There is now only one more Sunday left in the Church’s    calendar year before Advent and thereafter, only twenty-five days until Christmas.

Advent and Christmas are fast approaching and the best thing you can do is to prepare your heart and your soul so that you don’t feel the “Holiday Burnout” when it is time to feast and celebrate the Nativity of Christ.

In that spirit, the liturgy and the readings at Mass will prepare you for Advent while also ensuring a deeper meaning of the Christmas celebrations and a more fruitful time this season.

Advent is the time to prepare our hearts for Christ and the celebration around His Nativity. In our modern era, the secular celebration has overtaken both our own feast and Advent. The best you can do for yourself is slow down and bring your own heart to a mode of penance and anticipation before the Midnight Christmas Mass.

Advent and the Christmas season are periods of grace. Let us welcome Baby Jesus not like people who are without hope, but as a people full of joy. Do draw up your own prayer and meditation timetable during this coming Advent. Allocate 15 – 20 minutes a day for yourself for this and you will find you are more meditative and prayerful.

May Christ bless you all as we end our liturgical year and fill your hearts with joy in the months to come!