Focus on Christ

Each year the season Advent becomes a spiritual doorway through which the Church enters a new liturgical year. On the first Sunday of Advent, we hear from the Gospel of Mark where Jesus tells the disciples “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the Lord of the house is coming. What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

This is a reminder that our spiritual life as Christians must always be focused on the coming of our Lord. To be spiritually watchful and alert is to be open and to desire this daily encounter with Him.

​The season of Advent is a time of preparation for such a spiritual renewal to rediscover and to put into practice what it means to watch in this way. Our being alert and watchful however, does require some effort and preparation on our part. It begins with the desire of our heart, to anticipate the desire of Christ revealed in his first coming to meet us, for He has embraced all peoples in his becoming human. This is the mystery of his incarnation; it is the Christian belief which surrounds the deeper spiritual meaning and celebration of Christmas.

Christ’s coming into the world, his continued presence occurs in our personal lives each day when through faith we see in a new way. It is a spiritual focus that is watchful of our human experience, to see our relationship with others, and to enter into our daily activities in a way that anticipates and is alert to the divine presence of Christ in all things.   
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Jesus has come; in his humanity he has shared our life with its many blessings, challenges, and has revealed to us our hope in the resurrection.  It is also true that Jesus will come again, in glory at the end of time to embrace all of humanity, those who have anticipated and prepared for His final coming. As St. Augustine once stated, “we are to live our lives each day between these two comings of Jesus”. To be spiritually alert and watchful to his divine presence here and now, each day.

This is the spiritual focus of Advent to be waiting for the Lord who desires to find us attentive. The effort that we make to pray and to reflect on the Word of God helps to prepare us to be more Christ like, to become a reflection of Christ’s presence and to be the light of Christ to others on a daily basis. However, we all know how difficult it is to mirror the light of Christ when we have become disillusioned with life, content in seeing the shadowy existence of the world, or in accepting a degree of emptiness when we choose to follow paths that do not lead to Christ.

​Advent reminds us that we must be ready to meet the Lord at any and every moment of life. Just like the house alarm that wakes up a homeowner, Advent is intended to wake us up as Christians who may have become drowsy or who are in danger of being asleep to the very presence of God in our lives.  ​

For what or for whom are we waiting in life? What virtues or gifts of the Spirit are we praying to receive? Do we long for healing and reconciliation in broken relationships? What meaning and understanding do we desire to have in the midst of our own darkness, sadness, and mystery? What qualities of Jesus are we seeking in our own lives this Advent?"

This year as we enter into this Advent season in the Diocese of Calgary, we have also begun our Pastoral Renewal. It is a time of preparation of opening our eyes, focusing our vision, paying attention, and discovering the desire to live our faith in ways that can renew the witness of Christ’s presence in the world, in our own lives and in the life of our parishes.

This Advent our renewal priority is to become a Church of Encounter by extending an invitation for others to ‘come home’ to the Church this Christmas. As a practical step we are offering a diocesan webinar – Welcome Home: How to make our parishes more inviting. It will be held on Thursday, December 7, 2023 on Zoom.

It is a reminder to everyone that they are the parish, that they are called, they matter and that they belong. No one initiative, program or resource can make our parishes more welcoming. No vision or mission statement can renew our parishes or convey fully the experience of encountering Christ.

​As Pope Benedict XVI once wrote, “It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in us memories of goodness and thus open doors of hope.” This Advent let us awaken in others such memories of goodness and faith by inviting them to come home this Christmas to the Church and to encounter Christ. Let this be a sign of hope in our Diocese and the initial fruits of the Pastoral Renewal in our parishes.

A message from
Most Reverend William T. McGrattan
Bishop of Calgary
Dec. 3, 2023