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“Mirror mirror on the wall, Who’s the fairest one of all?”

What a memorable line. Almost a trademark for the evil Queen in the story of Snow White.
Interestingly, although the Evil Queen spews lies, her magic mirror cannot. Because a mirror reflects what’s in front of it perfectly. The magic in her mirror is that it can speak the truth instead of just reflecting it.
If only we all had mirrors like this. One that we can look into and hear what we look like inside and outside. Able to hear total truth about our body and soul. Our human and spiritual nature.

Today at mass our pastor Fr. Donovan offered a wonderful homily about advent. And how this, the first Sunday of advent, can be an opportunity to understand what advent is. Not only as the preparation time of 4 Sundays before the birth of Christ, but as an everyday awareness.
His homily has many great points but as you all know, I am a simple guy. One line, the last line in his homily, was great.
“”Life is Advent. “”
This line captured my heart. Why are we only going to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ a month before Christmas. Why are we not trying to prepare and welcome Christ into our everyday lives as well. As the gospel reads today,

“””Jesus said to his disciples:�“Be watchful! Be alert!�You do not know when the time will come.” “””
So why is it so important to be prepared. Because if we are always ready to welcome Christ into our lives and then reflect Christ into the lives of others, God will be ready to welcome us into heaven.

And that’s where the problem starts. How do we bring Christ into the world? That is where advent season comes into play. Advent is like the running start we need to carry us through the year. But our goal should be to remember our advent push in the everyday nudges throughout the year.
How? How do me make this Advent season memorable and different? Maybe I can help.
Today I heard a story about a parish Nativity display. It was a large display. It had all the usually people. Between Mary and Joseph where typically the baby Jesus in a straw filled crib would be, there was something else. In this Crèche, in the crib was a mirror. And everyone that came up to the scene peered into the crib and saw a mirror. One might ask, why is there a mirror where Christ should be. The answer is in what that mirror reflects. If we were to look in the mirror and it was a magic mirror like the one in Snow White, we would ask…..
Mirror mirror in the Crèche where is the baby Jesus Christ? The answer we hope to hear is, “ the baby Jesus Christ is in you and me, this is the reflection we all see.
May this advent be a time for us all to prepare ourselves to look into that magic mirror of our hearts, see the reflection of Christ in us as we spend our life in Advent.
Enjoy this Advent season. And thank you to those who did a wonderful job decorating our church for Advent. I can only imagine what the church will look like when Christmas Day comes. Please come visit our beautiful St. Anthony's Church - Oceanside, NY. ALL are welcome. Bret Stockdale SJ