Mothers Group Reflection #36: Advent Reflection Week 1: Who or What is on the Throne of Your Heart?
As we enter Advent
this week, we are invited into a time of joyful expectation and
preparation to greet the gift of Jesus this Christmas. We will see
the color purple again in the liturgy as a reminder of the need to
prepare our hearts to celebrate the coming Christ. As I look to the
Catechism, it is stated this way:
CCC524: When the
Church celebrates the liturgy of
Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy
of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the
Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for
his second coming. (200) By celebrating the precursor’s birth and
martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: “He must
increase, but I must decrease.” (201)
While most of the
world is already in full gear with Christmas celebrations and lots of
shopping and indulging, we are invited into the spirit of Advent, the
time of preparation for the coming celebration on Christmas. Each
week, we will have the opportunity to reflect on a different area of
our lives, and to clean house a little, spiritually speaking. We know
that the day of Christ’s return is coming, and we are reminded of
the importance of being ready, since we know neither the day nor the
hour.
Typically, when we
think of Advent, we think of the weekly themes of hope, peace, joy
and love. However, when I did a little research into the weeks of
Advent, I found the following themes in a few places, including the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Here I am referencing
the themes found from Loyola Press, as they all vary slightly:
Week 1: royalty
(color: purple)
Week 2: repentance
(color: purple)
Week 3: abundant joy
(color: rose)
Week 4: fasting
(color: purple)
Christmas: light and
purity (color: white)i
Advent is a time to
re-live the narrative of the Christmas story, the centuries of
preparation leading to the amazing revealing of our Messiah, Jesus,
as we also anticipate His future return. As we enter this first week
of Advent, we consider the first theme of royalty, which seems a
fitting following to Christ the King last week. We ended the
liturgical year celebrating the Kingship of Christ and we will begin
the new liturgical year in much the same train of thought. The daily
readings this past week have been full of references to the end times
and to the preparations we need to make within our hearts. Jesus is
our Lord of Lords and King of all Kings, but what does that mean for
us on a daily basis right now?
This week, we are
invited to reflect on who or what is on the throne of our hearts. Is
it truly Jesus, or have we allowed something else to claim center
stage? We are called to love God with our whole heart, soul, and
mind, and to love our neighbor as Christ loves us (Matthew 22:36-39,
John 13:34). Pretty tall order, but with God’s help, not
impossible. In the spirit of penance, a few thoughts come to mind and
I am brought back to the idea of detachment. We are called to be in
the world, but not of the world. We are called to love others as God
loves us, but not in place of God Himself. But do we, instead, look
to others and things of this world to fill a hole that only God can
fill?
I have learned with
time that when I cease to “need” a certain person or thing in my
life, it is then, and only then, that I can truly love this person or
thing as the gifts from God that they are. In that sense, true
detachment actually allows us to love more, not less. This kind of
love allows others to just be human, and God to be God. During this
first week of Advent, we are invited to let go of those things that
stand in the way of a closer relationship with God, so that we can
truly love well.
I recently found a
quote from the prayer journal of Sister Mary of the Trinity, where
she recorded her conversations with Jesus during prayer. He said to
her, “When you have all that is necessary, you deprive Me of the
joy of taking care of you.” God loves us more than we can possibly
imagine. He pursues us, He desires to be in relationship with us, and
He desires to provide all we need each and every day, like the most
tender of parents. Of what joy would we deprive God and others if we
always insisted on doing everything our own way and in our own
ability?
God allows us to
“need” sometimes so we’ll remember to draw close to Him and to
rely on Him. If we became too self-sufficient, we would likely just
try to do it all on our own and miss out on His great blessings and a
life-giving relationship with Him, not to mention we would leave
ourselves open to great dangers. We simply can not do life alone and
do it well.
So, who or what has
center stage within your heart and your life? Do you place God at the
center of your life, or have you neglected that most primary
relationship in favor of worldly things? What is one thing you can
place into the hands of Jesus this Christmas with trust that He will
provide all that you truly need? I invite you to take what is most
precious to you, whatever it is you may be still clinging to, and
make a gift of it to Jesus this Christmas. To place it into His hands
for safe keeping, knowing He provide all that you need in just the
right time and way. The spiritual freedom that He longs to give with
this act is beyond compare!
Verse for the
week:
“Teacher, which
commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You
shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first
commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor
as yourself.’
- Matthew
22:36-39 NRSVCE
i
“About Advent.”
Loyola Press A Jesuit Ministry. Web. 26 Nov. 2019.
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