Readings for First Week of Advent:
Jeremiah 33: 14–16
1 Thessalonians 3:12–4:2
Luke 21: 25–28, 34–36
The season of Advent offers each one of us the grace to be patient, to be attentive, and to quiet our lives so that we can ready our hearts for the coming of the Christ Child. In that grace, we meet God in moments of hope, peace, joy, and love.
But let’s face it: Being patient and attentive is hard during a holiday season that both challenges our time and inflates expectations. In the readings for the first week of Advent, our Lord reminds us that he is with us to both guide us and help us “increase and abound in love for one another and for all” (1 Thes. 3:12–14)
Many Advents ago, when our four daughters were in elementary school, I could feel myself getting tangled up in the stress and busyness of the season, so I prayed. I asked God to help me move beyond the call of the mall and to be present in His love.
Then one morning, after dropping the kids off at school, I felt a pull to sit for a minute, read the newspaper, and just be present. While flipping through the paper, I stopped at the obituary pages, caught by a picture of two girls hugging each other. The title read: “Alexandria Lynch, gift giver with a vibrant smile.” My heart skipped, knowing that one of the two girls pictured was Alexandria, and no longer with us.
Two paragraphs later, I realized that both of these young women, who were sisters, had passed away 14 months apart. I thought, “How could this happen? How could this be?” But Alexandria’s obituary would tell the rest of the story.
Once upon a time, a baby girl was born into this world. Her entrance would be marked by many challenges. This little angel would have to overcome some physical, mental, and emotional challenges in the first few hours of her life; challenges that many of us wouldn’t face in a lifetime. She would have to find a family to care for her, to love her, and to embrace her special needs.
Her willing foster parents, Harry and Patricia Lynch, parents of four daughters and a son, would take this angel home at two weeks old and love her for a lifetime. “She was only going to come for the weekend,” said Patricia Lynch, “but we fell in love with her from the moment we set eyes on her.”
The Lynch family officially adopted Alexandria when she was two years old. This brilliant moonbeam cast a spell over her family and their world, and she became the “inveterate gift giver of the family,” convincing everyone at birthday time that each birthday girl or boy needed more gifts. When her sisters went off to college, she missed them and loved visiting them, again casting her spell on their world.
At home, her teenage brother, Joseph, would teach her math and the rules of certain sports. Alexandria could never learn through traditional teachings; she had to live her lessons to understand them. Maybe that’s why she could bake a chocolate sponge cake without understanding the true concepts of measurement. Maybe that’s why she could see the wonder in each day and each moment, despite all of her challenges.
As I continued reading, I thought about how this family lived Advent.
Alexandria only knew one prayer from memory. It was the Hail Mary. The prayer became her heart song when her dearest sister, Sheila, would pass on at the age of 23, falling ill after having conducted research on plant cells in a Texas cave a few days earlier.
Devastated, every Friday, Alexandria and her mother would visit Sheila’s grave. The family had given Alexandria a watering can so that she could tend to Sheila’s flowers at the cemetery. There, she would water and recite “with great gusto” the Hail Mary.
Time passed and on one quiet Monday afternoon, Alexandria was snug on the sofa, napping. Her mother watched her from the kitchen, resting peacefully. “About 15 minutes later I went to check her,” said Patricia, “and I thought she was asleep, but then I had this sense that Sheila had come and said, “It’s time to come home now.” Alexandria listened and went home to God. She was 13 years old.
When I finished reading the obituary, I was sobbing uncontrollably. I cried for the Lynch family. I cried for Sheila and Alexandria and for our world without them. I cried for a grace received because I knew at that moment the obituary was an Advent prayer.
When the tears stopped, I thought that anyone who read this obituary had to be awakened by this extraordinary family. But I couldn’t help but think of all the people who didn’t read it. So, I made a quiet promise to share it always with others as a reminder that our Lord is with us, especially in the “roaring of the sea and the waves" of our life, that love abounds, that angels do exist, and that the season of Advent helps us find them.
This Advent, may we all pray for the strength to escape the trappings of expectations and not let our hearts become drowsy (Lk 21: 34–38). May we remember to ask Our Lord to help us be more present while being vigilant to His call to love ourselves and love each other.
Let’s live Advent. The Christ Child is coming!
Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man. Lk 21: 34–36
How can you find more time in your day to be present in God’s love?
What can you do differently to quiet the noise and ready your heart?
How can you share the love of God with others this season?
How can you better love yourself?
What is your Advent prayer? How can you live that prayer?