Second Sunday of Advent

     Prayer should be an important part of our lives as Catholics; prayer needs to be a part of our lives (and our schedule) during this Advent season as we prepare for the coming of Christ. In our Second Reading today, St. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians proclaims a prayer for them (and for us as well), “And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.”

     That prayer is a succinct way of reminding us what we should be doing as part of our Advent preparations. We should be making a concerted effort to love; that we need to increase both our knowledge and our perception of what it means to be a good Catholic, a good steward, a disciple; that we must sort out what is really of value — that can be a challenge in a world where Christmas is so commercialized and the emphasis seems to be placed more on glitz than on faith; and that we should be striving for “righteousness” as we prepare for not just the birth of Christ, but the final coming of the Lord as well.