At Mass today, the first Sunday of Advent, I was reminded that Advent is a time of preparation not only for the birth of Christ on Christmas, but also for His Second Coming at the end of time. As the priest prayed the words of Consecration, I was reminded that we should prepare our hearts in great joyful expectation for Christmas day, the day on which Christ entered the world, the feast on which receiving Christ anew in the Eucharist takes on a deeper meaning. We should be just like a child who has already begun counting down the days until Christmas and can hardly go to sleep the night before. Simultaneously, we wait and prepare, with the same hope and longing as the wise virgins waiting for the Bridegroom with burning lamps and extra oil, for that fateful day when He comes again. “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13)
I was struck by the hymn during the preparation for Holy Communion which tied together so clearly our preparation for Christmas, His Second Coming, and Marriage (specifically when we are engaged):
You can see that our time of preparation for Christmas, Advent, and the eschatological parallel, the Second Coming, is like the time of engagement before Marriage; all three are a preparation to be united with our Beloved! If you and your fiancé are engaged during this season of Advent, you too can unite your spiritual preparation for marriage with spiritual preparation for Christ at Christmas and at His Second Coming. We can learn from each of these monumental events and their corresponding preparation, connecting them in our hearts and bearing much fruit by the grace of God.
I was married during Advent, on December 15th, 2018, and it was a greatly anticipated day, with the expected hustle and bustle as we made sure every detail was arranged perfectly. Of course, we made sure the centerpieces were in place the night before, we made sure the cake would arrive at the venue on the morning of the wedding, and we made sure someone would remember to hand out the Nuptial Mass programs to each guest (a task which often gets forgotten, my Mom would say). To the best of our combined abilities, my fiancé and I prepared each detail. Everything was beautiful… however, in the final days leading up to the wedding, we forgot to finish writing all the reception seat assignment name tags. The guests were arriving at the reception hall (of course, much earlier than we anticipated, at an hour we least expected) and we were furiously finishing writing each of their names and tables on the little cards. Needless to say, we were not as prepared as we could have been!
Now, we look back on this fiasco and laugh together, having learned a tough lesson on the consequences of procrastination (thankfully, the guests whose nametags were hastily written at the last minute didn’t mind too much). But what can we learn from this about preparing for Christmas and the Second Coming? We learn that we must be vigilant in our spiritual lives as we strive to build our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. We learn that we must be ready at all times, just like the wise virgins. We learn that we can’t just expect to have the time at some vague future date to finish the nametags, to start a habit of daily prayer, to grow into the Saint that God calls us to be. We learn that we all mess up and offend God, and therefore we must receive the Sacrament of Confession frequently, especially as we approach our wedding day, Christmas, and the Second Coming. We learn that we should be preparing for each of these events with great excitement, attention to detail, and with the end goal in mind: to be united with our Beloved forever in Heaven.
Anna at Cana
Married December 15, 2018, at Saint Patrick Church in Columbus, Ohio // Mother of three on Earth and 1 in Heaven
