Bishops' Schedules: Schedule of Bishop Robert C. Morlino Thursday, December 4, 2003 Concelebrate at the Mass of Installation of the Most Reverend Leonard P. Blair as Bishop of Toledo, Our Lady, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Cathedral, Toledo, Ohio Friday, December 5, 2003 12:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison, followed by the praying of the rosary Saturday, December 6, 2003 11:00 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Apostolate to the Handicapped Christmas Mass, Monroe High School, Monroe Sunday, December 7, 2003 10:00 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Second Sunday of Advent, St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison Monday, December 8, 2003 12:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison Tuesday, December 9, 2003 6:30 p.m. -- Attend "Turducten" Dinner, Knights of Columbus Council No. 531, Madison Thursday, December 11, 2003 Attend Solemn Vespers Service, St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Green Bay Schedule of Bishop George O. Wirz Thursday, December 4, 2003 10:30 a.m. -- Chair Board Meeting for Office for Continuing Education of Priests, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison Thursday, December 11, 2003 Attend Solemn Vespers Service, St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Green Bay

Advent: Take time to receive gift of the Christmas spirit

		Under the Gospel Book + Bishop Robert C. Morlino

Dear Friends,

The time of Advent reminds us to wait for the coming of the Heavenly Kingdom at the end of history as we also prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas. It is good to remind ourselves as Christmas draws near of what we can do and what we can avoid to prepare ourselves well.

John the Baptist points to the Savior

The figures which the liturgies of Advent place before us, those of John the Baptist and our Blessed Mother, tell us well what we should do. John the Baptist knew that he was not the Messiah and that he didn't have to try to be such. All he needed to do was point to the one true Savior of the world - "there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

By what we say and what we do we are called to remind our sisters and brothers of who the Messiah really is rather than to take that task, which we could never carry out anyway, upon ourselves. John the Baptist by his life and death reminded everyone perfectly that only Jesus Christ is everything for everyone, and throughout Advent, and of course every day we should never stop looking for ways to repeat this conviction of St. John the Baptist.

Our Blessed Mother waited

Our Blessed Mother was the only one who deliberately waited for the birth of Christ from the moment of His conception. She was the only one who knew what was happening even though her understanding was incomplete. She allowed her whole life to be determined and defined moment to moment, she allowed her schedule to be set, she allowed her priorities to be indicated by the coming of her Savior.

From the moment of the conception of Jesus the Lord in her womb as she waited for the fullness of His coming to unfold, she had no life of her own. She simply waited for the Savior. This kind of focus is what enables one to be open to the gift of the Christmas spirit, so called, which so many people always wind up regretting that somehow they never experienced once the holidays are over - "somehow I really didn't get into Christmas this year." Certain things which remove our attention and our focus from the coming of the Savior make it impossible to get into the Christmas spirit and as difficult as it is, these are to be avoided.

Avoid holiday stress, focus on Christ

The main culprit here is the additional stress which comes with Christmas because of social gatherings, shopping, gift giving, those parts of Christmas that are wonderful if they are second in order to a focus on the coming of Christ. But when these other matters become the primary focus, Christ Himself gets eliminated from Christmas and it is no wonder that people lament not having gotten into Christmas in a given year.

There are simply too many things in our culture that we think we have to do: we have to write out Christmas cards, we have to arrange certain gatherings, we have to purchase certain gifts even if that purchase places us in serious debt and causes not only present but prolonged stress. We think we have to do these things.

In fact the only thing we have to do to get ready for Christmas is to be more like John the Baptist pointing to the Savior and more like our Blessed Mother forfeiting any other purpose in our life except to do those things which mean waiting for Him with open and pure hearts. While we all know this, and each year at Christmas most of us think these thoughts, we never really put them into practice and so more and more we lose our grasp on the Christmas spirit, a marvelous gift that Christ wants us to have.

If we cannot be changed completely this Advent in terms of a preoccupation with those things that eliminate the Christmas spirit, at least we can do something to move in the right direction. It would be wonderful if we would take some time at the beginning of Advent to figure out what we might do in fact to move in the right direction and to make some humble beginning. The least effort or offering that we make to the Lord in this regard will be rewarded with the disproportionate outpouring of the gift of the Christmas spirit which enlivens our hope as we continue each day on our pilgrimage through this world, a world so often without hope.

Let us pray for one another that we will have a holy and blessed Advent and rejoice in a more full reception of the joy and the hope of Christmas. Thank you for reading this. God love you and God bless you. Praised be Jesus Christ!