Advent Thoughts and Musings

So now we are in the holy season of Advent, which looks forward to the second coming of Christ. All of the scary readings of falling stars and the sun going dark and the end of the world and final judgment that we hear about in the four Sunday readings in church in December do much to cheer us Catholics up, while the rest of the world is lighting up their homes’ exteriors with bright lights, deer, and Santas.  “Happy Holidays” is the greeting of choice in all stores, and somehow the very mention of the name of Jesus is missing from Christmas movies like “It’s A Wonderful Life,” “Rudolph,” and “Scrooge.” The scenario is like having a birthday party for someone without inviting them to the party and not even mentioning the name of the birthday boy. Maybe in January we can celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. day without mentioning his name as well.

Political Correctness

When I was a kid, manger scenes and huge Santas were seen on the top of stores at Christmas. Now we just have some LED lights strung everywhere to celebrate the Winter Holiday. And why say “Happy Holidays” anyway? The US government recognizes only one holiday in December, with a big red “25” on its government-issued December calendars. Beneath the red “25” is the word Christmas, which government supervisors ignore when they invite everyone to the organization’s “Holiday Party.” It’s all so politically correct, you see. We don’t want to offend anyone by mentioning the name of Jesus Christ, our one and only Lord and Savior, who will judge us all – even government supervisors – one nanosecond after our death.  “So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).

Priorities

So many people think that work, work, work; money, money, money; fun, fun, fun; eating, eating, eating, sex, sex, sex,  and so on, are the goals of this life. I sure used to, although I still believed in Jesus and the sacraments as well.  But the question in my life became, “Which is the priority?” When I made the work thing my priority, all I got was a little more money each year, frustration, obesity, and depression. Now that I am retired and doing my dead-level best to know God, to love God, to serve God, and to acknowledge my sinfulness, life is all so much better. I wish I had done this before. We all need to recognize Jesus Christ as our King, every day, both to ourselves and others. This recognition can be as simple as telling the cashier at the grocery store, “Jesus loves YOU” when you get your receipt. You could also actually give your time and talent to one of the many parish ministries at your church, like the Legion of Mary, St. Vincent de Paul, Meals on Wheels, or the choir.

Recognizing Jesus could also mean sacrificial giving. As I like to say, ‘In America, we have the right to bear Alms!” On our deathbeds, which may come sooner than we expect, you won’t regret taking this free advice.  Why? Because by doing for others in the name of Christ, you are fulfilling the desires of God for you.  And no, we never boast about doing good works, because in the Catholic world, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. A living branch does not exist on its own but gets its very life from the vine. So any boasting should consist of giving all of the credit to Jesus, who once said, “Without me, YOU CAN DO NOTHING” (John 15:5).

Sirach 3:30: Water extinguishes a blazing fire: so almsgiving atones for sin.

Romans 13:9: The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Romans 2:6: For he will render to every man according to his works.

Colossians 1:10: to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.

Matthew 7:19: “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire ”

Revelation 20:12: And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done.

Weird Christmas Song

“Mary, Did You Know” is a Protestant song about the Mother of God that sounds very strange to Catholic ears. Yes, the song may have a fine tune and  may finally bring the name of holy Mary to many Protestant lips that seem to enjoy denigrating her as a useless vessel the rest of the year (Happy Vessel’s Day, Mom?).

Mary is the handmaid of the Lord prophesied in Psalm 116. The angel Gabriel told her that she was going to give birth to the Messiah. Mary, being a Jewish girl raised in the Temple, would know all about this proclamation. So all of these “did you know” questions seem kind of stupid to me. It’s like asking Jeremiah “Did you know about the future destruction of the Temple?”, when God himself had revealed that to him. But the verse that is reallyheretical is “This child that you’ve delivered will soon deliver you.” NO, NO, NO. Mary, while a creature like the rest of us, was delivered to God at her Immaculate Conception. She never sinned, not even once, during her entire lifetime. God created her pure and holy so that Jesus could live in her womb for 9 months, demon free.

If the Ark of the Covenant in the Old Testament was pure and holy (Just ask Uzzah!) because it contained the Word of God in stone, how much more pure and holy would the New Testament Ark of the Covenant have to be? A lot! Mary contained the Word of God made flesh for nine months! And everyone who says I’m wrong about this because of Romans 3:23: “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,,” just know that in the Bible, “all” does not mean “all” as we have come to think. Jesus certainly never sinned; a one-month old baby never sinned; someone who is mentally retarded can’t sin. Romans 11:26 says, “and so all Israel will be saved.” If “all” means all here, then all Israeli unrepentant sinners who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as savior will be saved. Really? Jesus says in John 12:32: “and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

If “all” means “all men,” then no one is going to hell. Really?

Meditation

One thing I have discovered in my old age is that if I really want to advance in the spiritual life,one of the surestand best ways is to stare at a crucifix, silently, and to thank Jesus for going through all of that pain for me. After all, MY sins put Him up there. Meditation on the Passion of Jesus is a new kind of prayer for me and is so easy to do. Most of us have crucifixes in our home that we ignore for the most part while watching TV, surfing the Web, drinking wine, and cleaning the house, for example. But if we would just take five or 10 minutes out of our busy schedules to acknowledge His great sacrifice for us, by staring at the crucifix every day, then I believe we will be blessed with graces beyond our comprehension.

St. Padre Pio was meditating on the Passion while staring at a crucifix when he got the stigmata. So I think that this simple gesture on our part, to meditate daily on His passion while staring at the New Testament tree of Life known as the cross, is one of the best possible ways of praying. After all, when we look up at the crucifix, we are imitating Mary, who also stared at the crucified Christ on Calvary. If we do this in Church after receiving Holy Communion, then we are really imitating her. After ingesting the Eucharist, we have Jesus inside of us like she did for 9 months. Ave Maria!

Sacred Tradition

So many people ignore Sacred Tradition, instead believing that their 40-50 year old mind can properly interpret Sacred Scripture, even though most of us don’t know the original Bible languages of Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, or Latin. English translations are usually not very good at understanding the ancient language nuances, idioms, and double meanings. For instance, at the Wedding Feast at Cana, when Jesus said, “Oh woman, what have you to do with me?” a lot of people think that Jesus is putting down his Mom by calling her by the very impersonal “Woman.” By referring to her as “Woman,” he was letting us all know that she is “The Woman” of Genesis 3:15, the universal woman who is at enmity with the devil. For the record, Jesus always kept the Commandments, including the one about honoring His Father and His mother, and He never would even think about belittling her.

Another instance regarding Mary is when a woman told Jesus in Luke 11:27, “Blessed are the breasts that suckled you, and the womb that bore you.” Jesus replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” In no way was Jesus putting down his mother. If anyone came up to you and told you that your mother was great because of her wonderful breasts, you would probably be insulted. Great mothers aren’t the sum of their physical body parts, but rather they are awesome because of who they are and what they sacrifice for their children.

You would probably correct this person like Jesus did, attributing to Mary the much higher accolades of being a holy Christian.Only when one uses Sacred Tradition as a lens to interpret scripture does all of this make sense. Using a 21st Century mindset to interpret writings from thousands of years ago, in a Jewish culture, in Hebrew and Greek, really doesn’t make much sense. Justin Martyr, Polycarp, Augustine, Aquinas, and other saints have already done this for you. So you don’t have to worry about getting it right in English, through an American lens.And besides, the Bible itself forbids personal interpretation of Scripture, as in 2 Peter 1:20: “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, “

Happy Advent!

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