Father Mike Schmitz doesn’t really have any go-to books or devotionals for the Advent season. As a kid, the popular Catholic priest known for The Bible in a Year and The Catechism in a Year podcasts remembers the song The King of Glory Comes, the Nation Rejoices — sometimes they remembered to light the Advent wreath, and although he sees the good in all the family traditions that Catholics have in bringing Advent alive, he calls us to contemplate our death.

“When it comes to celebrating Christmas, when it comes to recognizing God coming into our daily lives, when it comes to preparing to see the Lord’s face at our moment of death, or when he comes again, the phrase that comes back to me is: We cannot be ready unless we get ready,” Father Schmitz told the Register, adding, “The same thing is true when it comes to Christmas itself. I won’t be ready to celebrate Christmas unless I get ready — meaning it’s not simply a matter of passive waiting, it’s a matter of actively waiting. It’s a matter of preparing.”

As families look to bring the true reason of the season into the foreground amid the tinsel and twinkling lights, Father Schmitz offers a road map to preparing for the reality of meeting Jesus Christ face-to-face, as well as his take on Santa and his family's tradition of baking a birthday cake for Jesus. 

If it’s a matter of preparing, then how do we best prepare? 

There’s a greater thing we’re preparing for, not merely “preparing” to celebrate Christmas and remember what Christ has done for us 2,000 years ago. But if we are preparing to actually have our hearts ready to stand before the Lord face-to-face, well, then, now what can I do? 

There’s an urgency when it comes to confession, right? I do this because I am about to see the Lord face-to-face with my own eyes. I’m going to stand before him, and I need to be able to be ready to see him face-to-face. I need to be able to have the grace and the strength to look him in the eye. 

So we can go to confession, we can pray, but again, not just praying because I want to be slightly more spiritual; praying because I need a relationship with God, or else, what happens is, he will say to me on that day: “I do not know you. I did not know where you are from.”

We also have to prepare by taking care of the people around us. In Matthew 25, on the Last Day, there is the judgment, and people are separated into sheep and goats, and those who are sheep come into the Lord’s presence because they took care of those who could not take care of themselves — those three things, confession, prayer and then also caring for the people around us — because, again, that’s going to be the test. 

Why is our own death so integral to our understanding of Christ’s birth on Christmas Day?

I believe that a lot of us live in denial. A lot of us live without a sense that our lives are finite, and we actually are afraid to acknowledge the fact that our lives are finite. We’re afraid to acknowledge the fact that the way we live right now will echo in eternity, that if I choose myself now over others or over God, then I will get merely myself in eternity, and I will get this solipsism of “it’s just me,” and that’s not enough. I’m not enough — that’s a reality. 

We need to also realize that being good is not good enough, that we need Jesus; and when it comes to coming face-to-face with my own mortality, I have to realize that I’m not going to live forever, and I am not enough — that I actually need the Lord when it comes to death. Because in this life, there are a ton of things that we can do to continue to move forward, a ton of things we can do to continue to either be successful or strive to be successful. But when it comes down to it, at the end of the day, every single one of us is going to die. And no matter what we do, no matter how healthy we are, how wealthy we are, how successful we are, how powerful we are, how well known we are, it doesn’t matter, because none of us can stop death. And so that’s when we come back to the place of: “I need Jesus.” 

Because if I don’t need Jesus, then I don’t need Christmas. If I don’t need help, I don’t need Jesus and I don’t need Christmas. 

What are you most excited about with the new series for Advent? 

I’m excited for people to actually grow and to start living an Advent that matters. A lot of times, even as Catholics, we have Advent reflections, we have Advent books, we have Advent series, all these things. And it seems to me, and I could be wrong about this, I don’t mean to be too overly harsh about this, I think some of those are oriented towards, well: Reflect on this during this season. Reflect on how the Lord said such and such, to reflect on the O Antiphons. Reflect on the liturgical season, which is all good, those are all good things; they’re all important. But there’s a lack of urgency there. It’s a nice thing to do, right? It’s a nice thing to have Advent reflections. But this Face to Face series is not only important, but it’s urgent in the sense that, what if I … knew that I only had 25 days to get ready to be the saint God wants me to be. Then there’s an urgency, not just an importance. And I think that’s one of the things I’m most excited for people to have is, that perspective when it comes to Advent. 

 

Can Advent and the secular forces of Santa coexist? 

I think there’s something that can be gentle. And what I mean by that is there’s an excitement for kids around Christmas. There’s excitement for adults around Christmas, even around the secular reality of Christmas. There’s something good about families coming together. I personally look forward to getting to see my family. There’s something I look forward to about being able to give presents as I get older. It’s much less about getting presents, but that sense of being able to give, that sense of being able to gather. Even though they’re more or less secular, I think they can be good. 

I think [the key is] being gentle with the Santa stuff in the Christmas movies but integrating the real reason for the season. My own parents were incredibly good about saying, “We’ll watch Rudolph, all the while knowing that Jesus is the reason for the season. We’re going to go visit Santa at the mall, but we’re also during this Advent season going to be praying and saying: This is all about Jesus’ birth and we can’t wait for Jesus’ birthday.” 

I remember one of the small customs that my family would do every single year was on Christmas Eve day. We’d all bake a cake with “Happy Birthday, Jesus!” on top of it. And then, at the Christmas Eve Mass — at some point after — we put that birthday cake in the Nativity scene at the church, hoping that the priest would find it that night and he would maybe bring it home and eat the birthday cake. Instead of condemning things that are neutral or good, why not leverage those things? Why not capitalize on those things and keep reminding our folks the famous rhyme: Jesus is the reason for the season. 

Listen to Father Schmitz on EWTN Radio daily at 10 p.m.  ET. Try the EWTN app!