Preparing our hearts for the Lord

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Benignus

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It seems to me that a big part of Advent is preparing our hearts for the Lord. What are some concrete ways by which we can do this?

Please forgive me if this is not the right forum for this post.
 
Make the Sacrament of Confession a prominent part of your preparation.

Fast & abstain from meat on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Attend Mass one more time in the week than you are accustomed to.

Pray Night Prayer.

Do a corporal work of mercy regularly – perhaps for needy babies or crisis pregnancy center.

Read with your family a book that helps guide you all into a deeper appreciation of Christmas.
 
Pray the Rosary and ask the Blessed Virgin to help you prepare room in your heart for Jesus. ❤️
 
Why not say many aspirations - Come lord Jesus, come quickly.
Make many spiritual communions. Especially when passing a Church or chapel. Drop in for a few minutes. Make a visit
pick up the Gospels. Read about the Nativity. meditate on it.
Tell Him you can’t wait for His birthday.
Or simply lift up your heart to Him, and offer Him the love He so longs for from us all. No need for words.
Jesus does not need lots of spiritual exercises and lofty and wise meditations from us. But these are usful and necessary from us. What He wants is our love. So give it to Him. Try to think of ways you can be a better Christian, and ask Him for guidance. And tell Him your doing this for Him. Also ask Him to increase your love, so you can love Him and your neighbour more.
But don’t complicate things. He just wants our love.
All the other advice is good too.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon14.gif
I often look to the sky in anticipation of His second coming. This will be the second Epiphany. Try this every now and again to build up the anticipation.
And when Christmas comes and you are ( hopefully) having a joyous time with relatives and friends. The big Christmas dinner and presents. praise Him for all these blessings you have received. Offer this joyous occasion to Him too.
When you hear Christmas carols dedicate them to Him and His Mother. And have a merry Christmas, in advance.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
 
John Russell Jr:
Why not say many aspirations - Come lord Jesus, come quickly.
Make many spiritual communions. Especially when passing a Church or chapel. Drop in for a few minutes. Make a visit
pick up the Gospels. Read about the Nativity. meditate on it.
Tell Him you can’t wait for His birthday.
Or simply lift up your heart to Him, and offer Him the love He so longs for from us all. No need for words.
Jesus does not need lots of spiritual exercises and lofty and wise meditations from us. But these are usful and necessary from us. What He wants is our love. So give it to Him. Try to think of ways you can be a better Christian, and ask Him for guidance. And tell Him your doing this for Him. Also ask Him to increase your love, so you can love Him and your neighbour more.
But don’t complicate things. He just wants our love.
All the other advice is good too.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon14.gif
I often look to the sky in anticipation of His second coming. This will be the second Epiphany. Try this every now and again to build up the anticipation.
And when Christmas comes and you are ( hopefully) having a joyous time with relatives and friends. The big Christmas dinner and presents. praise Him for all these blessings you have received. Offer this joyous occasion to Him too.
When you hear Christmas carols dedicate them to Him and His Mother. And have a merry Christmas, in advance.http://forums.catholic-questions.org/images/icons/icon7.gif
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Dear John,

Thank you for this wonderful response. I am very happy that you posted this, because I will be able to do many of these things.

You see, I am Episcopalian, but I really want to be Catholic. The problem is that my parents are Episcopalian, and I am only 16 years old. So, for the time being at least, I am stuck. However, when I go to college I am going to convert to Catholicism, and until then I am trying to read good Catholic books and read the Catechism (though I have fallen out of the habit of doing this lately). So you see, I really do not have the option of going to Confession, or attending Daily Mass, or any other thing that you must be Catholic to do. However, I can offer the Lord what I am able to do.

Thank you again for your wonderful post. From it I have received much joy and encouragement.

Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!
 
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Mamamull:
Pray the Rosary and ask the Blessed Virgin to help you prepare room in your heart for Jesus. ❤️
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Thank you for this wonderful suggestion. I have actually fallen out of the habit of praying the Rosary lately, and I think this Advent Season I am going to make a sincere effort to start doing it again.
 
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mercygate:
Make the Sacrament of Confession a prominent part of your preparation.

Fast & abstain from meat on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Attend Mass one more time in the week than you are accustomed to.

Pray Night Prayer.

Do a corporal work of mercy regularly – perhaps for needy babies or crisis pregnancy center.

Read with your family a book that helps guide you all into a deeper appreciation of Christmas.
Click to expand...
Thank you for these great suggestions. Unfortunately, I cannot do many of them, because currently I am not Catholic. However, when I go to college I am going to convert. I think that these are very good suggestions though.
 
Dear Benignus,

I became an Episcopalian at age 16 after a modest career as a Fundamentalist. You CAN start living a life that is Catholic in form, even if you cannot fully enter the Church right now. For example, many Episcopalians make sacramental confessions. Even if you understand that by Catholic reckoning the absolution is likely to be invalid (that’s a whole 'nother discussion), nevertheless, God pours out his grace on the willing heart. This was my experience. God is very generous to a generous heart.

You might also be able to attend a weekday Mass at a Catholic Church before school (I did it all the time), though you will not be able to receive Communion. Many Episcopalians pray the rosary, abstain from meat on Fridays, etc. You can live the life, even if you cannot do it in the Catholic Church at this time. You can commit yourself body-and-soul to chastity in your state of life and embrace the moral strength of the Catholic Church. As a High Church Episcopalian, I lived a more “catholic” life than many “pew Catholics” live today.

There is a pastoral provision for the United States which allows the Book of Common Prayer to be used in worship. The BCP, Catholic Edition, is known as The Book of Divine Worship. So it is a legitimate Catholic option to pray Morning & Evening Prayer, Midday Prayer and Compline out of that book without deviating from the tradition your parents cherish. (Hey! Maybe they would be interested in a Congregation of Anglican Use!) Point, click. You can find them on the Internet.

Godspeed.
 
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mercygate:
Dear Benignus,

I became an Episcopalian at age 16 after a modest career as a Fundamentalist. You CAN start living a life that is Catholic in form, even if you cannot fully enter the Church right now. For example, many Episcopalians make sacramental confessions. Even if you understand that by Catholic reckoning the absolution is likely to be invalid (that’s a whole 'nother discussion), nevertheless, God pours out his grace on the willing heart. This was my experience. God is very generous to a generous heart.

You might also be able to attend a weekday Mass at a Catholic Church before school (I did it all the time), though you will not be able to receive Communion. Many Episcopalians pray the rosary, abstain from meat on Fridays, etc. You can live the life, even if you cannot do it in the Catholic Church at this time. You can commit yourself body-and-soul to chastity in your state of life and embrace the moral strength of the Catholic Church. As a High Church Episcopalian, I lived a more “catholic” life than many “pew Catholics” live today.

There is a pastoral provision for the United States which allows the Book of Common Prayer to be used in worship. The BCP, Catholic Edition, is known as The Book of Divine Worship. So it is a legitimate Catholic option to pray Morning & Evening Prayer, Midday Prayer and Compline out of that book without deviating from the tradition your parents cherish. (Hey! Maybe they would be interested in a Congregation of Anglican Use!) Point, click. You can find them on the Internet.

Godspeed.
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You are right. I can live a Catholic life, even though I am not formally within the Church yet. Thankfully, my parents are not anti-Catholic, and in fact were Catholic themselves. I have been blessed to be able to read Catholic books, visit Catholic places (churches, monasteries, cathedrals) and talk to Catholic people (such as on this list). So, I am not going to “throw in the towel” on living a Catholic life just because I am not formally a member of the Catholic Church. My parents are actually supportive of my becoming a Catholic, at least I believe they are. However, I think they just don’t want the family to be divided, you know, me going to one church, they going to another.

My mother has the four volume Catholic Liturgy of the Hours, and I have started to pray the Office of Readings at night. I realize that this is not really when you are supposed to do it, but it is pretty much the only time that I can consistently do it every day. I have also been blessed to be able to correspond with a Trappist Monk. I spent a week at a Trappist monastery by myself last summer, and thanks to the generosity of the Abbot I was able to work in the monk’s bakery, as well as do some other chores. During this time I was able to become better acquainted with some of the monks, and I have been in correspondence with one of them for awhile now.

Thank you very much for your post.
 
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Benignus:
My mother has the four volume Catholic Liturgy of the Hours, and I have started to pray the Office of Readings at night. I realize that this is not really when you are supposed to do it, but it is pretty much the only time that I can consistently do it every day. I have also been blessed to be able to correspond with a Trappist Monk. I spent a week at a Trappist monastery by myself last summer.
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Your MOTHER has the 4-volume LOH??? My son, there is a story in that – none of our business, of course, but this is not a run-of-the-mill thing for even devout Catholics to have. Maybe you will bring your parents back home when you finally come!

The Office of Readings may be recited at any hour of the day or night (not in the monastery, of course, but by us normal blokes). For an excellent instruction on how to recite the Hours, check out The Divine Office for Dodos by Madeline Pecora Nugent. It is available through the link I will post below.

You might find the following link of interest, The Confraternity of Penitents: www.penitents.org

You are blessed indeed.
 
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