Every year it’s the same story when Advent comes around…Advent, which means, “come”. The ideals that our family holds up, the things we most want to come into our lives are peace, harmony and joy. We always start with the best intentions. We create a homemade Advent wreath, cutting fresh sprigs of cedar from our trees in the backyard and fill a glass pie dish with the greens and four candles, violet and pink. We lovingly place the wreath at the center of our kitchen table. Each evening as part of our dinner prayer, the children take turns lighting a candle and reading a prayer about building the stable in our hearts for Jesus. Doesn’t that sound beautiful? No greedy dreams of Christmas wishes for toys and gadgets. No secular Christmas music blaring from our radio. No loading up on Christmas treats and Christmas decorations before the season actually arrives. Just peace, harmony and joy around our Advent kitchen table...read more...
Anne, this a beautiful reflection on Advent and the reality of family life. It reminds me so much of the times our kids were young and we tried to say the family rosary together. Someone always started teasing the other, then one would laugh and poke the next one.It was far from the prayerful experince we were trying to create! But we kept trying!
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Anne:) AH! The realities of family life, funny isn't it. Like me, you want everything to be holy and perfect and it rarely ends up that way [lol]. Even with just one child I go through this. Oh, there are no fights since she gets to do all the fun things, but unfortunately, many times she doesn't want to pray with me at night[she claims that she does it in her head] or even go to church, she says she can't understand what the priest is saying and she's fidgety. But I know that it is still sinking in:)
ReplyDeleteThe concept of Advent, beautifully elaborated. Thank you and God bless.
ReplyDeleteThat was great, Anne! We have a similar issue with our family rosary. The two older girls tend to fight over who gets to lead the decade. It started out as a race to see who could start "praying" the "Our Father" first. It's gotten better, though. Much better ... And I am simply grateful that we are praying the Rosary, that they can lead a decade and that my first grader knows all the mysteries. She knows much more than I did when I was seven! That is well worth these little kinks we have to iron out. Now, after reading your article, I am convinced there may be some fighting around the Advent wreath, too. We'll see ... I pray I can be patient and enjoy Advent, appreciate the stage of life we're in, and keep it in perspective, like you write about ... Well said.
ReplyDeleteOh, Anne, I just left a comment but it didn't appear here :(
ReplyDeleteMust have done something wrong.
Gabriella, your comment is on the Catholicmom site. It's wonderful! Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your nice comments. It's so reassuring to know that those fights are normal in most families and Jesus accepts those too as we struggle to love Him and live our lives for Him alone.
Great post Anne...thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are WISE to continue your family traditions amidst the trials and stumbles that befall you along the way...in fact, it DOES mean something already to your children...I know this for a fact because your son John visited my benmakesten blog and left a comment about this very tradition in your family!!!! You see? IT MEANS SOMETHING TO THEM ALREADY!!! They CHERISH it!