Preparing the Heart for Christmas

​Christmas is rapidly approaching. There are surely at least a few more preparations,
and it may be easy to get swept into agitation. Let us bear in mind, in the midst if
everything, that the preparation that matters most is that of the heart. And, whose
Christmas preparation better to imitate than that of Mary? Whose assistance better to
seek than that of Mary? If there is someone who knows how to prepare the coming of
Christ, it is Mary.
How did Mary prepare? Aside from the expected material preparations, we see Mary
“treasure all these things in her heart”. Twice in the gospel of Luke this is explicitly
mentioned about Mary: at the visit of the shepherds and at the finding of the 12-year-old
boy Jesus in the Temple. Mary practiced gratitude and let herself be in awe. If we take
time to be quiet, just a few moments, I am certain gratitude and awe will surface in us.
We have every reason to be grateful and in awe.
As Christmas rapidly approaches, may the words of St. Bede (+735), the English monk
and only native of Great Britain to be declared a Doctor of the Church, carry us through
any complexity or challenges associated with the holidays, especially this year:

Christ is the Morning Star,
who, when the night of this world is past,
gives to his saints the promise of the light of life,
and opens everlasting day.

Looking forward with you,
Fr. Dominique
Brother-in-Christ