Don't Celebrate Christmas...

Although Advent doesn't begin until next Sunday, it only last for three weeks this year so I thought I'd get a jump on it today by offering some brief reflections from Day. I know I personally will be working to make Advent a little Lent this year in preparation for the birth of our Lord. While most still abstain from something, even if it's just the occasional piece of candy, during Lent, the sacrifices made during Advent have been long forgotten. Instead we party from the fourth Thursday in November straight through until the New Year. We resume our daily grind January first with new resolutions and a new diet. Come Epiphany, our Christmas tree long since discarded, we shop stores preparing for Valentine's Day. This year don't celebrate Christmas until December 25 and try enjoying Advent for a change.

"...Advent must begin with Mary, who presents us with the infant Christ. "The flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary," St. Augustine wrote. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." When I go to the crib this year I will think, as I always do, that we are not dependent on the governments of this world for our safety, but "the government will be upon His shoulder." This baby cradled in a manger, this boy talking to the doctors in the temple, this youth working with St. Joseph as carpenter, this teacher walking the roads of Palestine, "Do whatever He tells you," Mary told us."
"Reflections During Advent," Part One
"Searching for Christ"
By Dorothy Day
Ave Maria, November 26, 1966, pp. 8-9.