The Advent season is finally upon us, and I never thought I would be so excited. Part of the reason why I am excited is because I was anticipating the use of the new English translation of the Roman Missal ever since the beginning of summer. The Church also starts a new liturgical year, as I mentioned in my previous post; around this time, I get the chance to reflect on what went right and what went wrong during the last year and pray about how I can grow closer to God in the next year.
The start of Advent wasn't always like this for me. I never had a personal Advent wreath in my house (and the idea of having one didn't even cross my mind) or anything that signified Advent was going on. The season kind of got swallowed up in all the Christmas hub-bub. My family usually had the Christmas tree up around the Third Sunday of Advent, and the house was decorated with lights and garland and figurines of Santa well before Christmas arrived. To me, in a way, Advent was that period of time at Sunday Mass when we lit the purple and rose colored candles, sang "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel", and heard prophecies of the Virgin Birth in Scripture.
Last year, all of this changed. Before Advent started, I listened to some of the ideas my friends were tossing around about observing Advent. Some were abstaining from meat the whole season or fasting on certain days. I saw Advent wreaths in homes that weren't just decorations, but the candles were actually lit on a daily basis as reminders of the season. On the First Sunday of Advent, my parish included a sheet in the bulletin with Advent prayers and Scripture readings that could be used while lighting the candles on the home wreath. I was perplexed at the fact that I hadn't been doing these things before, and it was so simple! So, I decided to buy a wreath and candles to use, and abstain from meat so as to remind myself at my meal times why that staple was missing, and of the longing and expectation of the coming of Christ.
Through the first week of the season, while focusing a little more on Advent by adopting these simple practices, the season's beauty, by God's grace, was revealed to me. The readings from Isaiah and the words of John the Baptist spoke to me more, and I felt the desire grow within me for Jesus to come into the world. When the time for Christmas came, and I went to my first Midnight Mass, I felt my heart and soul swell with joy when Father walked in with the procession, triumphantly carrying the figurine of the Baby Jesus to place in the manger. I had never felt this way before about Christmas, and I rejoiced in it!
Finally, Advent is here again, and my joy in the season is already growing. Not only do we celebrate the time of Christ's birth over two thousand years ago, but we long for the Second Coming of Christ. At our parish, Father likes to do what is called "The Catechism Question of the Week" where he asks a question based on a paragraph from the "Catechism of the Catholic Church". In this Sunday's bulletin, he refers to the paragraph that states that very reason of our Advent celebration: "When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior's first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor's birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: "He must increase, but I must decrease." (CCC 524)
I hope the Lord may inspire you to incorporate some reminders into each of your days during Advent to increase your desire for the coming of Jesus Christ!
******
As for the new translation, I adore it! It is absolutely gorgeous, and I love the language they use now in the Eucharistic prayers. You can hear more of the Scriptural references now than the way it was before. We had one large congregation mess-up, and it was before the proclamation of the gospel when Father said, "The Lord be with you" and most of us still said, "And also with you" instead of "And with your spirit." Part of the reason why is that it wasn't on the Mass cards they put in the pews for people to reference, but I think we'll catch on to it soon enough. My two favorite changes would be the Penitential Rite and the Gloria, and I might talk about these changes a little bit more in a later post.
I hope you are enjoying your First Sunday of Advent and may this be a fruitful season for you!
Laus Deo!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Remembering Why We Celebrate the Holidays
Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I hope everyone had a beautiful and wonderful day with family and friends. On Wednesday, I made a five-hour drive back to my home town of Cochranton where my dad lives to spend Thanksgiving with him and my grandma. His fiancee and her three daughters also visited, along with my aunt, uncle, and cousin and her boyfriend, and some other visitors. All in all, we had twelve people sitting a big table in our living room enjoying each others company and some great food.
The big focus of my thanks this year (which also seemed to be the theme among others), is the ability to be able to do what I did yesterday: having family and friends around me; having food on the table; having a roof over my head. There are so many people around the world who cannot do these things on a daily basis, and in our culture of over-consumption, we tend to miss that. I'm not saying that we should eat as minimally as possible on Thanksgiving as a reminder of those people, but we should be grateful to God that He's given us these blessings and, in some way, to share them with those who are less fortunate.
I read an article this morning in the Meadville Tribune, which is a local paper I had growing up, about a community Thanksgiving dinner held in Meadville yesterday. This dinner has been going on for many decades by the Family & Community Christian Association, and each year they have new volunteers come and old ones return; some who have been helping with the dinner for almost 20 to 30 years. This dinner, the organization said, is not meant to be just a charitable event for those who are going without, but it's open to everyone at different stages in life; for those who couldn't make it to spend time with their families, or maybe those who wanted to spend time with others on the holiday. The goal of meal is to let people know that they don't have to be alone on the holiday.
Near the end of the article, I was impressed by the reason one woman and her mother decided to volunteer. She said work schedules got in the way of traveling to see other family, so at first, her and her mother were going to just do Thanksgiving together. Then, they had an idea to volunteer at the FCCA dinner. She said it was a wonderful experience and to see everyone come together in fellowship, and they learned a lot from all of the veteran volunteers.
This really made me think about what I would've done if I hadn't went home or went to see other family. I know my friend Kyle offered for me to come with his family I had nowhere to go. But, what if I didn't have an offer to go somewhere? Would I have locked myself up in my apartment? To be quite honest, I don't think volunteering for something like a community Thanksgiving dinner would've ever crossed my mind, and I've never imagined being absolutely alone for any holiday. Have you ever thought about this? What would you do if you had nowhere to go over the holidays?
On a different note: one thing that keeps bothering me a little more every year is Black Friday. We go from spending the day in fellowship with our families and friends (for the most part), and then we mob each other while shopping to get the hottest deals and best buys for the holiday season. Is that what it's really all about? I'm appalled to hear stories every year about people getting trampled to death in malls as people crash the doors to stores, and fist fights breaking out over whether or not people get the last great item on the shelves. This year, I noticed the "Black Friday deals" were starting as early as 10 PM Thanksgiving night, and then stores would have more sales starting in the early hours of the morning. Seriously? Sooner or later, Thanksgiving will turn into Black Thursday; they already have "Cyber Monday" in the following week.
Please, please, please remember why we celebrate these end of the year holidays. To me, it's appropriate that Thanksgiving occurs on the fourth Thursday of November every year. In the Church, it's the end of the liturgical year, and we'll be starting Advent either the following weekend or the weekend after. We can reflect on the past year in the Church and remember our growth and our struggles, and we can give thanks to God for being with us all along the way. Something that I noticed a couple of years ago is that the Advent season tends to get lost in the Christmas retail shuffle. Last year, I decided to treat Advent like I would Lent; I abstained from meat during the whole season in anticipation of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and it opened my eyes to just how amazing the Advent season is! Advent is the period of waiting and expectation, where we long for the coming of our Savior into the world.
Take these ideas as food for thought, and remember "the reason for the season"!
Laus Deo!
The big focus of my thanks this year (which also seemed to be the theme among others), is the ability to be able to do what I did yesterday: having family and friends around me; having food on the table; having a roof over my head. There are so many people around the world who cannot do these things on a daily basis, and in our culture of over-consumption, we tend to miss that. I'm not saying that we should eat as minimally as possible on Thanksgiving as a reminder of those people, but we should be grateful to God that He's given us these blessings and, in some way, to share them with those who are less fortunate.
I read an article this morning in the Meadville Tribune, which is a local paper I had growing up, about a community Thanksgiving dinner held in Meadville yesterday. This dinner has been going on for many decades by the Family & Community Christian Association, and each year they have new volunteers come and old ones return; some who have been helping with the dinner for almost 20 to 30 years. This dinner, the organization said, is not meant to be just a charitable event for those who are going without, but it's open to everyone at different stages in life; for those who couldn't make it to spend time with their families, or maybe those who wanted to spend time with others on the holiday. The goal of meal is to let people know that they don't have to be alone on the holiday.
Near the end of the article, I was impressed by the reason one woman and her mother decided to volunteer. She said work schedules got in the way of traveling to see other family, so at first, her and her mother were going to just do Thanksgiving together. Then, they had an idea to volunteer at the FCCA dinner. She said it was a wonderful experience and to see everyone come together in fellowship, and they learned a lot from all of the veteran volunteers.
This really made me think about what I would've done if I hadn't went home or went to see other family. I know my friend Kyle offered for me to come with his family I had nowhere to go. But, what if I didn't have an offer to go somewhere? Would I have locked myself up in my apartment? To be quite honest, I don't think volunteering for something like a community Thanksgiving dinner would've ever crossed my mind, and I've never imagined being absolutely alone for any holiday. Have you ever thought about this? What would you do if you had nowhere to go over the holidays?
On a different note: one thing that keeps bothering me a little more every year is Black Friday. We go from spending the day in fellowship with our families and friends (for the most part), and then we mob each other while shopping to get the hottest deals and best buys for the holiday season. Is that what it's really all about? I'm appalled to hear stories every year about people getting trampled to death in malls as people crash the doors to stores, and fist fights breaking out over whether or not people get the last great item on the shelves. This year, I noticed the "Black Friday deals" were starting as early as 10 PM Thanksgiving night, and then stores would have more sales starting in the early hours of the morning. Seriously? Sooner or later, Thanksgiving will turn into Black Thursday; they already have "Cyber Monday" in the following week.
Please, please, please remember why we celebrate these end of the year holidays. To me, it's appropriate that Thanksgiving occurs on the fourth Thursday of November every year. In the Church, it's the end of the liturgical year, and we'll be starting Advent either the following weekend or the weekend after. We can reflect on the past year in the Church and remember our growth and our struggles, and we can give thanks to God for being with us all along the way. Something that I noticed a couple of years ago is that the Advent season tends to get lost in the Christmas retail shuffle. Last year, I decided to treat Advent like I would Lent; I abstained from meat during the whole season in anticipation of the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, and it opened my eyes to just how amazing the Advent season is! Advent is the period of waiting and expectation, where we long for the coming of our Savior into the world.
Take these ideas as food for thought, and remember "the reason for the season"!
Laus Deo!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Lighting Votives: Prayers United
Last Thursday, I stopped into the Perpetual Adoration chapel at St. Joseph's Church in Lancaster after work, to spend a little time with Jesus. For those who do not know, Adoration is when the Body of Christ in the Eucharist is exposed on the altar for people to come and worship. The Host is placed in a monstrance, which usually looks like a gold sun mounted on a stand with a small glass case in the center of the "sun", where the Blessed Sacrament is placed to be viewed and adored. Most Churches will have Adoration during special seasons or feasts in the Church for a few hours one or two nights. In the case of St. Joseph's, the chapel has 24-hour Adoration, 365 days a year with adorers there every hour of the day, unless there are extenuating circumstances that they cannot have the Blessed Sacrament exposed (bad weather, power outages, etc.).
I sat in one of the pews to pray and sit quietly with Jesus. After a little while, I went and lit a votive candle at the statue of St. Joseph, asking for some intercessory prayers for a special intention. I then went over to the statue of the Blessed Mother to light another votive candle. I took a small, wooden wick and lit it from another candle and then lit my own candle next to it. It was here that I had a little revelation and began to reflect on what I was doing.
I marveled at the symbolism and unity of lighting a candle from another votive which was lit by another person. In a way, I was uniting my prayers with the prayers that were represented by the already burning flame, even though those prayers are known only to that person and God. After praying for Mary's intercession for another intention, I went back to my pew and looked at the various candles burning in the niches around the statues; all those little flames flickered and shined as reminders of the needs and prayers of the people who lit them.
It also reminded me of another time I experienced the power and unity of lighting votive candles. I took a one-day pilgrimage to Mt. Saint Mary's College to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. It was a cool and slightly overcast day, but there were still many people walking the paths up to and around the Shrine. In the Grotto, where a statue of Our Lady stands in a niche near the top of the rock, there is another niche at the base of the rock where there are metal stands holding a couple hundred small and large votive candles. I walked into the niche to light a candle and found that I had to really search to find an unlit candle. Luckily, I was able to find one to light, and after I did so, I took a slip of paper and wrote down my prayer intentions to place in a box there. As I started writing, I realized just how warm the niche was from the all the flames, and it was like the warmth was the hope emanating from all those prayer intentions.
Remember the unity we share in prayer with all our brothers and sisters in Christ!
Laus Deo!
I sat in one of the pews to pray and sit quietly with Jesus. After a little while, I went and lit a votive candle at the statue of St. Joseph, asking for some intercessory prayers for a special intention. I then went over to the statue of the Blessed Mother to light another votive candle. I took a small, wooden wick and lit it from another candle and then lit my own candle next to it. It was here that I had a little revelation and began to reflect on what I was doing.
I marveled at the symbolism and unity of lighting a candle from another votive which was lit by another person. In a way, I was uniting my prayers with the prayers that were represented by the already burning flame, even though those prayers are known only to that person and God. After praying for Mary's intercession for another intention, I went back to my pew and looked at the various candles burning in the niches around the statues; all those little flames flickered and shined as reminders of the needs and prayers of the people who lit them.
It also reminded me of another time I experienced the power and unity of lighting votive candles. I took a one-day pilgrimage to Mt. Saint Mary's College to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. It was a cool and slightly overcast day, but there were still many people walking the paths up to and around the Shrine. In the Grotto, where a statue of Our Lady stands in a niche near the top of the rock, there is another niche at the base of the rock where there are metal stands holding a couple hundred small and large votive candles. I walked into the niche to light a candle and found that I had to really search to find an unlit candle. Luckily, I was able to find one to light, and after I did so, I took a slip of paper and wrote down my prayer intentions to place in a box there. As I started writing, I realized just how warm the niche was from the all the flames, and it was like the warmth was the hope emanating from all those prayer intentions.
Remember the unity we share in prayer with all our brothers and sisters in Christ!
Laus Deo!
Monday, November 7, 2011
God's Plan in Hindsight
I was talking to one of my friends last night about discernment and how difficult it can be to accomplish what God has planned for your life, or even discover what He wants, for that matter. We think we're heading in the right direction and our desires are in alignment with His will, but then, it doesn't turn out the way we want it to. Most of the time we suffer defeat, our pride is hurt, and we are upset because we didn't get what we wanted. Now, I'm not saying that God doesn't want to give you what you want, but the key thing to remember is to ask that our desires be conformed to His will when we pray for something.
I remember some moments a couple of years ago while I was in college when I found myself just praying with total trust and abandonment to the will of God. I was single and discerning my vocation, but I found myself hardly concerned with making a decision about what to do with my life after college. I had ambitions and desires about where I wanted my life to go, but I knew that I couldn't worry or stress over my future. I just needed to focus on what was going on at the moment: school work, Catholic ministry responsibilities, friendships, and enjoying the freedom I had before I graduated. Everything fell into place; my desire was to stay in Lancaster, and I remember praying, Lord, if it is Your will, please let me stay in Lancaster and help me to find a job here. Not only did I find a job, but it was something in my field and exactly what I wanted to do with my degree.
Yet, sometimes it seems like not all prayers are answered... at least in the way we want them. God always answers, but sometimes we do not see the answer until later since our vision is so shortsighted and God's is eternal. I found myself, after graduating, wanting to take control back from God and do things my way. Of course, He lets us do this because of the free will He's given us, but time and again, we learn that we cannot do anything without Him and we end up crawling back to Him after we fail.
This is where the gift of hindsight comes in and can help us. I know I've seen where I've prayed for something and not gotten an answer until months or even years later; I've been subjected to all sorts of trials and joys throughout that time until one day I realize that the answer I've prayed for has suddenly come to me. I look back and see just how much of a big deal I've made of the tiniest things, and it's then that I see a pattern that forms into one big learning experience that ties all those experiences together.
Here's a simple faith example. In June of 2010, I prayed a novena (a nine day, consecutive prayer for a special intention) to St. John of the Cross, and my intention was for better understanding and appreciation of the Passion of Christ. At that time, I felt like I was really numb to Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross, and my insensitivity was bothering me. I completed the novena, expecting maybe in the next week or two to see a change, yet whenever there were moments when I meditated on the Passion (usually in the form of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary), I felt no different. Eventually, I forgot about how worried I was about it, and I silently left it up to God to guide me.
Then, during the Lenten season, while praying the Stations of the Cross, I found myself always meditating on one particular station: "Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross". The Psalm prayed with this station is Psalm 22, part of which Jesus quotes on the Cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" By the end of Lent, at the last Stations of the Cross, I was overwhelmed by the fact that the Son of God chose to die for us when He could've done it in a simpler, less violent way. I then realized that, over ten months later, my novena was answered, and what I've described in the previous sentences hardly conveys the emotion I felt.
In a life example, I look back at my relationships with guys that didn't work out, and I can see at least one thing in each that taught me something. A lot of the lessons have helped me to keep God always at the top, and I can see how many times I failed in that throughout my relationships. Also, I would worry incessantly about my future and if I was with the right guy, and I've learned the hard way that worrying like that only makes me (and him) miserable. All in all, God has shown me that as long as He is at the center, nothing can go wrong.
I'd like to leave you with a prayer that I have on the back of an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is a beautiful prayer you can use to say at the beginning of your day to help keep your desires in line with God's.
Offering of Self
Take O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.
*************
Seeing God's hand in past experiences can help you to persevere in times of trial and suffering, and rejoice in times of happiness and joy, because nothing happens without a reason.
Laus Deo!
I remember some moments a couple of years ago while I was in college when I found myself just praying with total trust and abandonment to the will of God. I was single and discerning my vocation, but I found myself hardly concerned with making a decision about what to do with my life after college. I had ambitions and desires about where I wanted my life to go, but I knew that I couldn't worry or stress over my future. I just needed to focus on what was going on at the moment: school work, Catholic ministry responsibilities, friendships, and enjoying the freedom I had before I graduated. Everything fell into place; my desire was to stay in Lancaster, and I remember praying, Lord, if it is Your will, please let me stay in Lancaster and help me to find a job here. Not only did I find a job, but it was something in my field and exactly what I wanted to do with my degree.
Yet, sometimes it seems like not all prayers are answered... at least in the way we want them. God always answers, but sometimes we do not see the answer until later since our vision is so shortsighted and God's is eternal. I found myself, after graduating, wanting to take control back from God and do things my way. Of course, He lets us do this because of the free will He's given us, but time and again, we learn that we cannot do anything without Him and we end up crawling back to Him after we fail.
This is where the gift of hindsight comes in and can help us. I know I've seen where I've prayed for something and not gotten an answer until months or even years later; I've been subjected to all sorts of trials and joys throughout that time until one day I realize that the answer I've prayed for has suddenly come to me. I look back and see just how much of a big deal I've made of the tiniest things, and it's then that I see a pattern that forms into one big learning experience that ties all those experiences together.
Here's a simple faith example. In June of 2010, I prayed a novena (a nine day, consecutive prayer for a special intention) to St. John of the Cross, and my intention was for better understanding and appreciation of the Passion of Christ. At that time, I felt like I was really numb to Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross, and my insensitivity was bothering me. I completed the novena, expecting maybe in the next week or two to see a change, yet whenever there were moments when I meditated on the Passion (usually in the form of the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary), I felt no different. Eventually, I forgot about how worried I was about it, and I silently left it up to God to guide me.
Then, during the Lenten season, while praying the Stations of the Cross, I found myself always meditating on one particular station: "Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross". The Psalm prayed with this station is Psalm 22, part of which Jesus quotes on the Cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" By the end of Lent, at the last Stations of the Cross, I was overwhelmed by the fact that the Son of God chose to die for us when He could've done it in a simpler, less violent way. I then realized that, over ten months later, my novena was answered, and what I've described in the previous sentences hardly conveys the emotion I felt.
In a life example, I look back at my relationships with guys that didn't work out, and I can see at least one thing in each that taught me something. A lot of the lessons have helped me to keep God always at the top, and I can see how many times I failed in that throughout my relationships. Also, I would worry incessantly about my future and if I was with the right guy, and I've learned the hard way that worrying like that only makes me (and him) miserable. All in all, God has shown me that as long as He is at the center, nothing can go wrong.
I'd like to leave you with a prayer that I have on the back of an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is a beautiful prayer you can use to say at the beginning of your day to help keep your desires in line with God's.
Offering of Self
Take O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess You have given me: I surrender it all to You to be disposed of according to Your will. Give me only Your love and Your grace; with these I will be rich enough, and will desire nothing more.
*************
Seeing God's hand in past experiences can help you to persevere in times of trial and suffering, and rejoice in times of happiness and joy, because nothing happens without a reason.
Laus Deo!
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