I just wanted to mention that I took Jean's suggestion for my own personal Advent devotional reading. Since Advent timing can move around a bit, the book begins on November 24 and I began reading it then. So far it has provided a good variety of Christian writing that is wholly in line with an Advent message.
In this week's scripture study our priest reminded us that Advent is not "the great penitence of Lent when one is focused on me, me, me ... on what I do wrong." He told us that we are like watchers at a window, looking out and waiting for the dawn, for the light to come to us. Advent, he told us, is about waiting for Christ to come, not only the historical Jesus, not only the Christ who will come at the end of time, though it is about all those things. Ultimately Advent is about waiting for Christ to come every day in our lives to complete us ... because we are broken and incomplete until he is here. So it is a gentler time of reflection and of a lesser penitence because our focus is on that window, waiting for the light to come to us.
Looking ahead through the book, I saw that, as Jean had mentioned, Martin Luther is the featured writer for December 24. I read it ahead of time to see what was selected since often I have read bits of Luther that have been perfectly straight forward and unexceptional. This, however, was not the case as it became clear that this piece was quite pointed toward a works versus faith argument ... which even if I was in the mood for such a thing on Christmas Eve, is quite out of place in such a setting. So I advise skipping that reading should you pick up the book. However, overall I recommend the book.
Tags: Catholicism, Christianity
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