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From the Director of Sacred Music & Liturgy - Advent
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This weekend marks the beginning of Advent, a liturgical season dedicated to preparing our hearts and minds to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus. Those of you who have children know the intense time of preparation that precedes the birth of a child. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says, “The coming of God's Son to earth is an event of such immensity that God willed to prepare for it over centuries. He makes everything converge on Christ: all the rituals and sacrifices, figures and symbols of the ‘First Covenant’. He announces him through the mouths of the prophets who succeeded one another in Israel. Moreover, he awakens in the hearts of the pagans a dim expectation of this coming” (522).
If we prepare so much for the birth of our own children, how much more should we prepare for the birth of God, “the Lord and giver of life,” who deigned to take on flesh for our salvation! One of the best ways to prepare ourselves is to make use of the sacrament of Confession. Jesus Christ instituted this sacrament (John 20:23, James 5:16) in order to cleanse us from the sins we commit after baptism. In return for our contrition (sorrow out of love for God) for our sins, he wipes them away and restores us to the state of grace, to the state of having God’s divine life in our souls! This sacrament also prepares us to receive worthily the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist (1 Corinthians 11:23-32).
I pray that you take advantage of it, and have a blessed and prayerful Advent.
