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This Christmas Mary Lou, my wife, and I are expecting twenty-five family members to visit our Florida home all at the same time. To prepare for their coming, we have undertaken a major housecleaning. And to make more room for overnight guests, we are clearing years of clutter from our "rec" room, which we sometimes affectionately call our "wreck" room.
Our approach to Advent should be something like this. I like to think of this liturgical season as a great opportunity for a spiritual housecleaning. Every year the church gives us a chance to clear our hearts and make room for the divine guest, Jesus.
This year I am calling on a few saints and near-saints to help me do this. I invite you to join me. With their aid, we can clear our hearts of the clutter of our failed commitments, fallen inclinations, and sinful decisions. Reflecting on their words (which, in some cases, have been slightly adapted), we can prepare to receive the Lord Jesus, who loves us and wants to come to us afresh.
He Does This for Me! St. Gregory Nazianzen, a fourth-century theologian and Father of the Church, urges us to empty ourselves,…
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