Advent offers us its own Bill of Rights

By Tom Rinkoski

	Tom Rinkoski

You have the right to read, or not to read, this column. You have the right to skip sentences, but not seasons. You have the right to start and not finish this article. You have the right to re-read this article. You have the right to read this article out loud. You have the right to read this article in print or on the internet. You have the right to begin reading The Compass at any article you please. You have the right to demand light reading. You have the right to write the author of this article with any comments. You have the responsibility to make sense of what you read.

You have the right to believe in Santa Claus even at 51 years of age. You have the right to cry when watching "It's a Wonderful Life" even after seeing it for the one-millionth time. You have a responsibility to be Christmas to someone this season.

You have the right to celebrate Advent anywhere you please (in the snow, in church, at home). You have the right to sing Christmas songs during Advent. You have the right to celebrate St. Nicholas Day with your favorite kind of chocolate. You have the right to ask your parish priest about the Advent scripture readings and what they mean for you while Christmas shopping at Kohls. You have the right to light your own Advent wreath and say a traditional prayer you learned from your mother, or to use the prayer the United States Bishops wrote for you at www.usccb.org, or a prayer that you make up on the spot. You have the right to invite others to pray with you during Advent. (They have the right to agree or not.) You have the responsibility to be Advent to someone special.

Advent has the right to sneak up on you like a thief in the night. Advent has the right to leave you in shock and awe. Advent has the right to pretend to be just the four weeks before Christmas. Advent has the right to be a season with full rights and responsibilities, not one co-dependent on another feast day (like Christmas).

Advent has the right to be celebrated, at home and at church, with Advent wreaths, Jesse Trees, O Antiphons, Posadas and Santa Lucia Buns. Advent has the right to remind you that John the Baptist's diet was high in low calorie foods like grasshoppers and honey. You have the responsibility to make Advent a season worth telling stories about.

Jesus has the right to sneak into your life with the smile of a little baby stealing your heart and changing your life.

The church has the right and the responsibility to ask you to take seriously your faith, and act responsibly.

Your family has the right and the responsibility to believe in you and ask you to believe in them. You have the responsibility to participate. In the midst of any and all Advent Shocks you may suffer in life, your family is your first church.

Every sentence has a right to have a noun and a verb decorated with some adjectives and adverbs. Sentences have a right to gather in paragraphs to celebrate common themes. You have the responsibility to read well. Be prepared lest a noun or a verb catch you by surprise. Don't let "Advent" be a noun (or a verb) you quickly skim over. "Advent" has deep roots and is full of double meanings. To paraphrase Sunday's reading (Lk 21:25-28,34-36): "Pay attention because the great sentence will close in on you suddenly like a trap. Therefore, read each sentence carefully. Pray for the strength to stand with integrity before the Christmas Mystery."

(Rinkoski is parish Director of Religious Education at St. Augustine Church and Student Center in Gainesville, Fla. His e-mail address is tomrinkoski@yahoo.com.)