>>This time of year brings back a fond memory of something that I would always do with my father in preparing our home where I grew up, for the winter months. And that preparation would mean going around the house and pulling down the storm windows, or in some cases, like in the back of the house, on our porch, literally taking the storm windows and putting them on the outside. And then they would be connected with a little chain to the windowsill on the back of the house. And so, that was a tradition every year as we would prepare our home for the winter. And I thought about that at this time of the year as I listened to the readings on this second Sunday of Advent, because we could sum up this time of year for ourselves in a simple sentence. We prepare our homes and we prepare our hearts. Today in the reading, the gospel tells us about John the Baptist, the son of a Elizabeth – Mary’s cousin, who came with a special job, and that is to proclaim that the Messiah would be coming. Prepare the way of the Lord. And I’d like us to think about this today as a way of preparing ourselves for advent in the Christmas season. I’d like us to think about this, that Jesus, the incarnation of God’s love, has already connected us to God the father and to the spirit. And it’s in that grace that we find peace of mind and heart and strength. That joy is doubled by God’s love. And God’s love divides our challenges and our grief. We come to this time of year and there are joys, but there are sadness and sorrows, there are challenges. We might have issues with our health or maybe there’s division in our family. We still have fears and uncertainty about the pandemic, and we bring all this to the grace of this holy season. And I’d like us to think about this today that one of the ways that we prepare the home of our hearts for the Lord is to grow deeper and deeper, trusting God’s presence and love and the incarnation of Jesus. Prepare our hearts and our homes with that trust, that God loves us, that God will never abandon us. God is with us.