Doing Advent Right

Each year, as Advent approaches, I think to myself how familiar and comfortable this all feels: the lighting of our Advent wreath, the readings from Scripture, and saints our family shares as we count down the days and make our home cozy for Christmas. And yet, each year I think to myself, I want to “do it right” this year. I want truly to understand this season of waiting and preparing my heart for Christ.

This year I turn to words often attributed to St. Teresa of Calcutta for inspiration. She prayed, “[Lord,] give me singleness of purpose, strength to lift up a part of the burden of my suffering fellowmen, and a realization of the privilege that is mine. Take from my heart all guile and worldliness, that with the simple faith of a child, I may rely on you.” (Give Yourself Fully to God: Praying Through Advent with Mother Teresa, All Saints Press)

This is the crux of Advent, learning to surrender again as we wait. The Church calendar is so gracious to us. Each year, it gives us another chance to live more deeply in God’s grace by surrendering to God.

St. Teresa’s prayer reminds us that part of surrendering to Jesus is no longer focusing on just ourselves. We are to carry some of the burden of those around us. I think of how angel trees and wish lists attempt to do this. We try to give monetarily to others to make it a special Christmas. We donate a ham or a few pajama sets. This is well and good, but I wonder what else Jesus might be calling us to do.

We want to know Jesus and want others to know him too. In sharing this goodness of Jesus, we experience a new depth to his goodness.

We pray to approach Advent with the simple faith of a child. Even secular celebrations focus on this childlike wonder. When we become childlike in our faith, we can do nothing but rely on God. We must surrender ourselves to his plan. God refines us, as a father does with his own children. He shows us how to live and where to spend our time and attention. Pope Leo XIV reminds us of this too, when he says, “Saint Augustine urges us to pay attention and to listen to the inner teacher, the voice that speaks from within all of us. It is within our hearts where God speaks to us.”

So we pare down. We simplify. We turn down the volume of the world and listen. What is Jesus saying? Where is he taking us next? How can we surrender even more of ourselves to him?

I know I’m “doing” Advent right when it doesn’t feel familiar at all. When it feels like I am moving deeper into the heart of Jesus, that’s a fruitful Advent.