We settle into the Advent season with quiet comfort. It has been busy around us, but not too crazy. Since we need to be frugal, many of the plans and activities that used to drain us are no longer attractive, which gives us time to clean house and pray. Both seem suited to the season. I miss the old rush, the round of parties, the late nights wrapping gifts, but it's nice to get to bed on time, rest well and enjoy the days in simple ways. Most of all, we seem to gravitate to church, taking classes, going to special liturgies, we even signed up for an "evening retreat" with a favorite teacher.
     On Sunday mornings we are hospitality ministers. We greet people as they come into church and pass out song sheets. We scan the assembly to look for empty seats so those who come a little late don't have to stand in the back. We help take up the collection. We guide the lines to Communion and after Mass we pass out bulletins. People seem to like it. One man thanked me "for being here". I wonder sometimes if people, in their everyday lives, ever hear someone say "hello".
     The Advent season has its prayers and liturgies, and it's always been a favorite of mine. But I'm not sure if I prefer Christmas or Easter. Easter is preceded by the season of Lent, during which we pray and reflect, seeking to know our weaknesses and ways to improve ourselves. During Advent we also pray and reflect, but this is in anticipation of the great Feast of Christmas. In Advent we prepare for the celebration. At Easter, we celebrate our preparations.
     They tell us that Saint Francis loved Christmas and that Christmas is a day beloved among Franciscans. But Easter somehow seems more real to me, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because Easter celebrates the promise of our Lord's return, when all the world will be set right and peace will reign forever. Our hope is in the Lord and in his second coming. Christmas is the story of his wonderful gift of self while Easter is the promise of the fulfillment of his final promise, the one thing we still wait for. So while we live, we work to prepare for his return, and when he comes again, we will celebrate that work with him in his kingdom.
     I think that as my heart changes, my celebrations will change. Christmas, I suspect, will take on new meaning for me as the wrappings and glitter fall away. How do people celebrate when they find they are in love with God? For JoAnne and I, we go to church, and enter once again into the quiet joy, the songs and prayers, the faces and hearts around us. We take the Eucharist and once more we are made into one Body with all the others. These are truly our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers through Christ. At church, we are at home.

     And God is taking that and stretching it to fit the whole world...