This weekend begins the wonderful season of Advent . . . four weeks leading up to Christmas. These are days of preparation and making ready for Jesus to come.  The coming of Jesus is the miracle of miracles. It begins in the smallest, most vulnerable, simple expression of life . . . a newborn child. The Grand Creator of the entire universe enters our world in smallness, in weakness, in hiddeness and in total vulnerability. In so many ways, Advent is the season of hope . . . because it reminds us that the small signs of God's presence are all around us.  Unfortunately, we often ignore them and fail to notice them . . . the smile of a baby, the encouraging arm on a shoulder, the warmth of an embrace by a friend, the gestures of love and concern that are shared over and over again.