Prepare Ye the Way

Weekly column

It was a few days into Advent when I looked around to discover little hints of autumn still strewn throughout the house.

There was a basket of gourds on the coffee table and several small pumpkins on the mantel. Paper maple leaves hung from the dining room chandelier while Henry’s tiny handprint-turned-turkey decorated the fridge.

The only sign of a change in the seasons – liturgical or otherwise – was the Advent wreath on the dining room table. I had actually taken that out of the attic a few days before Advent began, and even though I was using last years’ candles (short, but doing the trick) I felt like I was really on the ball.

I was feeling absolutely ahead of the game until that glance, the one reminding me that the seasons had changed but my décor had not.

Truthfully, I try not to do too much Christmas decorating so early in Advent. We are preparing for the Christmas season, but not technically in it. Growing up, my family always decorated our tree on Gaudete Sunday (or “Pink Sunday” as we called it) and I still feel compelled to take my time before I totally deck the halls.

But major decorating aside, there are still plenty of other smaller efforts I want to make. I made a mental note, as I surveyed the scene, to purge the gourds and at least bring out our Nativity set and a few other items to set our sights on Advent.

The problem was, everytime I thought about getting more décor from the attic I would stop short. I didn’t want to bring out anything until I could do a really deep clean to get the house ready for all the upcoming excitement. No hauling out any more items or covering any surfaces without first wiping everything down. I needed to clean out corners and dust and get everything just so.

My work for those next few days was certainly cut out for me.

As we were sitting in Mass on the first Sunday of Advent, I found myself praying for grace and peace. The front end of this beautiful season feels like the calm before the storm – the first Sunday of Advent is wonderful because the frenzied pace of last minute gift-buying and card-sending and party-going – none of that has hit just yet.

I sat in my pew and watched light filter through the stained glass windows. I soaked up every bit of calm the Lord had to offer in that beautiful space and I asked him to bless me, to bless my family as we started this season. In that moment, and over the next few days, each time I asked for this grace and peace the reply was the same: prepare ye the way.

This is what Advent is all about of course – preparing the way. We prepare practically on so many levels, marking things off our always-growing To Do lists. We can’t ignore the practical, especially not in this season. We prepare gifts and menus, we prepare our Christmas outfits and we prepare our home for all that is right around the corner.

But the most important thing we prepare is our hearts – if we neglect the interior life than we have done nothing.

In his homily from the first vespers of Advent, Pope Benedict reminded the faithful of the importance of this preparation, of keeping our eyes on the eternal perspective in order to have the greatest joy in this season.

“Advent is the time…of joy, of an internalized joy, that no suffering can erase. Joy because of the fact that God became a child. This joy, invisibly present in us, encourages us to walk with confidence.”

In the midst of a million practical details, I remind myself that the greatest, most important preparation for Christmas is to prepare my heart. I want to prepare it to celebrate Christ’s birth, to soak up the joy he brings that cannot be diminished by any other detail of my life.