Advent: Do Less Better

I was reading a book by Saint Francis de Sales in which he makes a powerful argument against busyness.  He states that business is not a measure that indicates higher sanctification, in fact he goes on to propose that the saints took the time to relax and to contemplate God every day in moments of inactivity.  They mastered the ability to calm their minds, hearts and souls to be with God and hear His voice.  Surprisingly, when I think of the saints I usually think about all the things they did, their accomplishments and rarely do I think of their spirituality.  During a talk, I once heard that a trait that leads men to sin is boredom, but for women it’s busyness- that sounds about right.  I am a doer, I have this need to be doing and sometimes I commit to too many things and I find myself stressed and it affects the quality of my work.  De Sales speaks about doing less, but doing it well and I really have made that my theme this Advent.  Usually during Advent I pack my schedule with tons of activities and before I know it Christmas has arrived and I feel so stressed out and so unprepared for the birth of Jesus because I have been too busy doing the wrong things in preparing my heart.  Previously I would watch tons of Christmas shows trying to get in the spirit of the holidays (because I love theatre) and I thought what better way to warm my heart than with a bunch of happy, live music and good morality plays.  That was my big Advent change – theatre, lights, parties, being with friends and family.  Though, I also led an Advent women’s prayer group all the activity made it impossible for me to daily reflect on the nativity and the real reason for the season.  Thus, this year I decided to do less, but do it well.

Advent Penance Service: On my birthday, my parish hosted a reconciliation service which I took advantage of - what better gift than God’ absolution for my sins.  We had ten priests come and help out.  I always like these services because I feel the excitement of the priests in seeing so many of their flock come seeking God’s forgiveness.  I did my examination of conscience at home.  I always like to write a list of my transgressions on a piece of paper, because I tend to get nervous every time I confess.  It also helps me not forget to confess any of my sins (smile).  After confession it gives me such satisfaction crumbling the piece of paper and throwing it away in the garbage.  

Advent Women’s Bible Study Group: This year my friend opened her house and she and I are leading the group.  There’s six of us, three from previous years and three new comers.  I love my Tuesday night – because I know that I am going to get to know God more while building sisterhood with my friends.  We are a very talkative bunch (this year) which has made the discussions really great.  It’s great to see my girlfriends growing in Christ and also to see their courage in opening up and revealing their hurts and deepest thoughts.  What a blessing to be part of this group!

Advent Calendar: Last year in after Christmas sales I purchased a Peanuts Advent Calendar and this year I decided I would give it a try with my nephew.  I truly didn’t expect it to be such a success, but my little guy is so excited (possibly because he gets a Hershey's kiss every day).  I found a great book of the nativity at a used book store it’s very detailed which leads to great discussions.  We take turns reading a chapter a night, then open our new Advent door on the calendar and share a chocolate kiss.  The great thing is that my nephew comes to me asking for us to do our calendar.  He also got a bottle of holy water in his catechism class and after we do our study each night we go around the house looking for one more thing he can bless with the holy water.  We have such fun!

I have cut back on the shows and activities to make more time to just relax and enjoy the season and this is the first year that I feel calm and not in a hurry to squeeze more things into my schedule.  Sometimes when we think of the special seasons of our faith we think we must add more things to be holier- this year I learned that I needed to cut back.  I guess God is slowly healing me of my Martha syndrome (smile).