FREY: For Advent — Slow down and look inside your soul
Is it me, or is the rush to Christmas Day each year faster and more accelerated than ever?
We start seeing Christmas decorations in stores before Halloween, and the world makes us feel like we are behind schedule if we don’t have our Christmas trees in place by Thanksgiving.
This fast-paced race to Christmas Day is exhausting to me, and it tends to make my anxiety rise. I see people posting pictures on social media of their exquisite Christmas trees, sparkling Christmas lights, and their beautifully decorated homes earlier and earlier in the calendar year.
I, like many of you, am ready to clean my home and fill it full of ornate decorations and prepare for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am very ready for His love to fill my home and heart.
That being said, I know that the Church asks us as Catholic Christians to slow down the pace and look inside our souls to make sure they are prepared for the birth of our Savior.
This time of reflection, preparing and waiting during the Advent Season will greatly help our souls prepare for the day of his birth, as the Christmas bells will then ring.
We generally don’t like the idea of waiting and being patient for anything, really; therefore, waiting for Jesus’s birth and the joys of Christmas day is super difficult for many of us.
Let us be honest with ourselves, however, and take time this Advent Season to check our hearts and souls.
Let us realize that the soul and heart must first be prepared before the Christmas decorations go up.
Or, if we do put the decorations up during the Advent season, because the glow of the warm tree lights tends to warm our hearts and moods, let us not forget to be in the Advent penitential mind as we gaze at the sparkling lights awaiting the true Light of the World.
For myself, this past year of 2025 needs some definitive reflection and continued repentance because I allowed my free will to rule over God’s will for my life choices, and in turn, Satan loved every bit of my bad decisions.
I am excited to celebrate the birth of our Lord in the year 2025; however, I am even more looking forward to celebrating the Advent Season of waiting, preparing and repentance.
I already know that through the Advent waiting period, my yearning for Christmas Day will be significant, but I am thankful for this wait.
I will try my best to slow the pace before Christmas Day, clean all the crevices of my heart that are continually getting cluttered with my sins, and thank Jesus for his love, forgiveness and mercy.
Although we are not worthy, Jesus took it upon himself to join humanity and enter as a humble babe. We then crucified him as an adult on a tree.
Let us go forward into the Advent Season of 2025, contemplating the joy of Jesus’s birth and the mystery of his life and death for all humanity.
Let us thank Mary for her “yes” to God’s will and thank Joseph for his obedience to God.
May we all grow spiritually and more in love with our Lord and Savior as we slow down our pace, look inside our souls, and fully enjoy and embrace the Advent Season to prepare for the birth of Jesus, our King, this year 2025.
Anita Frey is a member of St. Alexander Parish in Belle.
