Prepare

Prepare

Today’s Gospel quotes Isaiah the prophet: “Prepare the way of the Lord.” This is our directive during this Advent season. But we need to remember not only to prepare for the Lord’s birth at Christmas, but to prepare and be ready for His second coming at the end of time.

We all prepare to celebrate Christmas. It could be simple everyday things such as decorating, sending greeting cards, preparing special family meals, buying presents or wishing someone a Merry Christmas. We may even go deeper than that. Things such as serving meals at a soup kitchen, giving gifts to needy families, donations to charities, food to food pantries, are a few things that come to mind. But that’s for today. What about the future? Have these good deeds changed our lives for the rest of the year? Are we as generous the other eleven months as we are in December? The good and generous things we do this month should change our heart to be aware of the needy all year round. We need to check on our neighbors regularly. We need to see if our family could use our help and go beyond the hurts or grudges that we’ve been keeping.

Prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth this Christmas. Let these celebrations prepare us for His Second Coming.