The real preparation for Christmas (Second Sunday of Advent. Cycle A)

We all spend a lot of time getting ready for Christmas.  There’s the gifts, the cards, the decorating, the children’s pageants.  Why do we do all this?  “Well, everyone else is doing it,” you might say.  “We can’t be the only house on the block without Christmas lights.” There’s some truth to that.  After all we want to join those who are celebrating the birth of Jesus. The gifts are meant to be an expression of our joy in God’s gift of His Son, for He so loved the world. The cards might seem insignificant, but they are really important.  Perhaps there might be someone we drop a card to whose life will brighten when they hear from us.  And as far as the children are concerned, we want them to be full of joy on Christmas and we need to spend time reminding them why this is a day of joy. The music specific to the Christmas season is important too. The carols get us in the mood to celebrate as they remind us what we are celebrating. So, there is an importance to all our Christmas preparations.  It would be sad, though, if we didn’t do the most important preparation: preparing our souls to celebrate the coming of Jesus as one of us. Maybe we take this granted.  After all, we are all concerned Catholics.  We wouldn’t be here in Church if we weren’t.  But we do have to be careful that having so much to do in a short time we just presume that spiritually we’ll be ready for Christmas. Think about the Pharisees and the Sadducees who came to John for Baptism in today’s Gospel.  John is pretty rough on them! He calls them a brood of vipers. They are going through the motions of accepting his baptism of repentance, but they are not sincere.  Perhaps they, as always, were concerned with putting on a show of piety.  He tells them to prove that they want a change in the world by producing good fruit. He warns them that it is not enough to say that they are children of Abraham. They have to live as God’s people. So, the real preparation for Christmas that you and I need to make is our determination to turn from evil and sin and hatred and turn to celebrate the One who brings peace and love to the world.  So, this is what Christmas is about: letting love in. We are going through a difficult time in the world and in our country.  There are, sadly people who think that in certain circumstances bigotry and hatred are acceptable. True followers of Jesus Christ respond to His call to make the Lord’s love real in the world. The world need true Christians now more than ever.  The world needs us to celebrate Love Become One of Us, with our determination to end the antagonism and hatred by removing hatred from our own lives. The preparations we are making for Christmas are important, but nothing is more important than our efforts to Let Love In. Let love into our lives.  Let Love into our world.  This is the best way, the true way, the only way that we can celebrate the Child • AE