Advent II - Sunday

“Take time to be aware that in the very midst of our busy preparations for the celebration of Christ’s birth in ancient Bethlehem, Christ is reborn in the Bethlehems of our homes and daily lives. Take time, slow down, be still, be awake to the Divine Mystery that looks so common and so ordinary yet is wondrously present.

“An old abbot was fond of saying, ‘The devil is always the most active on the highest feast days.’

“The supreme trick of Old Scratch is to have us so busy decorating, preparing food, practicing music and cleaning in preparation for the feast of Christmas that we actually miss the coming of Christ. Hurt feelings, anger, impatience, injured egos—the list of clouds that busyness creates to blind us to the birth can be long, but it is familiar to us all.”

Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac

Questions to Ponder:

Three weeks to go to the celebration of Christmas, how are your preparations coming this year? Busy? Super busy? Can’t focus? Feeling overwhelmed? Calm?

How has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your preparations for the holidays?

What is on your list of things to be accomplished before December 25? Is this a realistic listing? What can be “left undone”? What is the most necessary?

Devotional Reading - Luke 8