As we prepare to begin a new liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent on Nov. 28, it would be good to take a moment to reflect on the significance of Advent. After almost six months of “Ordinary Time,” we are given the opportunity to switch gears. We will be preparing ourselves for the commemoration of the birth of our Savior. Above all, Advent is a time of expectation, a time to renew our conversion practices and a time to rekindle our spiritual lives.

Advent is a time of expectation. We await the coming of Christ. The very word Advent means “coming.” In waiting for Jesus to be born, we do not have to pretend that he has not already been born. But he comes to us at Christmas in grace. Waiting for Jesus means that we try again to enter into that special time when all the world awaited Jesus’ birth. A good way to enter into this time of expectation is to think about what Mary must have been experiencing as she endured her last month or so of pregnancy. After all, Mary would have been one of the few people who had an idea of what was about to happen.

As we wait expectantly along with Mary for Jesus to be born, we prepare for Christ’s coming to us in grace. Advent can heighten our awareness of how God comes to us in the Mass and sacraments, the Word of God, and in other ways. Another way we wait during Advent is by being ready to receive God, or better, to be received by God. As we ponder the readings of the Mass during the first couple Sundays of Advent, we note that the readings are especially centered on the final coming of Jesus in glory. We want to be with Jesus and the saints in glory.

If Advent is a time of expectation, it is also a time to renew conversion practices. We see the penitential character of Advent in the color of the vestments and in the color of the candles on the Advent wreath, for example. Purple calls to mind a certain soberness and asceticism. Our time of waiting, therefore, is a time to prepare soberly, ascetically and spiritually.

The conversion practices we choose can “consist of a prayer, an offering of some kind, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all patient acceptance of the cross we must bear.” (Catechism, No. 1460) The corporal and spiritual works of mercy help us to look at our lives and scrape away those things which get in the way of allowing Jesus in. During Advent, God also invites us to listen more closely to his Word and to respond in prayer.

Thus, Advent is also a time to re-kindle our spiritual lives. There are a number of ways to re-ignite one’s spiritual life. For example, one could set aside time each day to pray over the Scriptures. During Advent, we all ought to take advantage of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Advent is a good time to go to confession as a family or, if one is a single adult, to go with a group of friends to receive this beautiful sacrament. In this way, the Sacrament of Reconciliation becomes truly an event of celebration of renewed union with God and with one’s friend, neighbor, brother, sister, mother, father, etc. And, of course, one could make an effort to attend daily Mass.

These are some ways in which we prepare ourselves for the celebration of Christmas. This Advent, Jesus desires that we be ready for his coming. He calls us to prepare ourselves by renewing our practices of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. He calls us to deeper prayer and to a deeper appreciation of the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist. As we prepare ourselves for Christ’s coming, we go forth with the words of Psalm 122 echoing in our ears: “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.”

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