving, and trying to find a bit of time for some spiritual reading on Advent topics. All this while enduring an unusual amount of snow for this year and also bouncing around to various holiday parties, shopping for family gifts, preparing to be off from work for a few weeks, and getting our Christmas and New Year’s gathering schedule in order.
This past week, I started to feel particularly tired and agitated from all of the to-dos and lack of “patient waiting.” The last few years I haven’t done Advent particularly well. Not only am I the infertile childless woman who can’t relate to Mary, Elizabeth or Advent family fun this time of year, but life just feels so busy and so distracting from the meaning of Advent. It’s turned into four short weeks of holiday parties and preparation time. I simply don’t know how to fix that.
One thing did strike me today when I read the readings. It’s that because of Jesus, the broken are healed. The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The lame will walk. The poor will hear good things proclaimed. Therefore, there’s hope for you and I as we struggle through Advent. Whatever is broken in us, can and will be healed because of Jesus. Wherever we’re blind, wherever we’re not hearing what we should be, wherever we’re tired and can’t continue, wherever we’re “poor,” Jesus will meet us there and heal what has become broken.
That's the good news for you this Advent, especially if it's not going as well as you hoped for.
And so Jesus, today I pray to heal what is broken in my Advent, so that I may encounter You more deeply during the Christmas season.
Katie Zalany lives in Cleveland Ohio. She is a Third Order Secular Franciscan (OFS), spiritual director, benefits/wellness leader, certified health and life coach, and volunteer. She is the creator of the ministry Women in Waiting | Made for Fruitfulness and is a published author. Her writing interests and focus areas include Gospel reflections, Franciscan spirituality, women's spirituality, prayer, and integration of faith and daily living.
