This is something I’ve been thinking for a long time.  Maybe not about water, specifically, but the more general point made in the video.  If we want Advent and Christmas to be treated as the Christian times they are, we as Christians must first start to treat them that way ourselves.

Kudos to my dear wife for finding this.

It’s frequently said that you should immerse yourself in Scripture because you just never know what verse or part of a verse will have a whole new meaning for you that day.  The same largely goes for the many liturgical acts of the Church, which is one reason I so highly recommend people pray the Liturgy of the Hours.  While praying Morning Prayer this morning I was struck by the canticle antiphon:  “I shall wait for my Lord and Savior and point him out when he is near, alleluia.”

If you look closely you’ll notice it is really a two-part statement: “I shall wait for my Lord and Savior” and “and point him out when he is near“.  Maybe it’s just me, but doesn’t that first part seem to be what we very often leave ourselves doing while ignoring the second?  “Yes, I shall wait for You – veni, veni Emmanuel!” we say.  But how often do we say “look, you can find the Lord for He has come and shall come again!”  That prayer is really a demand on us: it is not enough merely to wait watchfully for the Lord – we must make His presence and His coming known.  As “faith without works is dead” so watching without evangelizing is empty.

In his most recent article for The Catholic Spirit Archbishop John Nienstedt reflects on, appropriately, Advent.  But as you might expect, he puts it in its broader context.

Advent and Christmas draw our focus to the mystery of the Incarnation, of God becoming man. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: “Belief in the true Incar­na­tion of the Son of God is the distinctive sign of Chris­tian faith” (No. 461).

This is not meant to be an academic exercise, but rather a personal appropriation of the love that God demonstrates for us in this great mystery. And, there are many practical repercussions!

Read it – you’ll never consider the term “Because of Christmas” the same way again.