PREPARING OUR HEARTS
Today the Virgin is on her way to the cave where she
will give birth to the eternal Word of God in an ineffable manner. Rejoice, therefore, O’ universe when you hear
this news, and glorify, with the angels and the shepherds, him who shall appear
as a young child, being God from all eternity.1 Today, while the world is busy with a
multitude of hurried preparations, we, true followers of the True God, are
about a different kind of preparation.
For us, the true gift of Christmas is not made of plastic, and is not
wrapped with a bow. Rather, it is formed
by the divine person of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
and is wrapped in swaddling clothes for our salvation. Today
the Virgin is on her way to the cave where she will give birth to the eternal
Word of God. Before us is a time of
preparation, a time of meditation, a time of cleansing. Make
straight the way of the Lord, the Sacred Scriptures proclaim, and for
faithful followers of Christ this warning must be taken to heart (Jn 1:23, Is
40:3). Advent, though often celebrated
as a ‘pre-Christmas’ festal season, is a time of purification for all
Catholics. Each year during the Advent
preparation, priests don the purple garments of repentance, and the Church
enters a season of reflection. It is in
the midst of this season of penance, that we recall the state of our souls in
need of Christ. Therefore, over the next
few weeks, we will turn our attention inward and begin to prepare in our hearts
a suitable place for the birth of our Savior.
As is our custom during the seasons of preparation, we place ourselves
in the presence of the great spiritual masters that have gone before us, in the
hope of learning from them the necessary means by which we may win for
ourselves the jewel of great price.
Today we sit at the feet of Saint Maximus, Bishop of Turin.
How prepared and becomingly adorned we should greet
the Natal Day
of the Lord, and observe in a worthy manner the coming festival. To observe the festival . . . so that though
the day’s solemnity may pass, the joy of its sanctifying grace may abide. For this is the special grace of the Lord’s
Birth Day, that while it goes on to all who in the future will receive it, it
still remains with the devout souls to whom it was already given. Let us then be made clean in holiness,
clothed in modesty, worthy in heart; and the nearer we approach the festival,
the more circumspectly let us walk.
If women who have the care of a home will on certain
days wash with water the garments that are soiled, should we not also make
ready our souls for the Birth Day of the Lord, cleaning with our tears the
stains of our conscience. And they,
should they find the garments so soiled and stained, that they cannot be made
clean with water alone, add to the water the softening of oil and the acrimony
of soap. We likewise, should we have
committed sins that are not washed away by repentance alone, let us add the oil
of almsgiving and the bitterness of fasting.
There is no sin so grave that abstinence will not cleanse, that
almsgiving will not blot out.
These are the weapons of our Faith, by means of which
we wage war. That we may use these
weapons we must however do violence to ourselves, we must drive out vice from
our own members, that we may attain to the rewards of virtue. For we must first rule in our own hearts,
before we can seize the Kingdom of heaven . . . All who sleep lose Christ, and
the vigilant find Him . . . So, Brethren, let us not sleep, but keep watch
about Our Lord and Savior, to make sure with unceasing vigil that no one shall
steal Him from the sepulcher of our hearts, lest we may have to say at some
time, “They came while we were sleeping and stole him away.” For we have enemies who will try to steal
Christ from our hearts, should we lapse into sleep. So with unceasing watch let us keep Him
within the sepulcher of our souls; there let Him rest; there let Him sleep;
there when He wills, let Him rise again.
Therefore, Brethren, let us who are about to greet the
Birth Day of the Lord clean our consciences from all defilement; and let us
prepare for ourselves, not silken garments, but precious works. Elegant garments may adorn the body, but they
do not adorn the conscience; unless you consider it more decorous, to go about
elegant in dress and defiled in mind.
That the clothing of the outward man may in all ways be becoming, let us
first make worthy the dispositions of the interior man; that our bodily
adornment may be the more perfect, let us wash away all spiritual stain.2
1 Kontakian of Advent, Festal Menaion.
2 Saint Maximus, On
the Preparation for the Lord’s Coming.
