December 02, 2014
Tuesday of the First Week of Advent
Gospel Luke 10: 21 – 24
Few days from now, we will commemorate the birth of Christ. Many of us will be very busy preparing for this coming celebration. People of different walks of life eagerly dress up their homes with beautiful and colorful Christmas decors. Shopping malls with breath taking gigantic Christmas tree and offer unlimited discounts in all sorts of commodities. Restaurants attract customers with unlimited rice, eat all you can, bottomless drinks, and the like. With all these preparations, it leads me to reflect my own way of looking forward and anticipating for the coming of Christ. How do I prepare myself for His coming? Where do I put my energy in terms of my preparations? Does it focus more on the external or the internal?
During my childhood and teenage years, aside from my birthday, the days before Christmas were the most exciting and significant days in my life because on these days I used to plan the things I wanted to do and of course the gifts I wished to receive. I can still vividly remember the brown pad sheet of paper where I wrote down the names of my friends who will be coming for the caroling, the instruments we will be using, the songs we will be singing, the houses or families we will be visiting, who among us will be assigned to keep the money for the group and not to forget the things we will be buying from the money we have collected. As a group of young boys and girls, full of energy and perseverance we have succeeded with our caroling. There were also moments where friends of my parents would invite me to join with them and asked me to sing some solo parts of their songs. Another excitement thing to me, in this case I have earned additional penny for Christmas. During these days too, my parents used to wake us up very early in the morning, bring us to church and attend the Misa de Gallo (Rooster’s Mass) for nine consecutive days as traditionally practiced in the family. Reminiscing all these stuffs, I thanked God for giving me those unforgettable opportunities and meaningful experiences where the seed of my faith started its growth. I met Christ from the songs we have sang, from the people I mingled around both young and not so young, and from the liturgies I have participated. Perhaps little did I know that these were God’s ways for me to prepare myself and encounter Him in my journey.
Watching the time passed by, life has changed so rapidly. Bombarded with all these high technologies, social media and commercialism, it reminds us to see beyond what our naked eyes can see. In this season of advent, once again we are called to reflect and pause a little while, take a glimpse of the interior part of ourselves and experience the loving presence of God as we prepare a place in our hearts where He can reside this Christmas.
Virginia Q. Dela Cruz
Faculty, Grade School
