Let us spend the Advent season uniting ourselves to the Lord

I played football, coached football and have also spent about a decade as a broadcaster for McGill-Toolen Catholic High School football games on Archangel Radio.
There are a lot of differences in each of those roles, but what they all have in common is the need to prepare for the game. In fact, the band, the cheerleaders, the referees, the stadium manager and many others all have the common thread of preparation. It is amazing how many hours of labor go into the execution of a football game.  Can you imagine what would happen if nobody prepared in advance, but rather just showed up at kickoff? It would be total chaos and I am sure the event would be cancelled or at the least, be rescheduled.  
It takes many people, over many hours, to prepare for such an event — but we seem to think the labor of preparation is worth it.
What about Christmas?  We are just a few weeks away from the most significant birth that has ever occurred. We will gather as the people of God and celebrate the fact that Jesus was born, so that He could die for our sins and open the gates of heaven to us.  
I have heard a nice summary of our salvation, “Jesus paid a price He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay.” The rejection of God by our first parents, Adam and Eve, had a cataclysmic impact on humanity.  We chose to not be in relationship with God.  He honored our choice and then began to build the bridge that someday, humanity could use to be reconciled to Him.
So, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we have gatherings with our family and friends, we buy gifts for many people and we have meals together.  Really, it is an awesome time, but I realize that sometimes I let the trappings of Christmas become the main events instead of focusing and preparing to celebrate the fact that God loved me enough to die for me.
Let us spend the next few weeks attempting to unite ourselves to the Lord.  I strongly recommend Advent wreaths.  I found this link that you might find helpful for incorporating an Advent wreath into your prayerful preparation: www.usccb.org/prayers/blessing-advent-wreath
— Pat Arensberg is the Director of the Office for Evangelization and Family Life. Email him at [email protected].
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