(The Meaning): “O Come, O Come,Emmanuel!” This well-known ancient prayer reminds us, similar to how the “coming of winter stills and quiets the natural world,” that we must seek to prepare a place for Christ and His Peace to come again and to be born anew in our hearts—and so in our world. The Sourcebook for Sundays, Seasons and Weekdays—the Almanac for Pastoral Liturgy notes that the Coming of Advent asks us to prepares our souls and spiritual lives for the memorial—and not just a re-enactment of something from the past—for a
rebirth and renewal of our lived-faith that happens again with our participation at each Mass. How do we memorialize the Incarnation, you ask? We recall His entry (Incarnation) into
human life as a vulnerable newborn, and by remembering the Paschal Mystery, and affirming when He will return in glory at the Parousia (the second coming); the fulfillment of salvation history is memorialized.

(The Ways): Prayer. Prayer. Prayer. It is inprayer—a conversation and dialogue with Christ—that we come to know Him and align our lives with His Will. We only come to know our loving and merciful God by spending time with Him—just like a friend. Getting to know Him leads us to, as Eucharistic Two Prayer says, “Thank you for counting us worthy to be in Your presence and minister to You.” As we minister to others in need, and through right relationships which we employ with our brothers and sisters, we minister to God.

Simply put, we need to make our lived-faith experience less of a ritual or set of regulations or laws and more of a way-of-life for each and every one of us. We need to “put on” our faith like a comfortable article of clothing and make it part of us: the “things we say and the things we do” in our families, at our workplaces or schools, and in the entertainment with which we fill our free time is the “wearing of our faith.” In the sending forth at the end of Mass: (The Mass has ended, go in peace,) we are mandated by Christ to go forth into the world and as agents or ambassadors of Christ and to transform the secular world into the Kingdom of Christ on earth. As in last weekend’s gospel, we have been called by Christ to “practice what we preach” in-and-through our way of life such as feeding the hungry—and not just at Thanksgiving or Christmastime—but as part of our makeup. What this and many gospels call us to do is to actually live out of faith beliefs.

Advent is a time of coming and a time of preparation. It is a time to put on our faith and wear it well so that we shall hear these words of God: “Well done my good and faithful servant,
inherit the Kingdom created for you from the foundation of the world.” May Advent be a time of preparation in the well-worn practice of our faith and in the memorializing of the second coming, on which day or in which hour we do not know, but are hopefully prepared.

“Advent Information:” The liturgical colors for Advent are violet and rose (Gaudete Sunday is celebrated on December 17, 2017. It is the third Sunday of Advent in the liturgical calendar of the Western Church, including the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran Churches, and other mainline Protestant churches. It can fall on any date from 11 December to
17 December); flowers are not used in the sanctuary except for Gaudete Sunday, and the music during this season is somewhat quieter and highlights the season’s preparation until the Joy of Gaudete Sunday. The Advent Wreath is lit with ceremony on the first weekend of Advent and then is simply lit prior to the Introductory Rites at each succeeding Mass.