Third Sunday of Advent – December 17

By Sr. Mary Ann Zimmer, ND

Christmas is near! Is this good news for you or is it panic inducing? The Sunday readings this week instruct us to rejoice. Our topic this week is Advent guilt. Advent spirituality if about anticipation, waiting, patience, and hope. Meanwhile many of us have been shopping in Christmas laden stores since before Thanksgiving! We may have been to many parties already and worn our ugly sweater to a frazzle.

So where is the waiting and the anticipation? Is it wrong to take part in all of the ways the U.S. celebrates? Because Christmas celebrates the Incarnation of God into willing and loving union with humanity, nothing human is excluded. The key is to avoid what leads us away from faith, hope, and charity and nurture what leads us toward those things.

Compassion (including for self), generosity, care for the poor, hope in the face of disasters of every size, and acceptance of our human condition lead us into the heart of the Incarnation. God is with us wherever we are.