Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
Today, we are spotlighting this meaningful message from the Creighton video archives where Fr. Larry Gillick, SJ, so eloquently answers this question:
How can you have an Advent that will make Christmas something special?
Merry Christmas!
> Check out the full Creighton Advent Calendar
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Transcript
Fr. Larry Gillick, SJ:
Advent is a joyful time if you enjoy longing. Rather countercultural. We're told, “You don't have it now, go over there and see.” Well, it takes a while for us to get to the stable, and that's called Advent.
Can we be empty? That's the real challenge. Can we be empty enough to long? No. We must have no longing. We must have completion and indulgence and be satiated, now.
So how can you have an Advent that will make Christmas something special? It's to take some of the symbols. For instance, people put up their Christmas trees very early. What would it be like in our homes if you put the Christmas tree in, during Advent, but don't decorate it. Indicating that there's going to be life coming. It's coming. It's not here yet, but to decorate the tree means Christmas is here. There's no waiting, and that's our cultural problem. We don't like waiting. We like instantaneous gratification.
What happens if we have an Advent wreath? Why don't you light all four candles in the Advent wreath? There's four of them. One for each week.
Because it takes time to come to full light. Let's have some reaching and openness and not-having for a while. That's what Advent is. So all the scriptures of Advent are not about having, it's about wanting and longing and hungering and thirsting and reaching.
If you enjoy not having, then you'll know what Advent is and you will have a full Christmas and a Christmas that will last longer than Christmas day.
