3rd Sunday Of Advent 2022

For close to fifteen years I was Teacher-Chaplain at Notre Dame High School in Toronto. As many of you know, this is a Congregation de Notre-Dame school for girls in the east end of the city.

When I attended the school myself, I learned for the first time about the season of Advent and the Advent Wreath. The daily Advent prayer over the PA, led by students from home rooms across all the grades, was an important part of the start of our day.

Equally important was the daily preparation of the Christmas Basket, collecting food and gifts for our Christmas Basket family. These two experiences had a profound effect on me, and never again would I approach Advent and Christmas without the dual lens of praying and giving.

When I returned as a teacher, it was a source of deep happiness that I could experience the season of Advent through the mingling of prayer and work, this time as an adult in a supporting role. Even now that I’m retired, I still remember the excitement and satisfaction of those weeks.

Nowadays, I stick pretty close to home: what arthritis started, COVID finished. Even so, I find myself bombarded by the messages of the secular/commercial Christmas: “Shop like Santa, save like Scrooge!” “Out-Santa Santa!” “Get the gift you really want!” I turn the volume down.

There’s a radio station that plays “All Christmas, all the time.” I turn the radio off. There’s a TV station running non-stop Christmas movies. I skip that channel.

Instead, I focus on the people I love, and how I will show them my love at Christmas. That is Work.

Then I focus on the people I don’t know and ask God to bless and support them. That is Prayer.

Then I focus on the memories of Advent past, knowing that within the COVID parameters, students at Notre Dame High School are still lighting the Advent Wreath and filling Christmas Baskets. That is Hope.

And now, as we light the pink candle on Gaudete Sunday, I look back on years of Advent preparation fulfilled and look forward to years of Advent preparation to come. That is Joy.

Rejoice, the day is near. Gaudete!