Fulton Sheen once wrote, "If you are ever to have a good time, you cannot plan your life to include nothing but good times."

Not in the too distant past, life was physically more demanding. You had to grow your own food, spend every waking minute preparing to survive the winter, and build or make nearly everything you needed. There was little time for play but when holidays or celebrations came around, it was the highlight of everyone's year. The celebration was a big moment and a break from the monotony of life. Nobody took it for granted. And while those from the past may not have had the means to make the party over-the-top Pinterest worthy, they put a lot of time and effort into it.  

Today, though, most of us are surrounded by technology that allows us to live in relative comfort a lot of the time. What has stepped in to replace the physical labor of yesteryear is entertainment. We have machines that do our work for us, grocery stores that are open 24/7, and central heat. I realize that this is not the case for every human being on earth, but the vast majority of us here in America are pretty well off.

As I said, entertainment has filled the void. We binge-watch TV shows, social media allows us to enter into swirly-eyed stupors, video games are readily available for you to get lost in, and we can get sweets, special drinks, and yummy food pretty much whenever we want. We can figuratively and literally eat chocolate cake any day.

However, on the flip side, we all talk about how busy we are. Oh, we are busy, busy, busy--busy with work, busy with school, busy with kids and their activities. Though, I wonder if a lot of our busyness isn't just self-inflicted fluff that isn't necessary. We have forgotten how to just be still and breathe. I'm as guilty as the next person.

So, we are all running around in our busy states and we are all grappling at any form of entertainment to keep us occupied, yet we always hear people say that they need a moment.

Enter Advent.

I had heard of Advent growing up, but I really had no idea about its meaning. Once I entered the Catholic Church, I started learning about this special time of preparation for Christmas. The more I learned, the more I realized how beautiful and necessary this time is. Fasting and feasting. The Church is always teaching us to do this but we struggle to understand why.

All around us, Christmas songs are playing by November 1st, Thanksgiving is but an afterthought, Christmas movies run on a continual loop, and stores have all the Christmas stuff up around August.

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STUFF! STUFF! STUFF!

GOODIES! GOODIES! GOODIES!

And the Church is saying, "Come with me into a period of fasting and preparation for the birth of Our Lord. Christmas is not yet here. Be still."

And we are over here going, "Yeah, that's a nice thought, but the rest of the world is in full-blown Christmas mode."

As I've gotten older, I crave Advent and Lent. I need the deeper meaning behind Christmas and Easter and these preparation times help me find that. Does that mean I walk around and sneer at all the beforehand celebration? No. What it does mean is that I have to be very intentional. I have three choices: 1. Just ride the tide of the culture. 2. Hunker down and refuse to do anything remotely "Christmasy" during Advent. 3. Find an intentional in-between. Number three is the balance I need.

Because the rest of our culture has been celebrating Christmas since pretty much the middle of November, by December 26th everyone is sick of it all. I've even heard people say, "I'm so ready for Christmas to be over." This being said before Christmas has even arrived. We've all been drunk on goodies, money, gifts, and commercialism for so long that we are bored of it all and ready to move on. Very little of this has anything to do with Christ. Come December 25th, though, the Catholic Church is ready to celebrate one of our most special holidays. The fast has ended, the feasting begins.

So, what does Advent want with us? It wants us to intentionally work to focus on Christ and prepare for the celebration of His birth. There are nine million Advent things out there for us to do, but we can't and shouldn't do them all. Yes, we are all busy with different things but if our lives are so busy that we can't even find 15-minutes to draw our mind to Christ then we need to reevaluate our lives. Here are a few suggestions for fasting during this Advent.

1. Don't have Christmas movies playing on the TV around the clock. They aren't even special anymore when they are constantly playing. Be intentional about it. Plan for maybe two nights a week to sit down as a family and watch a Christmas show together. Pick meaningful ones, such as A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, and the like. I would recommend saving the very special ones for Christmas and the days after.
2. Get an Advent wreath with candles and light the candle every Sunday at family dinner. There are wonderful prayers online to say each week as you light the candle.
3. Fast from most of the sweets. I'm not saying to go monk style with just bread and water. Just be mindful. I try to steer clear of them until Christmas Eve and then, oh, how wonderful it all tastes.
4. If you can, do a Jesse Tree. Trying to do Advent in quiet meditation is often not reasonable or possible with families. So, do things that include the whole family. Children will enjoy lighting the Advent candle and a Jesse Tree is a fun way to incorporate Scripture into the season.
5. Find a few minutes to read one of the Gospels. There are, also, numerous booklets or online readings for each day in Advent. Find one that works for you.
6. Find ways to give. The closer to your community or neighborhood the better. There are a thousand ways. Do something that works for your family.
7. Go to Mass every Sunday. This is the absolute most important. We can't be Christmas and Easter Catholics.

The biggest thing to remember is that you need to do what is meaningful and intentional for you. Don't compare your Advent fasting to another's. I don't have any toddlers or babies in the house so my Advent fasting will look different than new parents. Here's a good rule of thumb: If what you've picked to do is too easy and sort of meaningless, you probably need to rethink things. If what you've picked is too hard and unsustainable, you probably need to rethink things. Honestly, all it takes is a few minutes each day to invite Christ into this time and focus on Him. Leave the distracting entertainment behind for a second, let the busyness chill for a moment and spend some time with Christ.

Advent wants to help you prepare for a joyous Christmas. We fast so that the feasting is even more wonderful. I pray that you have a meaningful and intentional Advent, Catholic Pilgrims.

O come, O come, Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appears. Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel."