Originally presented on Sunday, November 27, 2016

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving ... I certainly did. After praying the 8:00 Mass here Thanksgiving morning ... attended by well over 200 people ... I headed into Birmingham to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with my Brother, his wife and their 10 yr. old daughter, Janay. It was literally wonderful as we ended the evening with a family tradition ... of watching the movie “It’s a wonderful life” ... starring Jimmy Stewart. It’s a movie that never ceases to get you to appreciate the unique and marvelous purpose that God has in mind for each and every person ... and to savor the many gifts and blessings we’ve been given along the way.

I stayed the night and after enjoying breakfast & lunch with them ... I headed home ... and was glad I had gotten in the left lane of 459 in Hoover because traffic was bumper to bumper and at a virtual standstill on the exit ramp into the Galleria Mall! Where were all those people going? They were going shopping! Shopping for what? Shopping for Christmas! Our culture tells us that Christmas is coming in a month & we need to buy presents! Well, Christmas is really not about buying presents to give ... it’s about rejoicing in The Present we’ve been given ... the Present that God the Father gave us 2016 years ago ... when He gave us ... His Son Jesus, born as a babe in Bethlehem.

What a huge present ... that God the Father would send us His Son ... to put us back into a graced relationship with Him ... and make it possible for us to live forever with Him in Heaven. That’s the best present ever ... and that‘s the meaning of Christmas. Yet, our culture insists that the Christmas Season is about getting and giving presents; and so we start shopping earlier and earlier each year ... informally the day after Halloween and then formally ... on Thanksgiving Day.

Well, another Season begins today... it’s called the Advent Season ... and it will run right alongside the Christmas Season up to the Day of Christmas. The Christmas Season is driven by the Culture. The Advent Season is driven by the Church. In the Christmas Season, our culture and our family traditions move us to make many preparations for Christmas: things like shopping and decorating and baking and sending Christmas cards. All these things are fine ... but none of them should ever take precedence over us preparing our hearts to celebrate Jesus ... the Present we’ve all been given.

Which is why, the Church, in her wisdom, guides us through the Advent Season ... 4 weeks of special preparation for the great day of Christmas. You see, while the Culture says “Go, Go, Go” ... the Church says “whoa, whoa, whoa” and “slow, slow, slow.” It’s in Advent, that we’re reminded that our most important priority is to prepare ... not for the coming of Santabut for the coming of Jesus. And just as looking forward to the arrival of Santa Claus creates an atmosphere of excitement and preparation, looking forward to the arrival of Jesus should fill us with an even greater sense of excitement and preparation.

As we tell our kids: “You better be good because Santa Claus is coming to town.” The Church is telling us: “You better be good because Jesus Christ is coming to town. For just like Santa ... Jesus sees you when you’re sleeping, He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! That’s the warning that St. Paul announces to us in Romans today. He says, “The day is at hand. Throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light ... conduct (yourselves) properly ... not in drunkenness and promiscuity and lust, not in rivalry and jealousy.” No, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provisions for the flesh.” In other words, Paul is saying, “Be good for goodness sake!” We need to think of these words as we go about preparing to celebrate Christmas. We need to remind ourselves that Santa isn’t the only one that’s coming to town, Jesus is coming too! The season of Advent, that runs from today until Christmas has a 2-fold purpose. First, it’s the time to prepare ourselves to commemorate the First Coming of Jesus His coming as Savior into our world of space and time as a baby in Bethlehem.

You know, for many years I was annoyed that the Church seemed so mixed up on its selection of Christmas music. I never understood why they wouldn’t play the First Noel & Silent Night and all the other great Christmas songs during the weeks leading up to Christmas, when everyone else was getting into the Christmas spirit. And furthermore, I never understood why, once the Church finally did play the good songs on Christmas Day, why they went on and continued to play them for another two weeks! The problem was that I didn’t understand the difference between the Holiday Season and the Advent Season. They’re two distinct seasons! While society wants us to celebrate Christmas from Halloween all the way to Christmas, the Church, on the other hand, wants us to wait and celebrate Christmas on Christmas; and to use the time before Christmas to contemplate the reality of Jesus’ First Coming at the Nativity and His Second Coming at the end of time.

Let’s trust the wisdom of the Church by using this time of Advent for some personal, prayerful reflection on the wonder of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ ... on how He came to be with us as a baby some 2000 years ago ... and how He will come again in glory as King one day in the future.