Advent 2021

ONE

Advent.

I was thinking about the Innkeeper in Bethlehem. God came to his B and B and he had no room for God, so God had to be born in a stable made out of a cave.

Now millions of people go to the cave every year to revere the birthplace of Jesus. But that could have been his hotel. Imagine the money his descendants would be making today if he would have let Jesus in. All those millions would be coming to his place.

As I was with a group of friends I said; “Oh man, that Innkeeper should have kicked someone out so that the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph could have stayed with him. Who should he have kicked out…?” immediately a good friend responded; “He should have kicked himself out.”

His answer was like a lightning bolt. Yeah, he shoulda kicked himself out.

If he would have gotten out of the way, and made room for Jesus, Mary and Joseph everything would have changed for the better for the Innkeeper.

This Advent teaches the lesson of the Innkeeper.

Kick yourself out.

TWO

St. Paul said within us is the old man of sin and the new man, Jesus, who wants to live within us. We gotta kick the old man out so that Jesus can stay with us, live within us.

That begins with a self-examination, an honest assessment of our lives. We need to identify the vices, character flaws, sins and behavioral addictions in our life that are blocking the entrance to Jesus.

We begin to remove those blockages by identifying and admitting to them and with the desire to get rid of them.

The next step is confession. If you want to kick the old man out and let Jesus in, then it begins with Confession. Go to Confession early this Advent. And invite someone to go with you.

THREE

Once we make room by kicking the old man of sin out, we then invite the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph to come into the home of our soul and we spend time with them – that is prayer.

This is why I love the Rosary especially during Advent. Every time we pray the Rosary we invite Jesus, Mary and Joseph into the home of our soul and we spend time with them.

Now let’s go a step further. Dr. Hinkel and I have given spiritual direction to many people. Very few do the most important thing in prayer - set aside at least 30 minutes in solitude and silence, with no distractions, I mean no distractions from phone, notifications, or from that stupid smart watch or laptop or whatever – no distractions, then read the Bible, the Word of God, and then sit in silence and think about it and talk to God from the heart about it. But you must sit in silence for as much time as you read. ½ and ½. Even better yet, more time spent thinking and talking with God and just being with Him, than reading.

Try this for Advent, commit 30 minutes in the morning to this solitude and silence with the Word of God; then pray the Rosary with at least one other person every evening. The bookends of your days in Advent.

FOUR

We are all like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

There are times we behave really well and treat our spouse, kids, parents, siblings, bosses, employees, co-workers, clients and patients the way we should. But there are lots of other times, more than I want to admit, when we act more like a monster, like Mr. Hyde to the people in our life. There is a monster in all of us we need to kick out this Advent. This monster does not have power over you. You are free. But we gotta make the choice to act differently.

Advent is not about the way we wish others would change. Advent is about how I need to change and behave better.

Let’s take it one day at a time. Today, look back over your last 24 hours and see where you did not think, speak or act like you should. Be sorry for this and then make the resolution to think, speak and act better toward that person. That is your resolution. Then do it and assess how you did at the end of the next day. Either we are serious about kicking out Mr. Hyde or we actually like Hyde better than Christ.

FIVE

Do something for someone else.

“Ego” is an acronym for edging God out. We are so obsessed with ourselves that we push God out. We need to kick ourselves out. One of the best ways is to do something for someone else every day of Advent. But don’t tell anyone you did it.

These can be big things or really small things.

Here’s how. Anticipate the needs and desires of another person. My wife Sandy is great at this. Me, not so much. Think about what another person needs or might like and then take action. Do it without them asking.

Try this – at the beginning of each day in your prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to bring one person to your attention and inspire you with some small thing you could do for them. Then make the resolution and do it.

This is a great way for us to kick our obsession with ourselves out and to let Jesus in.