First Sunday of Advent, 2008

This is my Advent wreath which is set up now on my dining room table.



I know that Advent will fly by and Christmas will come almost too quickly as it has every year of my life. In three weeks we will have the shortest day of the year and then the celebration of the return of the light in the celebration of the birth of the Christ child, the Light of the World.

With the help of a friend a few weeks ago I moved my Liturgy of the Hours from a high shelf in my bedroom that I could no longer reach safely to the bookcase in the dining room. Yesterday I got out the "blue" volume the one marked 1 for the first season of the year, Advent. We will see if I can get back to the rhythm of using it daily.

I also own the Divine Office in a three volume set with Latin and English. I should bring it out too and use them both. There is time for them and it is time to make time in my life.

The Liturgy of the Hours is the post Vatican II version of the Office and it is usually thought to be most accessible to lay people who do not have a background in Latin. (Since most of the people whom I knew with whom I first shared the Office--the chanting of Mass, as well as Vespers and Compline--were scholars of Latin among other subjects, that wasn't an issue.) I found that I loved the Office of Readings though because of the excerpts from the writings of the Fathers of the Church.

If I can find the materials on line, I will try to link here. I am grateful for this season and the readings.

A blessed Advent to all who read this blog.