So Advent was always kind of a confusing time for me as a kid. I didn’t quite understand how it operated, that we were waiting for Jesus to come. I thought he had already come into this world. So I kind of pictured Jesus as like a jack-in-the-box, like first Sunday of Advent, the Lord like disappears, and goes back into this jack-in-the-box, and then we’re supposed to wait for him to like pop on out again on Christmas. It’s like he comes and then he goes, he comes and he goes.

I thought he was here on this earth for good right. He’s in our hearts, he’s with us all the time. So how does Advent work? Well as you all know, Advent means to come right, it’s from the Latin [Latin 00:00:38], Christ is not just come into this earth, he’s not to come, but he’s coming. It’s like a participle. So the Lord he’s here on this earth, but he’s got to come and become. Or he’s got to come more fully into our lives.

So Advent is not like Jesus disappearing and then coming up again, like pulling a rabbit out of the hat. He’s here on this earth but he’s got to come more fully into our church, into our society, and into our lives. Okay, so let’s focus on the last one. How is Christ going to come more fully into our lives? Well all have him right now. We’ve had him since the day we were baptized, it was strengthened in us when we were confirmed. We have got to allow Christ to come more fully into our lives.

So there’s certain things we can do I think during this Advent seasons. You can treat Advent like a time of Lent as well, during Lent before Easter, we do these penitential practices, we give up chocolate or alcohol, at least I do, and start doing these things so we can grow in holiness, and allow ourselves to focus more on Jesus. Well Advent can be something similar, right. It’s not as long, we wear purple, so what can we do?

Prayer. Prayer to me is key to allowing Christ to come more fully in your lives. All right. Maybe set time right now for the rest of this Advent season, these four weeks before Christmas to try and pray every day. At least 10 minutes right. Find a quiet place, maybe in your house or go into a church, a chapel in front of a blessed sacrament, allow Christ to sink into your heart. And you’ll see him then becoming more fully in your lives and in our world.

So prayer is crucial, obviously partaking of the sacraments, mass, reconciliation, maybe doing some spiritual reading as well. Perhaps a chapter from the Bible each day, a couple of books, maybe ask your local priest what’s a good spiritual book you can read so you can know more about your love for Jesus Christ. Something else, maybe there’s something more unique to you, a daily spiritual practice that you can take during this Advent season to allow Christ to come into your lives.

And then I guarantee you, so in the gospel, Jesus says people are going to die of fright, that’s what’s going to happen. When you become more fully alive in your Catholicism and Christ is shining through you, the people in your life, your neighbors, your family members, your friends, your co workers, they might not literally die, but they’ll notice a difference in you and then our world really will be shaken up because you my friends have grown in holiness. Amen.