The Season of Advent - First Sunday of Advent 2019

With this First Sunday of Advent we are beginning the new Liturgical Year of the Church, which is focused on the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that the most important seasons in the life of Our Saviour were his birth and his passion, death and resurrection—Christmas, the Easter Triduum and Easter. These very important seasons require a time of preparation in order to be better able to appreciate the mysteries celebrated within them. That is why the Church gives us Advent and Lent. These are seasons of preparation that help us to reflect upon the life of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the Church, but also on our own lives so that we can enter with a greater knowledge and joy to the following festive seasons. Advent in particular (which from the Latin advenire means ‘what is to come’) is a time for preparation for the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ on Christmas day. It is therefore, more than a time of unmeasured celebration, a time of expectation distinguished by prayer, good deeds, penance, reconciliation and confession. We are preparing our soul so that the grace of the child Jesus may be born in it, as he was born in Bethlehem.
IT IS NOT CHRISTMAS YET. Christmas begins on December 25 with the celebration of the birth of Jesus. That is why we Catholics should avoid getting ahead of ourselves and take the appropriate advent time in a serious way. The four Sundays of Advent invite us to meditate on our desire for the coming of eternal life, on forgiveness and reconciliation; on the example of Mary as the perfect collaborator with the love of God and on the figure of Christ as the Light of the world that kindles all our lives. Remember, do not get ahead celebrating without measure. Instead enjoy your time with your family and with your friends in prayer and remembering that our very life in an advent. Our life is a preparation to receive Christ who is to come.