We are into the second week of Advent and as we approach the Feast of Christmas, we wonder how we can prepare ourselves for the birth of the Savior. This week we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. In this column I would like to draw your attention to Mary. Besides Jesus, no other figure is more central to the Christmas story than Mary. There is no one else who can help us prepare better for the birth of the Savior than the Mother of the Savior Himself. We can only imagine with what tender love and eager anticipation she would have awaited His birth. His arrival changed drastically not only her life but also the course of human history. What lessons can we learn from this humble maiden from Nazareth whom God diligently transformed to become a worthy dwelling for His Son?
The people of Israel were wise because the Lord was their God. As long as they followed and obeyed Him, they held on to their wisdom. This God taught them many wonderful lessons. He asked them to rest on the Sabbath and He wanted them to declare a jubilee year once every 50 years. As we read in the Book of Leviticus (25:10-11), God says:
And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family.
Someone has said: “Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” All of us must encourage our hearts to remember – remember the kindnesses we receive everyday, the love we take for granted, and the blessings the Lord bestows on us on a daily basis. Unfortunately our memories find it easier to dwell on the bad than on the good. I believe that most of us spend too much time complaining and not enough time being grateful.
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Born in India to deeply-committed Catholic parents, Fr Britto is one of seven children. He joined the Salesians of Don Bosco as a young man and was ordained a priest in 1981.
After he completed his priestly formation and his early education in India, he came to the US for his graduate degree in Journalism at...Read more...
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