Twas a Night of Advent

I think I just had the perfect Advent evening. One of the things I told both my mother and my ex when I got ready to move up here, was that I wanted to find a family in faith, that I wanted to be able to fellowship with others my own age. The Catholic Student Association has done that for me and more, becoming like a set of brothers and sisters to me, not just in Christ, but in relationship as well. The other day on this blog, I bemoaned that I've not been able to get into the spirit of Advent, that I've been too busy, and truly I remain so.

But, tonight I crawled out of my academic bolt hole of a room and went out to the Catholic Student Association meeting to say goodbye to two people I've come to consider close friends, as they're graduating. Our topic tonight was Consecration to Mary, and then we made construction paper Advent wreaths. Thirty or so of us sat around talking about things both big and small and it was wonderful.

At 9:45 we broke into our smaller groups, Christ on Caffeine went to Starbucks for those under 21, and for those over 21 we went to our last Christ at Culpeppers of the semester. Culpeppers is one of the larger bars in town, with an area downstairs devoted to mostly food, but with a bar, and an upstairs for dancing and drinking and such; sometimes it reminds me of Cheers (I've actually been to it in Boston too LOL).

Anyhow, we discussed theology for almost three hours with the seven of us who went and our priest. We touched on Padre Pio saying his prayers were for his father's happy death twenty-five years before and the nature of God existing outside of time. We discussed what we had gotten from CSA this semester, and how it helped to fellowship with people our own age and to have that support in a quest for holiness. And as I sat there at one point, I stared past the girl across from me who wants to become a nun and kind of took in the window behind her. There were Christmas wreaths on it, and I could see the street beyond. It hit me at that moment in the warmth of that bar, surrounded by people who have become family to me, that for the first time in this Advent season my heart feels prepared for the coming of the Christ with Christmas.

When I was asked what CSA had given me, I said fellowship. It's something I lacked at home amongst people my own age, but really, I think it's given me so much more. Fellowship is a good part of it, but also I think it has given me a renewed love of Christ. I think too, it has given me a bit more hope in humanity and in general. Perhaps best of all, it's given me a chance to heal from the wounds of the past, and to look forward to a future.