The Middle of Advent

The last two days have concentrated on how the Eucharistic Prefaces help us to understand the season of Advent and how the Church works with Scripture and Tradition at the same time for God’s revelation. Scripture and Tradition must also be part of our prayer life, so that as the Church prays the Church believes. We must pray as the Church prays, so that the beliefs of the Church become our beliefs.

So today we turn to the opening prayers for the four Sundays in Advent. The first and second prayers read:

All-powerful God, increase our strength of will for doing good so that Christ may find an eager welcome at His coming and call us to His side in the kingdom of heaven…

Lord of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, that we may share His wisdom and become one with Him in glory….

The first and second Sunday prayers are directed to the Father and ask for what we need from the Father. So these Advent prayers are asking the Father to help us to be ready for the coming of Christ. Readiness in acts of charity, from the First Sunday, and the seeking of mercy from our sins, in the Second Sunday, is what Christ wants when He comes again. The Church wants you and I to be known as doing good acts and freeing ourselves from sin so that we can be ready for Christ in our lives. If we do not do both then we will repeat the Garden of Eden experience by hiding when Jesus comes. When we should be out in the open upon His arrival.

The third and fourth prayers read:

Lord God, may we, Your people, who look forward to the birthday of Christ experience the joy of salvation and celebrate that feast with love and thanksgiving.

Lord, fill our hearts with Your love, and as You revealed to us by an angel the coming of Your Son as Man so lead us through His suffering and death to the glory of the resurrection…

The coming of Christ now is quickly approaching. We mark Christmas as the birth of Christ and put the infant in the manger, the prayers remind us that we are not to see Jesus just as an infant. The fact that He was born is to inspire us to want to cooperate with God’s grace and have an experience of God that is transforming. The love of God so touches our hearts and minds that Grace transforms them to be imitators of Jesus, so that we can experience God in heaven. The last two prayers of Advent remind us to see Jesus who sacrifices Himself, so that we can know eternal life. During the season of Advent the image of the infant is one of such great hope that we are motivated by God’s love.

So if we are trying to discern God’s Will for our lives then, the season of Advent asks us are we prepared for God’s coming. God does us a favor by helping us through His Church. So we know we should be doing acts of charity repenting of sin and working to be inspired to have our lives transformed by God. So as Christmas nears, how are we doing?