Advent - St Charles Borromeo

From the Pastoral Letters of St Charles Borromeo, On the Season of Advent:

…we too must continue to celebrate it [Advent] fittingly, giving praise and thanks to the eternal Father for the mercy he has shown us in this mystery of the coming of his Only-begotten Son.

The Father sent his Son out of his immeasurable love for us sinners. He sent him to free us from the tyrannical power of the devil, to invite us to heaven and lead us into its innermost sanctuary. He was sent to show us truth itself, to teach us how we should live, to share with us the source of all goodness, to enrich us with the treasures of his grace. Finally, he was sent to make us sons of the Father and heirs to eternal life.

The Church calls this mystery to mind each year to stir us to renew constantly our memory of the great love God has shown us. This commemoration teaches us our Saviour came not only for the benefit of the people of his own time. His goodness is still there for us to share in. But, for our part, through faith and the sacraments we must lay hold on the grace he won for us and live by it in obedience to him.

The Church wants us to understand that as he came once into the world in the flesh, so now, if we remove all barriers, he is ready to come to us again at any minute or hour, to make his home spiritually within us in all his grace.