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1st Sunday of Advent 2017

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December 3, 2017 Fr. Chad VanHoose, Associate pastor

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since we turned our clocks backwards about a month ago now I've had the great opportunity to take in some sunrises during my morning commute on the way from the rectory the church and I know you're jealous of my commute this is one of the perks of being the priest anyone who's ever waited for a sunrise knows that you don't want rush it you want to take in the moment with all of its beauty the Five Short verses from the gospel that I just read repeat the same way 4 * watch what then is this season of watching and waiting waiting for the Light of Christ to break into our world much like waiting for the sun to rise in the east so where about watching and waiting during Advent what are Rush this time if we rush it then we may be left with a preemie Jesus and underdeveloped Jesus in our lives UC Advance the word means coming and specifically we celebrate Three Cummings in the season of Advent the first one is the most obvious the one that is the reason for the season send the coming of Jesus as a little baby small and week into that town of Bethlehem that's the first coming but there's also a second coming of Christ about this today in the gospel that coming when Christ will come in power and glory and we'll all sit in judgment before our Lord and we don't know when this Second Coming is going to happen and then between these two visible Cummings of Our Lord you have a third invisible coming coming of Christ 2 free human heart see Jesus doesn't force him selves force himself into our lives Jesus gives us that opportunity either to receive him to reject him but he comes this third time to our heart asking if we would let him in brothers and sisters during the season of Advent this year we're actually short changed an entire week you see the fourth Sunday of Advent comes on Christmas Eve so we only get a few hours of that fourth week so we only really have three weeks to prepare so how do we prepare and not rush this season so that we're ready to receive our Lord when he comes at Christmas I have for suggestions of how my ready our hearts and receive our Lord in that third coming the first is the most obvious it's the primary place we receive Christ in our hearts prayer all of you all of us to raise the level of Prayer in our lives during these next 3 weeks maybe you want to spend a hour and adoration each week over the next 3 weeks so that would be 3 hours over three weeks time it's not that big of a commitment but looking at our lord for 3 hours being watchful and waiting for his coming is a great way to prepare maybe want to spend some time in family prayer as you light your Advent wreath each week as you open the little Windows to your Advent calendars you say some family prayers maybe a family Rosa together every week so that your family would be ready I know some of you are ready for a greater Challenge and maybe want to dig a little deeper in the sacred scripture during these next 3 weeks my recommendation would be the Gospel of Luke you could read the entire Gospel of Luke taking only one chapter a day for the next 24 days there are 24 chapters in Luke and you the entire gospel on December 26th this would get would be a maybe only five minutes a day but a great way to prepare our hearts through the infancy narratives of Luke leading all the way up into the cross where Jesus sacrifice himself for us what but whatever you do I encourage you to raise that level of Prayer in your life that it would rival the time you spend shopping and decorating and doing all of these other important things to get ready for Christmas spend some time in prayer my second suggestion is to go to confession I'm not going to harp on this or spend too much time on it because father Wilson's going to next week in the homily but we have ample time over these next 3 weeks to go to confession here at our Parish that you would just enter Christmas season with a clean slate you clear the decks so that you're able to receive Christ in that pure heart that you've prepared for him my third recommendation is that we make Advent different than Christmas you see if they're two different seasons but we can kind of let them into one another so to let Advent D what it is and this may take some sacrifices you may not want to set up all your decorations during Advent put a few to the side in a little corner so that on Christmas Day can you put those up to finish your Masterpiece maybe you want to set some food aside some celebration that we're not going hog-wild during Advent so we really keep Christmas as the main event as it was meant to be this is my third suggestion to you and the fourth suggestion is to have a generous heart heart that thinks of others that who is fourth in love may be spending time with those who are less fortunate than us giving financially to Charities and looking to bless others during the season of Advent brothers and sisters during these next 3 weeks prepare yourselves Be watchful the alert that you may receive the Light of Christ in your Parts when he comes

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