1ST WEEK OF ADVENT 1983 -

EVERYDAY IS ADVENT

365 days should be for us Advent, to prepare for His coming to us before Mass
Today is the beginning of Advent. Tomorrow is the 1st Sunday of Advent. Already there is so
much sin in the world. And God looked and He looked and looked and He found a young girl,
a virgin, so beautiful, so pure, and so He chose her to be the Mother for His Son! Can our Lord
send an angel to this house or city and find someone who will be able to carry the Son of God
in the world? Would He find your heart pure? Is my heart ready? Would he find in your heart,
in my heart that peace, that joy, that love and that purity that he found at that time in Mary?
And yet every day, yes every day, God shows His great love for us. Yes, He shows He loves us
very much. How? By giving us Jesus in Holy Communion! Today is the beginning of Advent.
Tomorrow is the 1st Sunday of Advent. Everyday is a day of loving expectation for His
coming to us. Everyday, 365 days should be for us Advent, to prepare for His coming to us
before Mass.
Renew your zeal for souls and love for each other. During Advent, I was looking at the crib
and thought if it was there only in name, Namkavaste, as they say in Hindi, as a show put on a
pedestal under the altar. I saw it and put it near Our Lady and I looked inside, there was
scarcely any straw. The spirit of sacrifice has gone. That zeal is not there!
Before, at the beginning of the Congregation, we made lots of sacrifices, and for each sacrifice
we put in the empty crib daily our straw of sacrifices. Then on Christmas Day Baby Jesus
would have a warm bed on the straw of our sacrifices. One community had only a box and not
even a crib was made. I was surprised to see this once even in the Mother House also. And one
of the sisters said to me, This making of the crib is only a fashion. We have to use whatever
we have. Even in the community, if one sister is not all right and does not want to do what we
normally do, still, she does not decide by herself, you must have the courage to tell her.
Christ came to give Good News to the poor
If you want to get the real spirit of the coming of Jesus try to understand poverty. It was a
choice of God that Jesus was to be born in utter poverty. He could have chosen it differently.
Has this Advent helped you to deepen that? Has this Advent helped you to understand poverty
better? Christmas is not only external celebrations but it is much more than that. It is that
tenderness of Gods love for us.
He came to give Good News to the poor. If we dont keep poverty it will be only external
celebration, and nothing else. Christ came to give Good News to the poor. Can I look at Baby
Jesus in the crib and say, Jesus, thank you! See the poverty of Jesus! Mary gave Him
swaddling clothes. In Europe and other places they wrap the baby tight and straight and you
can only see their little faces. Mary wrapped Him in swaddling clothes! Tonight, when you
look at the crib and go to give a kiss to Baby Jesus, what is it that you will offer Him?
Sisters have the joy of living together and share it with each other

St. John Berchman had great difficulties in the community so he made a litany of saints for
each of his brothers in the community, Brother John, who is humble, pray for me, Brother
Paul who has a beautiful voice, pray for me and so on! It really helped him and made him a
saint! Sisters have the joy of living together and share it with each other, be at ease with each
other and be open, and live in love with each other. St. John says that if we cannot love the
neighbour whom we see, then how can we say we love God whom we cannot see? We cannot
tell lies to Jesus, if we dont love each other then our love for God is not true love! For Advent
let us give Jesus small acts of love for each other.
2ND WEEK OF ADVENT - CONSECRATED OBEDIENCE
How strange are the ways to fulfil Gods plans! It must have been on the 5th of December
when Joseph got the news that everybody must go to Bethlehem. And he must have asked Our
Lady, as you are my wife you must come with me. And so there was no discussion about why
the Emperor did this. It was the will of God and they obeyed. Mary knew that she was in her
9th month. Where they had to go? To Bethlehem! The Emperor used this census to know how
many people are there in his Kingdom, so they all had to go. The child had to be born in
Bethlehem. How strange are the ways to fulfil Gods plans!
Sometimes you also have to be a cheerful donkey in order to carry Jesus
On the 5th of the month of December St. Joseph and Mary obeyed. Mary was so pure to be
able to see the will of God. St. Bernard said, If I am to be a donkey let me be a cheerful one.
The donkey teaches us a lesson; he has to go the same way to Bethlehem, he did not go
anywhere else. As he was released from the rope, he obeyed Joseph. See how that little animal
helped to fulfil the will of God and the prophecy that says, The Messiah will be born in
Bethlehem! It was a difficult journey because there were no buses, trains or planes at that
time. The donkey was a very precious animal. In the gospel too the donkey is shown as a
special animal. Sometimes you also have to be a cheerful donkey in order to carry Jesus.
Compare that obedience, and the simple obedience of Mary and Joseph. They did not grumble.
They must have prayed, It is the Will of God. They saw the Will of God in the emperor. For
us religious, God uses simple means to speak to us, if we obey like Joseph and Mary also. Our
religious life is built on acts of obedience.
Ask Mary and St. Joseph to teach you to obey as they obeyed. At the beginning of the second
week of Advent let us examine our obedience. Last week I asked to examine purity. Ask Our
Lady and St. Joseph, How is that you could obey, like that? Teach me to obey, that I may be
able to pray, so that I may have the mind of Jesus. Nothing and Nobody to separate me from
Him, give me that undivided love, No one, and nothing else in my life. We will not be able
to say that unless we pray. In the beginning it is already a grace, if you really want to pray. We
will help each other to obey like Mary and St. Joseph obeyed the Emperor. St. Joseph did not
discuss or question, he had said it and so he obeyed. My superior has said, so I obey. They may
make a mistake but I do not make a mistake in obeying. Ask Mary and St. Joseph to teach you
to obey as they obeyed. Experiencing the joy of obedience. As long as you do not experience
the joy of obedience you will never be able to grow like Jesus.