“BEHOLD, your God will come…He will come and save you.” Isaiah 35, 4.
I’m sure by now most preparations will have been made for our respective Christmas celebrations.
The presents are hopefully wrapped, and festive food bought.
But one thing we may not have thought about preparing is our heart.
Each year when we commemorate the coming of Christ upon earth, we are not just sentimentally remembering something which happened over 2000 years ago; we’re invited to receive, once again, the same grace given by the birth of the Son of God.
To receive it though, we must prepare our hearts well.
How do we do this?
Let’s think of our hearts like the manger into which the Baby Jesus was placed.
This animal feeding trough wasn’t the cleanest of places for the Son of God to rest, but in preparation for the birth, one can think of St. Joseph or the Blessed Mother cleaning it as best as they could, replacing dirt and residue with fresh hay.
Our hearts can be like this sometimes, full of residue (distractions, impurities, anger, even hatred).
Let us seek to remove these things from our heart, replacing them with the fresh hay of divine love.
Thinking then upon the Baby Jesus, who comes into this world for you and for me, to save us and free us, we will have a heart ready for Him to come and lie upon, to dwell there with us, just as in the manger.
Owen Dugan is a seminarian at Corpus Christi Church, Wokingham.
Sunday services take place there at 9am and 11am.
For information, visit: corpuschristi-wokingham.org
