Each of us knows that Christmas is a special season. It brings desire and the hope to be blessed with god's unyielding grace. I would like to offer a means of acquiring this unique grace.
This year as the readings are being done
at Mass, close your eyes and listen. If you listen carefully and
let your imagination go, the words will evoke images of hills
bathed with the glow of an unusual light in the sky. Yet, this
picturesque image is disturbed by the soft echo of a child's cry.
You are compelled to discover where this cry is coming from. Soon, you find yourself at a stable. As you venture into this hovel, you smell the dampish straw amid the animals. Inside you see a small crowd that must have been drawn as you are drawn to the cries of this child. You gently advance your way to the head of the crowd.
From this first Christmas, the child will grow and spread his gospel of love. For the first time the world will know a new kind of charity, a new kind of compassion. Call it what you like, the First Christmas, the Christmas season, it was a time when the world became Christened by the birth of this child.
AN ADVENT PRAYER
Fr. Roy Henderson
Heavenly Father,
during this season
of Advent
prepare me
for the coming of your Son.
He was born in a stable...
Make me a stable
open to receive him.
He was placed in a manger...
Humble my heart to be a manger,
so that on Christmas day
Mary may place
the child Jesus
in the manger of my heart.
Amen.