Always Advent

This is from Terry Nelson at Abbey Roads 2:

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

It is good to try to keep Jesus as our companion in the days approaching Christmas, especially if the holidays tend to depress us. Privately, we do not have to “pretend” he is going to be re-born on Christmas eve, engaging our imaginations in an artificial waiting game, pretending he will suddenly appear like Santa Claus, and take all of our troubles away. Not at all, Emmanuel means Christ is with us now.

Christ is present with us now – the Eternal Now. We can sit silently with him now; in the Blessed Sacrament, or simply while gazing upon an image of him. If one can not find solace in and through the liturgy of Advent and Christmas, these personal intimate encounters help a great deal. Silence is a teacher, Jesus is the text book. His poverty and helplessness reflect our own poverty – even our inability to manage our emotions, our health, our finances, sometimes our very lives. His poverty and humiliation not only mirrors, but embraces our misery. He is Emmanuel – God with us – both in our sorrows and our joys – right now.

Terry blogs at http://terry58.stblogs.com/