Celebrating Christmas in the convent is beyond compare. There is something utterly breathtaking about Midnight Mass in a chapel abundant with red and white poinsettias, deep green magnolia leaves, and a manger scene lovingly prepared by hands of Christ’s brides. It is especially beautiful because during the weeks of Advent leading up to this evening, the only adornment in the convent chapel has been the Advent wreath, reverently lit three times a day for the liturgies of the Holy Mass and the Divine Office.

What a contrast to the sparkling Christmas lights and velvet red bows that have begun to line the streets outside the Motherhouse since before Thanksgiving! Christmas songs dominate the radio, and trendy cars bedazzled with multi-colored bulbs zip through traffic, the newest fad of the holidays. Like enjoying the frosting off the cake before the party, the world impatiently skips Advent and springs forward to Christmas, fueled by commercialism and the lack of a desire to wait.

The French for “to wait” is attendre, which shares the same origin as the English word “to attend.” Advent is a contemplative time during which we increasingly give God our attention, to be attentive and ready for His arrival, both at Christmas and at the end of time as we attend to the Gospel words “Stay awake!”¹ For a Christian, waiting is not useless; rather, it is a necessary part of the pilgrimage that is our life with God, a journey of mystical expectation. As the world wildly sprints through December, it is often blind to the graces of Advent that God is giving right now.

During Advent, we watch for the miracle that is Christmas­– the birth of the God-man Jesus Christ, an event unlike any other. And while the rest of the world is decked out in boughs of holly, we wait. We wait till right before the 25th to put out the poinsettias and manger scene and all the other décor that make the season so bright and festive, ready and fully awake for the Infant King to be born in our hearts.

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1. Matthew 24:42