![\"\"](\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Christmas-Kitsch-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSo, what\u2019s your Advent been like?\u00a0 Have you put the Christmas tree up?\u00a0 Ours went up on November 12 (long story).\u00a0 Have your online shopping done?\u00a0 Maybe you share my annual battle where I try to apply coupons that actually work to a photocard-producing company (which shall remain nameless) but rhymes with \u201cbutterfly\u201d?<\/p>\n
How have we been doing with the other Advent \u201cthings\u201d?\u00a0 Like staying awake because we do not know the hour (Gospel, Advent I)?\u00a0 Throwing off the works of darkness (Second Reading, Advent I)?\u00a0 How about cultivating a spirit of wisdom and understanding (First Reading, Advent II)?\u00a0 Or responding to the poor and afflicted with justice (Psalm, Advent II)?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s face it.\u00a0 Trying to live in Advent is depressing, because it seems so impossible<\/em>. Advent runs\u00a0completely against the tide of the \u201cHoliday [aka \u201cChristmas\u201d] Season\u201d in which we find ourselves.\u00a0 How can we possibly get out of the crush of electronic buzz and tinsel that strangles us at every turn? (At least the tinsel isn\u2019t made out of lead anymore\u2014there\u2019s always a silver lining somewhere).<\/p>\n Like our baptism, the waters of Advent rush outward<\/em>, toward the end<\/em> of time\u2014which began with\u00a0the coming of Christ in his Incarnation.\u00a0 The secularized signals of \u201cChristmas\u201d have little to say about that spirit.\u00a0 \u201cChristmas\u201d on a sales flier very much points inward\u2014to what the self can buy (or get).\u00a0 Is not curving inward, with pride and selfishness, the root of all sin?<\/p>\n If so, then we\u2019re really <\/em>in trouble.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve just celebrated the Immaculate Conception of Mary.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take Mary\u2019s beginning in a life of grace as a signal to remind us of our own baptismal call.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get to the desert: in the clear quiet blank where we can be free <\/em>of glitzy, discount buys; where we can see the stars; where we can hear the glad tidings; where we can be changed.<\/p>\n So, fear not. \u00a0The Lord will come and save us.\u00a0 We can get past Christmas.\u00a0 We can bring ourselves to the desert\u2014and prepare the way for the Lord.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let\u2019s get to the desert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":61182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3119,17,91],"tags":[464,562,3057],"class_list":["post-61181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-plaza-new-ws","category-liturgical-spirituality","category-liturgical-year","tag-advent","tag-christmas","tag-liturgical-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Commercial-Fliers-300x225.jpg\")
<\/p>\n