With the Thanksgiving holiday now behind
us, most of us start our preparations for Christmas. It is also the time of
year we usually see more guests and fresh faces among us at Mass – during our short
22-28 day (depending on the year) season of preparation called “Advent.” The
word “Advent” stems from the Latin word meaning “coming” or
“arrival.” We commonly understand this
to mean preparing for the coming of Jesus; the great feast of the Incarnation that
we celebrate on Christmas day in which we recognize “God with us” breaking into
our very own history as a vulnerable infant to show us the way, the truth and
the light – and to reveal to us our OWN light as God’s beloved.
Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ writes in his book Tattoos
on the Heart: “Jesus said ‘You are the light of the world.’ I like even
more what Jesus doesn’t say. He does NOT say ‘one day, if you are more perfect
and try really hard, you’ll be light.’ He doesn’t say ‘if you play by the
rules, cross your T’s and dot your I’s, then maybe you’ll become light.’ No. He
says straight out “YOU. ARE. LIGHT. It is the truth of who you are, waiting
only for you to discover it.” Opening ourselves to this, the vital nucleus of the
gospel that Jesus was sent to tell us, is truly the preparation most needed in
our hearts and homes this holy season.
But, alas, each one of us a mix of Mary
and Martha, right? So yes, of course, we need to prepare by spending time in
prayer, sitting at Jesus’ feet like Mary so we may hear afresh how much we are
loved and cherished by our maker – because the gift we don’t receive we
certainly don’t have to give. However, the Martha in us asks “But what do we ‘DO’
to prepare for our guests; those who are also coming to hear this good news?” And
this is an important question, because for many, Christmas is the only day of
the year that they come to pray with us and to hear this good news proclaimed
to them – and this proclamation starts with us! In the parking lot!
Think about it. When someone comes to your home for the first
time you take extra care to make sure they have good directions, know where to
park; you turn the porch light on and greet them at the door, right? How might
we do the equivalent here at our CTR home? How might we “roll out the red
carpet” so to speak for our guests? To help each person who walks through our
doors feel SO welcome that they can’t help but recognize the love of God
through our gestures, words and actions?
As St. Teresa of Avila says “Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no
feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion
on this world…Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world…you
are his body.”
So, let’s ponder and pray together about
how we, as a community, as the body of Christ, can ready our home here at CTR
and be intentional about reaching out to our visitors; to concretely “welcome
the stranger” and let our “light shine” as Jesus would encourage us to do.
Have an idea? let us know! Send your
suggestions (or your Crazy Catholic Questions) to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.
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