Christmas - I Don't Understand.....

Christmas is here! Jesus is born ! Like all of you I am filled with joy because of this Holy Birth. But there are some things that I do not understand.

• Why does God love us so much that He would send His only Son to earth?
• Why did he come to be born unknown and in poverty being born in a place where animals were housed?
• Why would a young Jewish girl risk being stoned as an adulterer by returning from an out of town visit three months pregnant? 
• Why was the Holy Birth first announced to shepherds in the field? They were looked down upon because their jobs kept them out of the temple.
• Why didn't He simply appear on a cloud of glory with the heavenly host at His side?  He could have appeared in His Glory and could have converted the world in a split second.

I think the answers to all of my questions is Love.  God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are complete love.  Things happened the way they did so that we could make up our own mind and choose to become a member of the Household of God or if we wanted to, we could ignore Him and the gifts He brought for us.  That is true Love.  God gives us the power to accept or reject Him. When you think of it is an awesome power. But He entrusts us with that power because He wants us to be happy. 

On this Christmas day I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. To those that are lonely, to those who are estranged from their family, to those who have lost a loved one, this day is for you too!  Rejoice for the march to victory has begun today with the Birth of The Great King who began  life as poor child with no place to lay is head except in a manger.  

4th Sunday of Advent - Journey's End in Sight

Our journey is almost done. We have come a long way in four weeks. We are ready to celebrate the birth of our savior.  The Gospel for today speaks about Mary visiting Elizabeth.  Notice that Elizabeth's infant leaped in her womb as Mary greeted her.  John the Baptist already recognized that the Christ was in Mary's womb. Elizabeth tells Mary that she is "Blessed among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb."  Mary carried in her body, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.  She was the first tabernacle, the new Arc of the Covenant, she was the new Eve who negated Adam and Eve's no by saying "Yes."  It was to be her privilege to be the Mother of God!  

Mary is our mother too. We are adopted sons and daughters in the Household of God.  She calls us her sons and daughters.  She stands next to her Son in heaven and she constantly prays for us to Him.  Jesus perfectly obeyed all of the commandments the Father passed down to us on Mount Sinai.  This includes the fourth commandment, "Honor thy father and they mother."  Jesus honors His mother and we too as members of the household claim her as our mother too.  This is why Catholics honor Mary because Christ our Savior did it first and we want to imitate him as well. 

As we look forward to the celebration of the Holy Birth, let us thank God for giving us a spiritual mother who understands us and who loves us and speaks for us to the Lord our God.  

A Non-Traditional Christmas Carol ?

Christmas Day is almost here.  Our houses are decorated, presents are wrapped, the family is gathering and our season of joy is about to begin.

In A Christmas Carol Scrooge eventually promises to keep Christmas in his heart all year long.  That is a worthy sentiment and a good thing to do.   But is this enough?  We carry Christ brightly and tightly in our heart but do we introduce him to others?  We need not stand on a street corner and shout his name, we only need to express His love by sharing our love.  Think about this as you open your presents this Christmas morning and resolve to share the greatest gift of all, Jesus the Lord, through your actions throughout the year.   

Tears - On the 3rd Sunday of Advent

This weekend our joy that our Advent journey is almost complete is tempered by an act of violence that stuns the imagination.  The massacre of teachers and children in a small town has caused us to reflect on the preciousness of human life. 

Any comments I would make would ring hollow because even I, a man blessed with the skill to form words into stories is too shocked to write more.  Along with all of America I ask "why?"

2nd Week of Advent / Getting Ready

Today, Sunday, December 9, 2012 is the 2nd Sunday of Advent which is the period that the Church asks us to prepare for the upcoming Christmas Feast Day.  We human beings are always getting ready for something.  For example we are getting ready for work, for school, for the big meeting, for the big test and so on.  The Church asks us to ready ourselves to greet Jesus when He comes.  Some of us prepare for the Christmas feast by shopping, sometimes to excess as we find out in January.  We prepare by decorating our homes with light up Santa Claus figures, reindeer figures, blinking lights and so forth. All of this is good and proper and fun, and we should do these things, except we might want to watch what we spend for gifts.  We should do more too.

The season of Advent should impel us to ready our hearts to receive the King of Glory.  Along with all of the other decorating, we should take time to decorate our souls.  We should spend a little bit of time each day in prayer, we should spend a few minutes reading the Bible, we should think about our lives and how we can improve them.  Then we should decorate our souls with ornaments of charity, garlands of prayer, and the bright lights of contemplation.  If we do this Christmas will arrive and we will feel the joy the shepherds felt that glorious night when God came to Earth to experience the very life he gave us.

Saturday was the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception, who is the Patron Saint of America.  It celebrates the special favor that was granted to Mary by God.  God, who is not limited by time or space, applied the grace of the Cross of Jesus to Mary and preserved her from the very moment of her conception from original sin.  God rescued us when we fell into the pit of original sin because of the disobedience of Adam and drew us out.  For Mary, she saved her by not allowing her to fall into the pit in the first place.  This was His will and His pleasure and a special gift to the young girl who would become the Mother of God.

May God be with you this week and may he be seen through the kindness you grant to those around you.