By Rev. Philip Sutherland, S.J., graduate student in the Department of Philosophy
What better time is there than Advent to return to Jesus who is coming into the world and into our hearts? Now is the time to ready the manger of our hearts, to prepare ourselves for the Christ child rest within us. Except unlike with babies, we are not preparing the nursery in order to take care of a new life. We are preparing ourselves so that Jesus can take care of us.
But to do that we need once again to ask for God’s mercy. It is a mercy that is not stingy but generous. We are reminded once again that no one and nothing is beyond the mercy of God. We are called by the prophet Isaiah from Sunday’s readings to beat our swords into plowshares and walk in the light of the Lord.
One simple thing you can do this Advent is to read a simple scripture reflection every week or every day that has an Advent theme. Your parish probably has them available. There are many scriptural reflections online such as at Jesuit Prayer.
I encourage you to do something extra in your prayer to let this season of Advent speak to you in a new way. Let the words of scripture and the mercy of Jesus speak to you so that you can really celebrate the Good News of Christmas when Jesus will come again to save us all.