November 30, 2005
Hopefully, as the world around us runs headlong into the “holiday season”, the “friends of the friars” are celebrating Advent. My parents always made a point of making Advent a distinct season in our home. I especially loved the tradition of the Advent calendar and each of us four kids got our own to count down the days until Christmas. With a piece of chocolate behind every door, I don’t know how much of the penitential aspect of the season was being conveyed, but it did plenty to foster a sense of expectation!
I remember one Advent in particular. It was before my little sister Elizabeth had started school and therefore she had a full day at her disposal to get into mischief at home! Apparently the discipline of having only one piece of chocolate per day was beyond the realm of possibility for her. Before my mom knew what she was up to, Elizabeth was having her own little Advent celebration in which she ate her whole calendar’s worth of chocolate at once! Well, the festivities had only just gotten underway when she then proceeded to the strictly “off limits” zone—the bedrooms of her three older siblings. There, she managed to find and consume all of our Advent chocolate as well!
I can’t be too critical of the older siblings of Joseph from the Old Testament, because I would have been quite prepared to sell Elizabeth into slavery when I got home from school that day! But lucky for Elizabeth, we have an ingenious mother who set to work right away melting down chocolate bars and refilling our calendars. In fact, even though it was around the second week of Advent when this “disaster” befell us, Mom filled up the whole Advent calendar, right back to the beginning. So, in the end, we felt we were better off for having been “robbed”!
And so, we children saw a little example of God working all things for the good—through our loving Mother!
God bless your family this Advent!
Sr. Clare Matthiass, CFR
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