Don’t Waste Another Advent

This time of year is one of my favorites. I love seeing the Christmas decorations on people’s homes, pulling out old, handmade items my children made in years past, and finding some new ornament for Grandchildren. The time leading up to Christmas used to be frantic, with activities atschool, parties to attend, and figuring out family gathering schedules, just to name a few. In those days, even when I attended Mass all during Advent, the candles which were lit each week, were a sign of how far behind I was in my preparation and caused a bit of panic to ensue. Oh what a waste of so many Advent seasons did I experience by not knowing the TRUE meaning of Advent.

As a Catholic, I’ve learned that the Season of Advent allows us to prepare for the coming of Christ in the human form, as well as, preparing our hearts for the second coming of Jesus. Interestingly, the 40 days of Advent, as well as, the number 40 being referenced in many other areas of the Bible, refer to the 40 weeks of gestation of a human child. It takes the symbolic number 40 and associates it with formation, preparation and expected arrival of a notable person or event. When you really think about it, the God of the Universe, the one who made ALL, who is and always will be, comes to us at Christmas in the innocent, humble, dependent form of an infant and allows himself to be taken care of. How much does our God love us to come to us like this? In 1 John 4: 9-11, it says, ” In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another.”

In the second half of the meaning of Advent, which I feel is sometimes not emphasized enough, is the second coming of Jesus. The Advent Wreath is a circle, which has no beginning or end: So we call to mind how our lives, here and now, participate in the eternity of Gods plan of salvation and how we hope to share eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. The wreath is made of fresh plant material, because Christ came to give us new life through His passion, death, and resurrection. Preparing ourselves during Advent is similar to the way we prepare ourselves during Lent. We are to offer prayers, penance, and sacrifice in order to be fully ready to receive our Lord at Christmas and to be prepared for His second coming. The candles within the Advent Wreath represent to us the symbols of Penance, Preparation/Prayers and Sacrifice; the pink candle symbolizes the same but highlights the third Sunday of Advent as Gaudete Sunday, when we rejoice because we are now half-way finished with our preparations. As we light the candles, the fire that burns represents the light of Jesus, which can never be extinguished and lights our path to righteousness. Each lit candle shows us the progression of our preparedness and readiness for receiving Our Lord and guides us along our journey of Advent. During the Season of Advent, we have the wonderful feast of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. This is sometimes confused by people who think this is about Our Lord (probably because we are concentrating on the season of Christ’s coming); however, this is the feast of the conception of Our Blessed Mother. Mary, who was conceived without sin, in order to bear within her womb, the Savior of the World. Since God has no time constraints, He is able to use the merits of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus to allow Mary to be conceived without original sin. It only makes sense that the Mother of Our Lord had to be without sin in order to bear the Son of God. We read in the Old Testament, Moses built the Tabernacle to house the Holy of Holies ( or God’s Presence) within the Ark of the Covenant. The cloud of the Lord covered the Tabernacle, just as Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the power of the Most High overshadowed her and she would conceive a child. She was the Tabernacle of Our Lord Jesus and had to be without sin to do so. We celebrate this, as well as, her atoning for the sin of Eve, who was looking to become like God by doing what she willed. Mary, on the other hand, accepted the will of God and let it be done unto her. During our Advent preparations we should do well to copy the actions of Mary and allow God to do as He wills in our lives. She is the perfect model of Holiness and we should take the time in our reflections and prayer to ask Her for her intercession in helping us to be more Holy.

As we remember the symbols of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love this Advent and Christmas Season, may you always remember to put Jesus first, others second, and yourselves third, as we turn our lives, worries, anxieties, and hopes over to God and let Him rule this new year of our lives.

Good or Virtuous, That is the Question

Lately, I’ve been trying to read something about the “Saint of the Day,” or a particular Saint that pops into my head when I wonder how on earth someone could be “saintly” when they dealt with war, poverty, or death of family members. Usually, or rather, in every case, I read that they were virtuous or was raised by a person of virtue. I made the general assumption that “virtue” was another word for “good.” Little did I know there was a lot more to it than just being good.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only the ability to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself.” (CCC 1803) I can’t remember the last time I truly gave the best of myself to something. If the saints are virtuous people, that means they are giving the best of themselves ALL THE TIME. Boy, do I have a long way to go; but I guess that is the goal, to lead a virtuous life so, we can become saints and be more like God.

The Catholic Church says we have basically three types of virtues: Human, Cardinal and Theological. All of these Virtues have Gifts and Fruits – things we receive from them and things we see working through us, as a result of attaining these virtues. Within the Human Virtues, we have Moral Virtues and these are basically achieved when one does morally good acts and allows us human beings to use all our skills and senses to be in communion with divine love; after all, God is the moral law giver. Our human effort is required to obtain these moral virtues, and anyone can do so. It makes you wonder why Atheists are moral, if the creator of Moral Virtues/Law is God, and they have no belief in such a being; but then again, we call ourselves Catholic Christians and sit in churches all the while lacking in Moral Virtues and steeped in sin. But I digress, all I know is that morality exists outside of humanity and it was created by God who wants us to be more like Him in all things.

Cardinal Virtues are virtues all other virtues are grouped around. There are 4 Cardinal Virtues which are: Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. In layman’s terms I’ll attempt to define them.

Prudence is allowing our reason to discern true good in every situation and to choose the right way of achieving it. Basically, using our conscience to guide us in moral principles and others virtues by setting up rules and guidelines which will help us avoid evil.

Justice is a moral virtue that requires a man to respect the rights of others and to treat each other justly and fairly. Also, to “Give God justice through the ‘Virtue of Religion.'” (CCC 1807)

Fortitude can also be described as courage and it requires one to have a firm resolve during difficulties in the pursuit of good. It helps us in the big and small trials of life and allows us to resist temptations, overcome fear, face persecution and even death in defense of a just cause.

Temperance allows us the ability to resist desires of pleasure and to moderate our appetites and maintain levels that are good and honorable.

The more we practice virtues, the more we are purified and elevated by God’s divine grace. “The virtuous man is happy to practice them.” (CCC 1810) We receive God’s grace by Christ’s gift of salvation. We should ask for this grace to be able to be more virtuous and if we are more virtuous, the more graces we shall be granted! I can attest to this. Once I started practicing ( often getting back up and trying again) to be more virtuous, I noticed the “fruits” of the gifts of virtues being given to me.

The last of the virtues are Theological Virtues which are Faith, Hope and Charity. Those of us Catholics recognize these three words as we pray for an increase of these virtues every time we recite the Holy Rosary. We find the very foundation of a Christian’s moral life must begin with these virtues because they directly relate to God. One cannot claim to be a Christian without believing in God, believing all He has said, and doing His will through the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity.

We have to remember that being a member of a “Religion” which only believes in one of these Theological Virtues, or separates the virtues into individual categories without the need of uniting them, is a false religion. You cannot have faith alone or hope alone or charity/love alone – they must be intertwined.

To clarify, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “If faith is deprived of hope and love, faith does not fully unite the believer to Christ and does not make him a living member of his Body.” (1815) For “By Faith, man freely commits his entire self to God.” (CCC 1814) “Service and witness to the faith are necessary for salvation.” (CCC 1816) You might recognize this as the beginning of the Faith and Works disagreement we have with our separated brothers in Christ. They often are taught that Faith alone is sufficient for salvation and are diminishing the necessity of the virtues of Hope and Charity.

The virtue of Hope is when we desire eternal life in the kingdom of heaven and place all our trust in Christ’ promises. We cannot rely on our own strength to achieve hope eternal and that is why Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit, to strengthen us. Through the graces given to us by the Holy Spirit, we aspire to happiness through the virtue of Hope and can have faith in Jesus’ preaching, promises and love for us. We nourish our hope through a relationship with Our Lord through prayer, charity and doing his will.

Charity is “The virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake and our neighbor as ourselves, for the love of God.” (CCC 1822) The Apostle Paul often spoke of the virtue of Charity and said, “Out of the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, the greatest of these is Charity.” ( 1 Cor 13:13) “Charity binds everything all together in perfect harmony.” (Col 3:14) Charity helps us to love one another as God loves us. It is the command that Jesus gave to us when He implored us to love our enemies rather than just those who love us in return. “We experience a purifying of our human ability to love and raise it to the supernatural perfection of Divine love” (CCC 1827) when we reach this goal of Christian life.

We are so lucky that our Catholic Faith teaches us these concepts of virtue and how they should be woven into our daily thoughts, feelings and actions. I feel that those outside our faith aren’t told about the necessity of infusing the virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity/Love together into their lives. For those who are taught that all they need for salvation is Faith alone, they aren’t able to rely on the Spiritual freedom we receive from God when we practice these virtues so, they often use the Calvinist theory of being hidden (from the wrath of God) by the blood of Christ in order to be “saved.”

“If we turn away from evil out of the fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we measure the enticement of wages, we resemble mercenaries. Finally, if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands it, we are in the position of children.” (St. Basil) “If children, then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ.” (Rom 8:14, 17) Thus, there is no need to be hidden in the sight of God. God is love itself. St. Augustine once said, “We enjoy the “fruits” of Charity which are joy, peace and mercy. Love is itself fulfilled in all our works. There is the goal; that is why we (Catholics) run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.”

Saints really get it. Often, they have gone through both physical and spiritual trials and without the Holy Spirit to strengthen them, they might not have made sainthood. We are given the “Gifts of the Holy Spirit” to help us complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them. Those “gifts” are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord. “When we receive these gifts, we can achieve perfections which the Holy Spirit from in us through ‘fruits.’ These ‘fruits’ are charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity.” (CCC 1832)

As we practice the virtues of a moral life, we may begin to notice the “gifts and fruits” of the Holy Spirit and grow in holiness. For some of us, it may take longer than others; however, if we persevere, we shall surely be rewarded when we stand before our Loving Father and hear the words we long to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.” (Matt 25:23)

Suffering Innocence

Right now, there is a toddler named Alfie who is suffering terribly. As many of you may know, his parents are being denied the right to remove him from the hospital – which discontinued his life support, after it was determined by his physicians that he was a “lost cause” and there wasn’t anything more they could do for him. He was expected to live less than 3 minutes once the support was removed; however, it’s been over 2 days since he was left to die and he is still fighting for his life.

When someone has to suffer, whether it be young or old, people always question why. Even Job, from Biblical times, cried out to the Lord as to why those who did no good never seemed to have to suffer. Many will become angry at God or even question if there is a god. Even those who believe, have their faith truly tested during those times of trials and suffering of loved ones. Non-Christians struggle with the thoughts as to why a god would allow suffering of people, especially the young and innocent.

We know that God created us out of love and made the perfect home for us. There was no suffering, pain, or torment only the highest value in the universe: Love. God gave us the ability to love – willingly so we can decide whether or not to love, because love is a choice. We have been given free will but chose to reject God and turn from Him toward our own selfish ways. Obviously, this is where evil comes in.

It is often said that where good and evil are present, there will be suffering. Though suffering isn’t good, God can use it to accomplish good. God is present during all suffering and He is full of compassion to comfort those in the midst of their tears. Romans 8:28 says, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Notice God says in all things he work for the good of THOSE WHO LOVE HIM, not everyone loves God, and he respects their wishes and doesn’t interfere; however, he doesn’t cause evil.

The parallels between the innocent child Alfie sentenced to death by his doctors because he is a “lost cause” and the sentence of death for our innocent Lord Jesus Christ for the “lost cause” of mankind isn’t lost on me. Their sufferings have brought many people together, united in protest, outrage and sorrow; however, we are seeing the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity already emerging from Alfie’s situation. We know the death and resurrection of our Lord allowed the fullness of those virtues and graces to be infused into our lives through the Holy Spirit.

We can only pray that through this modern suffering of innocence, we will see the outcome of good if many more come to Our Lord and renew or start their relationship with God who is love incarnate. Let’s not give up the Hope.