Photo Credit George Becker
By Holly Gustafson
It’s the first Sunday of Advent, and our tree has already been up for two weeks. Normally, I’m a stickler about this – the tree goes up on the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent, and doesn’t come down until the Christmas season is officially over, partway into January. This year, however, I was ready to welcome the extra light that the Christmas tree brings into our home, and brought it out a little early.
Certainly, Advent will feel different this year. December is usually our family’s busiest month, with soccer games and tournaments, Christmas concerts, birthday celebrations, and all the shopping and parties that come along with the holiday season. This year, our calendar is bare – there are no sports or music or parties, our birthday celebrations will be postponed, and our shopping is mostly online. Which gives our family extra time to lean into Advent, and no excuses not to.
Because December is usually so busy, I generally keep our Advent activities as simple as possible (a short prayer tacked on to the end of grace before supper was all we could manage in the past). It’s been many, many years since the homemade Jesse tree ornaments made their appearance, or our family set aside real, dedicated time for Advent prayer at the end of the day. But this Advent – which will, for us, involve less activity, less socializing, and less shopping – feels like it is inviting us to more.
Servant of God Chiara Lubich, foundress of the Focolare Movement, was one day walking through a busy city in the middle of December and was struck by the commercialism of the Advent season. “This wealthy world has made Christmas and all that goes with it its own, and has left Jesus out,” said Chiara. “The thought of celebrating Christmas while banishing the newborn Babe is something very painful to me. Let us shout out who is born, celebrating his coming as never before!”
While it’s easy for me to lament the losses of the season (the Christmas concerts, the sparkly parties, and our favourite early-December soccer tournament), I’m trying to see this slow-down as a time for our family to celebrate Advent as never before. Extra time for discarded traditions, deeper communion, and more prayer.
“When we worship you in the form of bread, we always see you as an adult,” said Chiara to the Eucharistic Jesus. “But every year at Christmas, you reveal yourself to us as a child born in a crib. In silent adoration we stand before the mystery, like Mary when the shepherds came and told her what they had seen and heard: ‘She kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.’”
Advent is the invitation to ponder the eucharistic mystery of the God Who came to be with us, and this year, we might even find ourselves with a little extra time and space to do so.
EUCHARISTIC CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH
Join me in a 12-month challenge to grow closer to the Eucharist this year. This month, lean into Advent, making a concerted effort to ponder the eucharistic mystery of Christmas through a special devotion, a new (or renewed) tradition, or extra family prayer.
Holly Gustafson lives with her husband, James, and their five children, in Regina, where they attend Christ the King Parish. Holly received her Masters in Linguistics at the University of Manitoba, and now pursues her love of language through art, writing, public speaking, and unsolicited grammatical advice. The best advice she ever received was from her spiritual friend, St. Faustina, who told her that when in doubt, “Always ask Love. It advises best.”
