Sunday Reflections on the Third week of Advent...Making the Right Choice!

Choosing. this human act is very familiar to each one of us. We make lots of choices often, if not daily.

The act of choosing is very evident in this Season's scripture readings.

There is a reading from the book of Genesis that records the fact that Adam and Eve made a choice to eat from the tree of which God had forbidden them to eat; they chose to disobey their Lord and Creator and thereby committed the first sin — original sin.

But God chose to send a future Savior and Messiah, who would undo the effects of this sin. St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians, affirms that God chooses us in Christ "to be holy and without blemish before him," destining us, again by His choice, "for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ."

An account from the reading of St. Luke's Gospel projects before us the Annunciation scene wherein we see and hear God's choosing Mary to be the Mother of His only-begotten Son, and Mary's choosing to do what God asks her, to obey His will - unlike Adam and Eve.

As I mentioned, every day we make choices. However, one act of choosing — one of our many choices — is absolutely crucial as we try to live as the adopted sons and daughters of God: are we choosing to be like Jesus and to do God's will?

Does Mary's response echo in our choice: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word"?

We are early in this new Church year, which started on Dec. 2, on the First Sunday of Advent and today is the third Sunday of Advent as you see the third candle on the Advent wreath being lit.

Are we consciously choosing to allow the Holy Spirit to form us into Christ's image more clearly this year? The purpose of each Church year is to complete the formation of the faithful during the various seasons.

Are we choosing each day to imitate the example of our Blessed Mother, who placed her life at the service of God's plan?

Yes, God prepared her for her vocation as the Mother of His Divine Son by giving her His divine grace at the first moment of her existence. She was from conception, so to speak, "already baptized," "full of grace" as the angel Gabriel stated. This is the meaning of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

At our baptism, we received for the first time God's own life, divine grace. Are we choosing to avoid sin and to grow in God's grace through prayer, the reception of the sacraments and charitable outreach to the poor and needy?

Are we choosing to make time this Advent season to "prepare the way of the Lord," to make our souls more ready to receive the Lord Jesus as we relive His birth among us at Christmas? What prevents Jesus from being "at home" within our hearts? What needs to be removed? What needs to be added?