Not our Advent wreath, or our prayers and hymns, but some of the other things that also mark this season. You’ve probably been busying yourself with shopping and wrapping presents, writing Christmas cards, cleaning and decorating the house. Maybe you’ve even done some holiday cooking and baking.
At the very least, even if you’re the procrastinating type, you’ve probably been fretting about the things you have left to do before Christmas.
In the busyness of our active preparation we often feel the futility, the fruitlessness of our own efforts. No matter how hard we work, the “To-Do” list doesn’t seem to get any shorter. It doesn’t seem as if it could ever all get done in time.
That’s why, in the midst of our sometimes frantic and scattered Advent preparation, we stop and celebrate this feast that gives Advent its true meaning. We celebrate the Immaculate Conception of Mary – the feast of Mary, conceived in Anna’s womb, without the stain of original sin.
We celebrate the fact that from before the foundation of the world, God chose Mary to be holy and without blemish – the perfect vessel to bear his Son into the world.
This feast reminds us that however necessary and important Mary’s preparations for Christ’s coming were – we might imagine the stockpiling of diapers, and baby clothes, and the painting of the nursery – none of these things were as important as what God was doing in her to prepare her for his Son.
Just the same, we can convince ourselves that the most important part of our preparation for Christmas is the shopping, and cooking, and trimming of the tree. We can convince ourselves that the most important part of preparing for the coming of Christ is our planning and our effort - our attempts to will ourselves to be holier or more charitable.
But really, the most important work of preparing for Christ’s coming – the true work of Advent – is being done in us by God. In God’s plan, which He accomplishes as He wishes, we too are chosen – we too are destined for adoption as children of God – we too are made holy and blameless so as to praise His glory.
This is the true character of Advent. God is constantly at work in us and in the world preparing for the coming of Christ. Thus, our Advent hope is rooted in the knowledge that, despite the frequent fruitlessness of our own efforts, despite the gathering darkness we experience in nature and in world affairs, God does in fact keeps His promises.
So then, are we off the hook? What's our part in all of this?
We look to Mary as our model of Advent preparation. She says yes to God – she yields to and cooperates with the work that He had been doing in her from the very moment of her conception. She believes and trusts in God’s plan for her life, even when it seems utterly impossible, and terribly frightening.
Her 'yes' allows the Christ-seed to be planted, nourished, and brought to birth within her. This certainly does not spare her from the hardships of bearing Christ to the world – but it gives new and complete meaning to everything she does . . . for now, everywhere she goes, and to everyone she meets, she is bringing Christ.
When we say a daily 'yes' to all that God is bringing about in and through us; when we yield to His plan for our life; we will not necessarily find our “To-Do” lists any shorter or easier. But we, like Mary, will find that everything we do is transformed by what God is doing within us. We too will bear the Christ-seed, and bring Him to birth in the life of the world – and with Mary, we will learn that with God all things are possible.
Just the same, we can convince ourselves that the most important part of our preparation for Christmas is the shopping, and cooking, and trimming of the tree. We can convince ourselves that the most important part of preparing for the coming of Christ is our planning and our effort - our attempts to will ourselves to be holier or more charitable.
But really, the most important work of preparing for Christ’s coming – the true work of Advent – is being done in us by God. In God’s plan, which He accomplishes as He wishes, we too are chosen – we too are destined for adoption as children of God – we too are made holy and blameless so as to praise His glory.
This is the true character of Advent. God is constantly at work in us and in the world preparing for the coming of Christ. Thus, our Advent hope is rooted in the knowledge that, despite the frequent fruitlessness of our own efforts, despite the gathering darkness we experience in nature and in world affairs, God does in fact keeps His promises.
So then, are we off the hook? What's our part in all of this?
We look to Mary as our model of Advent preparation. She says yes to God – she yields to and cooperates with the work that He had been doing in her from the very moment of her conception. She believes and trusts in God’s plan for her life, even when it seems utterly impossible, and terribly frightening.
Her 'yes' allows the Christ-seed to be planted, nourished, and brought to birth within her. This certainly does not spare her from the hardships of bearing Christ to the world – but it gives new and complete meaning to everything she does . . . for now, everywhere she goes, and to everyone she meets, she is bringing Christ.
When we say a daily 'yes' to all that God is bringing about in and through us; when we yield to His plan for our life; we will not necessarily find our “To-Do” lists any shorter or easier. But we, like Mary, will find that everything we do is transformed by what God is doing within us. We too will bear the Christ-seed, and bring Him to birth in the life of the world – and with Mary, we will learn that with God all things are possible.
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