We were meant for community! Let me not forget that. In my last post, I focused on ways we can personally prepare for Christmas. This morning as I pray I am reminded of the importance of community. While it’s great to “hunker down” in our own little corner of the world to pray and grow closer to God, it’s also important and quite essential to our spiritual growth to participate as a community.

Participate

So maybe part of our plan this Advent can be to participate in parish activities. Often parishes will have guest speakers or missions for the special liturgical seasons of Advent and Lent. Check out your church bulletin for upcoming events and take time away from shopping to retreat with your parish community.

Many parishes also do Lessons and Carols. This is another beautiful tradition of the Church. If you’re not familiar with this tradition, read about it here.

I’m a big fan of stepping outside your comfort zone. I would suggest trying to do something you’ve never done before. Maybe gather together with some members of your church and do a one day pilgrimage to a local shrine for a day of prayer and reflection. If your parish is planning a bus trip, sign up even if you don’t know anyone.

Donate time and money

Another way to enter into the season as part of your community is committing to at least one holy hour a week to pray for the needs of the community or for the intentions of someone other than yourself. If you’re already committed to one hour, how about doing two? Imagine the graces that will be poured out!

This time of year parishes offer opportunities for charity, like Giving Trees and food drives. How about spending some of your Christmas budget on a gift for a needy child or on a donation to your local food pantry.

Love like He loves

These are just a few things Mother Church offers us to grow in faith, hope and love and to participate in all that’s true, good and beautiful. Will you step outside your comfort zone this season? Can you step away from your worldly obligations to reflect on the reason for the season?

How often we forget that everything we have is gift! 1 Corinthians 4:7 says: “what do you have that you did not receive?”

1 John 3:16-18 says: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Open up

I invite you to ponder and pray with these verses and imagine all the opportunities I’ve listed above as Jesus, knocking at the door of your heart. Will you open the door and let Him in? I promise – all the shopping, gifts, cooking and decorating – will not and cannot hold a candle to opening that door and stepping out of your comfort zone! God bless you!

What’s your plan? It’s the beginning of a new liturgical year and my favorite “season.” It’s the perfect time for reflection. How has the past year gone in terms of my spiritual life? Did I remain focused on what I set out to do and accomplish or was I often distracted? What part of my plan of life worked and what needs readjusting? Did I trust and surrender enough or did I rely on my own capacity for success?

Hunkering down

During the season of Advent I find myself more open to the working of the Holy Spirit in my life in preparation for Jesus’s coming at Christmas. It really is a perfect time, sort of like a prequel if you will, to the new calendar year.

I don’t know about you, but Advent allows me to hunker down and really focus – maybe it has to do with the cozy winter season. I find myself looking forward to rising early to pray the liturgy of the hours, to pray with scripture in conjunction with my Jesse tree and to journal with whatever book I’ve chosen to read for the season. My hope then is to continue into the new year, after the Advent season, with continued focus and prayer always with the view to develop a deeper, more intimate relationship with the Trinity.

Plan for success

For me, planning is key. While most of the world is putting up Christmas decorations after Halloween, I’m ordering reading material and figuring out which storage bin in the garage houses my advent calendar, wreath and Jesse tree.

This year I’m journaling with Encountering Emmanuel by Heather Khym. The content and format seem interesting and informative. I’m also reading Redeemer in the Womb: Jesus living in Mary by John Saward. Great so far!

If you haven’t developed a plan yet, I would recommend starting with the Jesse tree. Not only is it a beautiful tradition but it’s something you can start right away. It simply requires reading Scripture. What better way is there to deepen your relationship with the Trinity and prepare your heart for the coming of Jesus at Christmas than reading his word. In fact, St. Jerome says: ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. If you’re not familiar with the tradition of the Jesse tree this post has a brief description. To go deeper you can check here.

Another tradition I’d recommend which you can start immediately and which can carry over beyond the Advent season is the Liturgy of the Hours also known as Divine Office. While the prayer books are available for purchase, there are apps available for download and the prayers are also available online. If you’re not familiar with this tradition here is a description. It’s so beautiful to think other members of the church are praying the same prayers along with me. Please don’t feel overwhelmed after reading the description. Start off slow. Be realistic about what you can do and recognize you’re not a consecrated religious obliged to pray all the hours.

I hope this post has inspired you to try something new and I pray this Advent season be grace filled and fruitful. May God continue to bless you!