Advent Like Mary: Advent Meditations for Catholic Moms

Why are we here? What’s the point of life? What are we made for? All of us here have something in common: It’s been written on our hearts to search for and find happiness, fulfillment and purpose. 

BUT we all have another thing in common: We don’t always know how and where to find happiness, fulfillment and purpose.

In these Advent reflections, we are going to ask for some help together in searching for happiness, fulfillment, and purpose.

Whenever I feel lost or unclear on what to do, I ask the spouse of the Holy Spirit, a woman from long ago who was the only fully human, not divine person who lived perfectly. Mary got it right. She literally got the most out of life. She lived full of grace and received the maximum amount of hope, peace, joy and love available and I believe that by walking with her this advent season, she can show us how she did it.

Friends. Together we will learn how to, “Advent like Mary.”

Not sure about you, but I can get overwhelmed from time to time. God knows if he wants me to do something, he’s got to be pretty clear, and the instructions have to be pretty simple. Advent is a whole season, but for us ADHDers out there, it’s split into bite-sized chunks (or weeks) so we can enter in a little easier. Each week has a theme to focus on. The first week is hope, then peace, then joy, and then finally, love. 

Week 1: Hope like Mary

I encourage you to go to your advent wreath (Or buy or make one).  Each year for the last 10 years or so, we light the candle each week and sing to this tune: “Light one candle for Hope, one bright candle for hope, He brings hope to every heart, he comes, he comes.”

In order to illustrate true hope, I want to share with you something deeply personal. In Late November of 2017, I miscarried my second child. From the moment I found out about the pregnancy, I knew I wanted to name her hope if she was a girl. Since she was not planned, her pregnancy was all about stretching and making room, not only in my body, but in my heart and soul. Baby Hope taught me God’s ways are better, even when they differ from our plans. About 6 weeks into the pregnancy, I had fallen in love with this baby and daydreamed of the baby being a girl, a long-awaited sister for my then one year old daughter Grace. 

But God’s plans are not our plans. During my first well visit at the doctor, we could not find a heartbeat, and I pleaded with God not to take my baby. It was confirmed that baby Hope died around 10 weeks gestation.

Wow, talk about leading this Advent resource/blogpost off with a bummer! I don’t tell you this to bring you down, I tell you this because my baby, who we assumed and guessed was a girl, who we named Hope, taught me about true hope. You see the day after we found out her death was the first week of advent, the week of Hope. And that night when we lit the first candle of the advent wreath, I sang out our annual Advent Wreath song through heavy sobs, “Light one candle for Hope. One bright candle for Hope. He brings Hope to every heart, he comes, he comes.” We all sang this song not only to usher in a season of waiting, a season of hope, but also, we sang to honor the baby we lost too soon.

God knew that advent would never be the same for me. The word, “hope” would never be the same. The world tells us hope is hoping for good things in the future. Or expecting good things in the future, which is a good definition of hope, but God has something even better.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) defines hope as “the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.” (CCC 1817). 

Because I made room for God’s plans and not my own, I never desired heaven more than that first week of Advent. I was jealous of Jesus who could hold my baby in his arms. Everything in my life had become ordered to prioritize heaven. I craved Christ’s presence because he was my link to heaven, my link to Hope.

Mary was a great comfort to me during this time. Looking back, she is who helped me have great hope during that first week. She has also known the loss of personal plan, making room for God’s plans, and eventually the pain of losing a son and longing for heaven.

Mary had the most hope humanly possible. Mary’s life shows us that to have true hope, we must surrender our plans to make room. At the Annunciation, she surrendered her plan to be a temple maiden to be Joseph’s wife and the Mother of God. She made room in her body and soul. Her desire and confidence for heaven grew because of it! Shortly after she said, “Yes” to God’s plans for her, she ran to her cousin Elizabeth's house and greeted her with her famous song of praise called the Magnificat. The last line of that beautiful song is “For he has remembered his promise of Mercy, the promise he made to our faithers, to Abraham and his children forever.”

Mary knew her son would be the key that unlocked the gates of heaven. The answer to the Promise of Mercy that they Jews have been waiting on for thousands of years.

Mary saw the world with eyes of hope, of heaven as the goal. She ordered her life accordingly. As we approach the busy season ahead, I challenge you to look at Christmas prep as a time of letting go of your plans, making room for God’s plans and growing in your desire for heaven. If some plans or tasks seem like a distraction, it probably is more of our plan, than God’s plan.

How You Can Hope Like Mary.

REMEMBER: 

Mary’s eyes are fixed on Jesus. She saw the world through the lens of hope. She had “Hope Goggles”. 

ACT:

Before you write it on your to-do list, ask yourself, “Will this help increase my desire for heaven or aid me on my path toward heaven?” If the answer is, “No,” consider not writing on your to do list.

SONG:

Fix my Eyes on you. By For King and Country is a great song to meditate on this week.