Created by Christopher Carmody: jesusinsalem@yahoo.com and Stephanie Rangel: beverlyyouthministry@gmail.

com

Year Faith
of
2012-2013
Ask for the PERFECT Gift This Season:
The Word Made Flesh. Where Do I get one of those?

2 December 2012

If youre taking time to read this article then you are already way behind on your Christmas shopping. I mean come on people, didnt you notice the sales right after Halloween? These are the years when the consumer doesnt have to settle for a Black Friday...we now have Black Weekend! Buy, Buy, Buy! But I wonder...what if we focus on RECIEVING this season? It sounds pretty good to me! What if we stop focusing on what were going to buy and start thinking about what were going to get?

This is it! You are guaranteed to get more than you bargained for with this amazing gift. In fact, the Church dedicates an entire Liturgical Season to the coming of this amazing gift. This ADVENT season we celebrate the anniversary of the Lords coming into history and time, BECOMING FLESH, as the INCARNATE God of love. The Word Made Flesh is fully human, but also fully divine.

The Gift is Jesus Christ We are finally given a human depiction of God. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whomever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God sends His only Son all for the purpose of saving us from our sins. He is so smart, isnt He? God knows that we have this inherent desire to obtain the best gift possible; the one thing that will really make us happy. So He says, Ok, Im going to give the gift above all gifts...me!

Christ Will Come Again:

Advent is really a time when we anticipate and make ready ourselves for His final coming, in which justice will reign from the Kingdom of God. We are not simply preparing the way of the Lord in the sense that we celebrate His birth. We also wait in eager anticipation for when He comes again! Even in the Mass we say, We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection, until You come again. This is a declaration of hope and expectancy, to understand that Christ promises us that He will come again to unify us, with Him, in all eternity.

CHALLENGE
You Can Even RECEIVE at Mass!
While we are alive we have the opportunity to keep preparing for Christ. We can start doing this by receiving Him at Mass during Communion. Its like celebrating a tiny Advent Season every time we prepare for the Eucharist. We can prepare by going to Confession before hand. Confession purifies the soul and place back in full grace with God. So start this Advent off the right way and get ready to

Advent

is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us decisively toward him who already came, who will come, and who comes continuously.- Blessed John Paul II in
his address on Dec. 18, 2002

RECEIVE, RECEIVE, RECEIVE!