People making lists,
buying special gifts,
it's the time to be kind to one and all.
It's the time of year when good friends are dear.
And you wish you could give more,
than the presents from the store.
Why don't you give love on new year's day..
Happy new year to all!
buying special gifts,
it's the time to be kind to one and all.
It's the time of year when good friends are dear.
And you wish you could give more,
than the presents from the store.
Why don't you give love on new year's day..
Happy new year to all!
Advent is taken from the latin word Adventus, which means coming. Today, the first Sunday of advent ushers to a new church calendar. The old calendar of the Church ended last Sunday with the celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King. And advent is reminding is to prepare to two important occasions in our Christian life: the celebration of the incarnation of God and the second coming of Jesus as judge in his glory.
How then are we goin to prepare for these two events? We Filipinos have a peculiar way of welcoming a guest. I remember when I was young, when we were expecting a guests we make special preparations. We lived in a barrio (village). most of the houses during that time were built on stilts, the lower part of the house is where our animals lived and the upper part of the house with one room for the living room, the dining room and for sleeping area for the whole family members. If guests are expected, we make a general cleaning from scrubbing the floors made of bamboo slits by using banana leaves because we do not have commercial floor wax then. My mother would bring blankets washed them and put starch on it to make sure that it is crispy. She would then bring the best plates and glasses and cups. My father on the other would prepare something to be butchered, pigs, goats or even our dogs. And we make sure taht the guest would feel at home and especially treated. That is how we welcome guests.
When expectings guests we make sure that we give the best comforts as possible. If we do these things to our human guests, how much more if the expected guest is Jesus himself? Are we not going to make the best preparations to make sure that Jesus would not only come and visit us but to remain with us? Are we not suppose to make that in our hearts there is a dwelling place for him?
St. Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians reminded his community to be blameless and pure in the sight of God that when the Lord comes they would stand erect before him. And in the gospel reading, St. Luke is reminding us to beware for our hearts not to be drowsy of carousing and drunkenness and preoccuppied with the anxieties of this life. We need to be vigilant and keep praying that we may have the strenght to face the tribulations and tragedies of life. That when the Lord comes we may be ready to welcome hime with head held up high, because we have been faithful to him and his word.
The celebration of Christmas is sure to come on the 25th of December. We might have sent away all of our Christmas cards, or had wrapped all our gifts, and our house beautifully adorned with Christmas Trees, lights and other ornamentts, these things are important reminders that Jesus came to us as man, but the most important thing is to be spiritually ready to welcome him when he comes again. Then, with all honesty we can say, Come Lord Jesus, my heart is ready for you to dwell. Amen
