Advent seems to be the one liturgical season that is overlooked the most.  Often we are busy running around getting ready for Christmas.  Getting ready for Christmas is exactly what Advent is all about, but I fear that what most of us mean by “getting ready for Christmas,” is very different from what the Church means we should be doing.
    For most of us, getting ready for Christmas means shopping for gifts, decorating the house, mailing out Christmas cards, and doing a lot of baking.  None of these things a bad or wrong, but they do not necessarily reflect the reason for Advent.  As we will hear in the readings throughout the Advent season, now is a time to “stay awake” and to be prepared.
    A few years ago, I started the practice of doing some extra spiritual reading for Advent.  It started when a parishioner gave me a book, “Advent of the Heart,” which had reflections by Fr. Alfred Delp, SJ who was killed by the Nazis.  This year I am going to read, “Come, Lord Jesus:  Meditations on the Art of Waiting,” by Mother Mary Francis, a Poor Clare nun.
   Mother Mary Francis starts off by saying that Advent should be a time for us to be like excited children, walking around on tiptoes -- our hearts full of expectancy and wonder.  We are expecting the Christ Child, and what a wonder He is.  God who “is”  -- in whom there is no “was” and no “will be” --  in His great love for us has united Himself with us by sending His only Begotten Son, Jesus.  The God who “is” by taking on our human nature allows Himself to “become.”  Advent is a time for us to rejoice in this “becoming.”  After all, isn’t “becoming” what our life as a disciple all about?  We are becoming the child of God that we were always intended to be.  We are becoming more and more one with Christ Jesus our savior.
   How do we celebrate Advent?  I think there are two things we should do to live Advent as God wants us to.  First, we must do our best never to waste grace.  Grace is God’s gift to us.  Everything is grace if we use it as God wills it to be used.  Do we use the grace of our health the way that God intends?  Do we use the grace of our family and friends according to God’s will?  So often we don’t even notice all the graces that God blesses us with, and if we don’t notice them, then we waste them.  Advent is a time to become more aware of God’s grace in our lives.
    Secondly, we must heed the words of the Lord spoken through the Prophet Isaiah, “Bring no more worthless offerings.”  What makes an offering worthless?  A worthless offering is a sacrifice that costs me nothing.  When we only pray or go to church when it is convenient for me, then my offering is worthless.
   This Advent we are going to start something new.  The empty manger will be set up in each church, and in the back of the church will be a box wrapped as a gift and a pile of hay.  Each week as you prepare to come to Mass make a little note of all the good deeds, extra prayers, and worthwhile sacrifices that you have made during the week.  When you get to church, put your note in the gift box, and take a piece of hay for each good deed, extra prayer, and worthwhile sacrifice.  Then put your hay in the manger.  That way we will make Advent a time of preparing for the coming of the Christ Child.  We will have stuffed the manger with our good deeds, extra prayers, and worthy sacrifices so that when the Christ Child is born at Christmas he will have a warm, soft manger to lie in.  And on the Epiphany, as the wise men bring Christ their gifts, we will lay before the the Babe our gifts.