Every week I like taking my dog Blaise to my grandpa’s property in the Wadsworth area. I will run him down the driveway and almost always he stops and picks up a stick. But not any kind of stick, however. He is always on the hunt for BIG STICKS! As you can see in this photo, he was carrying a 7-foot-long stick! (Maybe he has little dog syndrome, haha!). What happens because of this is that he struggles to carry it. He’ll drag it along with much distress and discomfort. Why do I bring this up as we enter into the Advent Season? Precisely because each and everyone of us does this in so many ways in our lives. Sometimes we overschedule ourselves. Sometimes we fill our days with so many things that aren’t essential to our spiritual growth. Sometimes we make too many faith commitments and set ourselves up for failure. Whatever they are, we know what they are.
Advent is a great time to let go of the BIG STICKS we are carrying and grab a hold of sticks that are manageable, healthy and holy in our lives. Most times when I walk Blaise I will pick up a 1-foot long stick and he grabs it proudly and walks with ease.
As we enter into the season of Advent, what are the big sticks that we are carrying in our lives? What can we let go of so our lives can be manageable again? Life is too short to carry burdens we were never meant to carry in the first place. This season of Advent is actually only 3 weeks long. Take a moment and prayerfully discern all the Eucharistic Adoration prayer opportunities we are offering at the parish. What if you simply chose one way to pray for these 3 weeks? Do you believe one thing is enough for you to do during Advent? Yes, I do, because that one thing is Jesus!
He is enough,
Fr. Jeremy
P.S. Blaise gets the bulletin article this weekend because December 3rd is his birthday. It is also Dc. Richard Butz’s birthday as well. Wish him a Happy Birthday when you see him. God bless!
