Questions About Advent, Answers From Our Pope

So here we are, right in the middle of Advent.

So here we are, right in the middle of holiday preparations.

How do we reconcile the two?

It's clearly a study of contrasts. One takes quiet, solitude and separation, while the other demands hustle and bustle and busyness. Even the colors are different. The colors of the holidays are red and green – colors that look so garish by January – while the soft colors of Advent are always soothing.

After all these years, I think I've conquered the holiday stuff. Just make lists. Finish them. Make more lists. Finish them. Make more lists . . .

It's the other one that gives me trouble.

We all know that Advent is a lot like a pregnancy. It's just sitting quietly, you and the baby waiting together.

When you’re pregnant, you take especially good care of your body. In Advent, do we take especially good care of our souls? If so, how?

Do we listen to soothing Advent music instead of happy Christmas tunes? Do we light the Advent candles as well as the Christmas lights? Do we read Advent meditations and those chatty Christmas letters?

Maybe we need to keep the end in mind as we progress through Advent. I know that when Santa arrives, I want to have my gifts wrapped, my house decorated, my cards in the mail . . . 

But what do we want at the end of Advent?

Do we want a better understanding of who the Christ Child is and what He came to do? Do we want to know Mary and Joseph a little better? The shepherds? The Magi?

When we hear the Gospel on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, will we be different this year? Will the Gospel be a little more poignant because we are better prepared to hear it?

Our pope has encouraged us to focus on hope as we journey through Advent.

On the first Sunday of Advent, he said, “The time of Advent that we begin again today returns us to the horizon of hope, a hope that does not disappoint because it is founded on the Word of God. A hope that does not disappoint, simply because the Lord never disappoints! He is faithful!”

Pope Francis encouraged us to remember the Blessed Mother during this sacred time, reminding us that "in her womb, the hope of God took flesh, became man, and made history: Jesus Christ.”

Her song of praise in the Magnificat “is the canticle of the People of God on the journey, and of all men and women who hope in God, in the power of his mercy,” he said.

Is he right? Can we – should we – make hope the cornerstone of our Advent journey?

Wishing you a blessed Advent filled with hope!