Fr. Z wrote a post at his blog on how we change and as we change we gain different things from great books. Of Sympathy and Pageant, Of Aging and Refreshing resonated with me and I urge my readers to go, enjoy it.

I have re-read many favorite classics over the years and indeed have come to appreciate old favorites more and more as years and experiences grow.  The Liturgical Calendar passes through seasons of the year and we revisit each part of the Gospel story, and many parts of the New and Old Testaments.  This is a blessing which, if we take advantage of it, can lead us into ever deeper contemplation of our Faith.  Each revisiting is a new opportunity to see how the Truth applied to our own lives and can be embraced for our good.

Someone once said to me that they found readings set out and re-done on a cycle to be rigid and boring. But without such a schedule it is far too easy to re-read only parts of the Bible and completely forget others.  If a person reads and contemplates the daily readings, they will get a balanced mix of Old Testament, Gospel, and New Testament texts.  New ones each day, which because they are the same readings all Catholics, who do the daily readings, are doing in common, then when two Catholics come together we automatically have read the same passages that day and can, if we so wish, to discuss them while they are fresh in our minds.

Advent prepares us to embrace anew the gift of the Christ from the perspective each year of who were have become in the months since last we considered this Gift.

Dear Lord, thank You for the Liturgical Calendar, the carefully selected readings from Scripture that give us one and three year cycles that cover most of the Bible, and the yearly opportunity to contemplate anew each part of the Gospel as we celebrate the seasons. Thank You for Advent. Please help each of us to embrace the preparation and be ready to receive in a deeper way the glorious gift that is the coming of Christ Our Savior. Amen.