Advent Begins

Today is the eve of the First Sunday of Advent. It is already Sunday because the sun has set and the new day begins, according to the Bible, when the sun sets.

It is the beginning of the new Church Year. The Church does not keep time as the world does. Two months ago the stores were decorated for Christmas. The Church will not decorate until the 24th of December. Yes, it is old fashioned and the Church could just give in and go with the times, but I pray that it will not. There is such beauty in these waiting days of Advent. The hymns and readings tug at the soul, revealing each day a bit more until finally the great feast arrives. There are books that move us, books that etch themselves into our minds. For me, one of those books is by Gertrude Mueller Nelson. It's a little paper back entitled "To Dance with God." I read it years ago and still remember much of it. In the book Nelson tells about the various family celebrations that fit into the Church Year. It is a how-to manual of the celebration of the Church Year, the mystery of salvation. She simply tells what her family does/did to celebrate each season. From it I learned for myself how to celebrate each of the seasons. We can learn a lot by looking at the appointed readings and meditating on them. There are a lot of other things we can do to emphasize the seasons. One of the popular things for this season is the Advent wreath. Another is an Advent calendar. I like to use seven day candles instead of the wreath. That way the candle can burn night and day throughout the week. Two candles burn during week two, etc. It's a little pricy to do it this way. The living room becomes increasingly brighter throughout the days until just before Christmas when four candles burn through the day and night. One can tell that the Light is near. Nelson tells us about wonderful things to do during the whole year. This time I had three weeks off from chemo because of Thanksgiving. I must be feeling really well right now because I accomplished so much today. I went for two walks because the day was so lovely and it was nice to be out in the sunshine. I put out the "Advent" decorations in the house. I hung the garland on the deck after putting on the little clear lights. Greens got placed in the one remaining pot on the deck. The evergreen wreath is hung. Three loads of laundry are complete. The Oratory is ready for Advent. I even had time for a little nap and a perusal of the daily paper. Next week I'll return to the wonderful staff at the Prairie Center and they will pump in more medicine. I'll have scans again soon to find out how things are, but I'm not concerned that they will show anything but good news. Sophia appears to have found and claimed a place which she is not about the share. Love the attitude displayed.

COVID continues its ravaging of the state of South Dakota. I actually think a few more people are trying to be careful. The local supermarket finally put signs on the door requesting that patrons wear masks. Lo, when I went in a couple of days ago everyone was wearing a mask. Amazing! As one of the "hot spots" as far as infections, we have a long way to go, however. It only takes one person saying something stupid that people can pick up on to avoid being careful and following protocol. The CEO of one of the two major health systems announced this week that he has had COVID and recovered so he doesn't need to wear a mask because he is now immune. I'm happy he recovered. I know he had the best care. But, really, for a person in his position to make that statement is totally insane. The health system was quick to say he spoke only for himself. The system was also quick to announce his "retirement" the next day. Thanks for reading. Thanks for thoughts and prayers. Thanks for being near in spirit.