Waiting for Jesus
Keep waiting patiently for Him
I pray you have had a good start to Advent. Growing up, my mom would always choose a daily Advent reflection book and read from it before we left the dinner table. The rest of my family, myself included, would groan. We did not have the patience to sit and listen. Now that I look back at it, I wish I had paid more attention to the reflections because Advent is a beautiful time to reflect and prepare for the coming of Jesus.
This year, my formation director lent me a book to read for Advent: "Advent and Christmas. Wisdom from Pope John Paul II" by John V. Kruse. So, instead of groaning about having to sit through an Advent book at the dinner table, I'm willingly and happily picking up an Advent book and praying with it daily! I'm blessed to have not had to go searching for one.
Advent always seems to blow past me, so I am grateful that it will be a little easier this year to be consciously aware of Advent because we pray special prayers for Liturgy of the Hours during the season of Advent. With that plus my Advent book, my day will be sprinkled with Advent reminders. The weeks leading up to Christmas can tend to be very busy, but it is important to take some time each day to pray and ask God to help prepare our hearts for the day we are all waiting for. In just about three weeks, we will be celebrating Jesus’ birth! Just as I want to prepare my heart and soul for His second coming, I want to prepare for Him to come and enter my heart on Christmas.
I began my Advent with a visit to Philly for the weekend! It was a blessing to go because a lot of our sisters live there, so I got to meet a lot of them and receive their warm welcome into the community. Our sisters founded and still run a grade school, high school, and university there. Kayla and I toured both the high school and university, which was very fun. It was really cool to learn about the beauty of the schools' tight nit communities. The picture above is of some of the sisters with Kayla and me.
I pray that you have a blessed Advent and that you draw closer to Christ so that you can joyfully receive Him on Christmas Day!