Dominica I Adventus

"To Thee I have lifted up my soul" -- Advent is here, my friends. A season of immense grace. Year after year we embark upon this journey of faith, prayer and preparation for the coming Nativity of Our Lord. For the faithful, this is a "new year". A time to really begin to change our lives. In times past, Advent was stressed to be a 'semi-penitential' season. Now, however, this stress, amid other things, has fallen by the wayside. But there was wisdom in this, wasn't there? Are we prepared for the coming of Christ? When Christ comes, do we not need to rid of ourselves of that which hinders intimacy with Him? And doesn't this need to be done, in fact, before He comes?

The Church invites us to pray, to meditate upon the saving mysteries of Christ, in His Incarnation. Then, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger wrote concerning Advent,

Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man. Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the heart’s memory so that it can discern the star of hope.

Let us begin the journey, lifting our souls to God.

--Mercedarian Friar