Preparing for the Coming of Christ Into Our Hearts

The second focus of our preparation for the coming of Christ is on how we prepare for Christ’s coming into our hearts. Advent is a season which begs us to prepare for Christ to enter anew into our lives today. We do not simply remember a Christ who came in the past, or a Christ who will come in the future at the end of days. Rather, we also should make straight the way of the Lord in our own lives and prepare a fitting dwelling for him in our hearts. 

We can look to the words of Saint Charles Borromeo to understand how advent relates to us today. He wrote in a pastoral letter saying, “This holy season teaches us that Christ’s coming was not only for the benefit of his contemporaries; his power has still to be communicated to us all. We shall share his power, if, through holy faith and the sacraments, we willingly accept the grace Christ earned for us, and live by that grace and in obedience to Christ.” (Acta Ecclesiae Mediolanensis, t. 2, Lugduni, 1683, 916-917)

Saint Charles Borromeo makes clear that Christ’s power reaches us through holy faith and the sacraments. In regards to faith, we must remember that faith is not a human work but a divine one. We must constantly pray for the gift of faith. The Church places the salutation “Lord, open my lips. And my mouth will proclaim your praise” on the lips of her priests at the beginning of every day in the liturgy of the hours. This prayer recognizes that we must ask the Lord to give us faith and open our lips, so that we can worship him. Therefore we should pray daily, especially during advent, that God will grant us the gift of faith. 

In regards to the sacraments, we should focus on the Eucharist and Reconciliation which serve as God’s spiritual ER entrusted to the Church. God seeks to enter our lives to heal us and be with us in these two sacraments. We should go to confession during this great advent season to clean our hearts so they might become fitting thrones for Christs to enter and reign upon. We must receive the Eucharist with the mindfulness that Christ is entering into us in a unique and most intimate way. This ER (Eucharist and Reconciliation) is God’s pathway into our hearts. 

Let us cry out “O God, you are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting,” (Psalm 63:2)  so that our thirst may be quenched by the Eucharist and Reconciliation in which Christ comes into our hearts today. Do not allow this Advent to remain a simple historical remembrance, rather allow it to be a transformative experience that affects your life today. 

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