The Christmas that I had during my year in the Carmelite monastery was unlike anything I have ever experienced. I was raised in a very Catholic family, with solid catechesis throughout my school years. I had a good understanding of the Faith, and Christmas in our household was very Christ-centered. So going into Christmas at the monastery, I felt I already had an understanding of Christmas and all its spiritual beauty.
What I was NOT prepared for was how deeply Advent and Christmas would touch my soul - to the point that I felt like it was my very first Christmas as a Catholic!!
So today I want to share the two things that shaped my beautiful experience of Advent and Christmas in the monastery - things that can be done by lay people living in the world in busy family lives - so you, too, can taste some of the beautiful sweetness of deeply living the liturgical year.
1. KEEP IT SIMPLE. I think it is a common thing among lay people to lay out a booklist, devotional prayer books, pious practices, devotions, etc. during more intense seasons of the liturgical year, such as Advent and Lent. (Trust me - I’ve been there! In high school I always had elaborate layouts for liturgical seasons haha!) Of course, all this is done with the best of intentions, as we seek to fully immerse ourselves in the season. However, these devotionals and practices, while intended to draw us closer to God, can actually become distractions and prevent God from working more deeply in our hearts.
I am not saying that using an Advent devotional or having Advent spiritual reading is wrong. BUT, I do want to emphasize the need to simplify. The biggest way in which I entered into the Advent season at the monastery was through the LITURGY. Even if you can’t make it to daily Mass, or don’t pray the Divine Office, it is still so powerful to take time to sit and pray with the Mass readings for the day. What better way to walk the journey of Advent than hand in hand with Holy Mother Church’s liturgical celebrations, soaking in the scriptures that she sets before us and letting them penetrate our hearts in a way that only God’s living and active Word can? The Scriptures chosen for each day's readings are deliberate, and by sitting with them and letting them work in our hearts, we will be prepared for Christmas in the most beautiful and effective way possible. Yes, Advent daily devotionals can be lovely and inspiring, but I cannot encourage you enough to prioritize the daily Mass readings in your daily prayers, before opening your devotional. This made a HUGE difference in how deeply my soul was immersed in the Advent season, and consequently in how profoundly I experienced Christmas. So if you take only one thing away from this post…pray with the daily Mass readings!
2. ENTER INTO THE SPIRIT OF LONGING. This one goes hand in hand with the last one, because the readings really set the tone for our minds and hearts. One aspect of Advent that I never really thought much of except in passing, was the longing there was in the Old Testament for the coming of the Messiah. Because we live after the coming of Jesus, I think it doesn’t really ever occur to us to long for Him, to realize how much we needed Him to come and redeem us. But at the Monastery, being steeped in the Mass readings and the Divine Office, we were repeatedly set in the place of those who lived before the coming of Christ, the ones who lived in longing anticipation of His coming. Journeying with the prophets of the Old Testament who plead for the Messiah to come, I found my own heart aching for God’s coming. I looked within, and looked at the world, and saw how desperately humanity is in need of a Saviour. And so my own heart began to echo the cries of the prophets, the cries of Zachariah, Elizabeth, and of Our Lady herself before she conceived the Messiah. “Come to us, Lord! We need you so much…”
Entering into this spirit of longing had tremendous impact because when we celebrated His arrival at Christmas, it was not just something taken for granted as already having happened - it was something I had personally prayed for, longed for, ached for, realized my tremendous need for. And so instead of just a historical fact, it felt like such a tremendous, tremendous gift. A prayer answered, a kindness beyond measure bestowed by a God Who loves us so much.
I hope these things help you enter more deeply into Advent, and so be able to experience Christmas more profoundly. While I admit that I haven’t been able to fully capture the beauty of Christmas in Carmel since leaving the monastery, these two things have allowed me to bring a glimmer of it into my life in the world.
❤️❤️❤️
Lovely! :)