Enjoy this season of preparation

A message from Vice President Fr Anthony Casamento csma:

When I was younger, my siblings and I would play a game during Christmas, sitting in a circle and passing a package that was wrapped with multiple layers of colourful Christmas paper.

As with musical chairs, we listened to cheerful Christmas music as we passed the package and when the music stopped, the person holding the package unwrapped a layer of paper until a different colour of Christmas wrapping paper showed through. With laughter and smiles, we unwrapped until the small gift in the centre was finally found. 

The unwrapping shaped the joy. It was the being together and waiting for the centre gift to emerge that gave rise to the joy.

If you think about the season of Advent that we are currently celebrating, it is a bit like the childhood game I played - a slow unwrapping.

So, it begs me to ask a few questions of us in this season of ‘busyness’ as we prepare to celebrate the great feast of Christmas: How can we enjoy this present moment in Advent? How can we be present to God’s intentional unwrapping of our lives right now? How can we slow down and savour the joy of now, rather than waiting to experience joy later?

As we continue our Advent journey, let us not forget that God is with us, creating us and unwrapping us.