Something for the Eve of Christmas Eve

Advent is a penitential season. It doesn't get nearly the respect Lent does in this regard, but I try to do something. This year, I resolved to read all the daily entries in Francis Fernandez' meditation series, In Conversation with God.

It didn't go well. The book is great, but I'm not. Between sickness and a blitz at the office, I fell five days behind last week. On Saturday, I started reading Tuesday's entries and caught up by Sunday evening. It has a lot of great stuff. I figured, "Maybe others have struggled this Christmas, too. Maybe a 'best of' Frankie F.' would help get them ready for Our Savior's birth." So as I read last weekend, I typed in a few good passages as I came across them:

"Once again we must want a new conversion--that turning towards God just before Christmas."

"When you love someone, you want to know all about his life and character, so as to become like him. That is why we have to meditate on the life of Jesus, from his birth in a stable right up to his death and resurrection."

"It was the simplicity of [the shepherds] that would enable them to see the Child who had been announced to them. It enables them to surrender themselves to Him and adore Him. . . . Without humility and purity of heart it is impossible to recognize him, although he may be very close."

The "Church invites us to pray: Almighty and merciful God, grant that the anxieties of this life may not impede us as we hasten to meet your Son." (Quoting the Collect of the Mass for the Second Sunday of Advent.)

"Watch. . . [W]e men tend towards drowsiness and comfort-seeking. We cannot allow our hearts to become dulled with gluttony and drunkenness, and the cares of this life." (Quoting 1 Thessalonians)

"Our vigilance has to be in the little things that fill up our day."

"It would be sad if our life was like a great avenue of wasted opportunities. [It] could happen through letting negligence, laziness, comfort-seeking, selfishness and a lack of love creep into us."