Law of Love

Dear friends, we recently received a Christmas card from a very dear priest friend of ours, and the letter he attached to the card was excellent. I thought I'd share it with you all, its message is fantastic :)

Dear friends,

As I anticipate the arrival of Christmas 2010 I am able to observe, in my imagination, the Christ Child in the manger. That image brings forth from my memory the words of St. John the Baptist: "He must increase, and I must decrease."

Christ will increase or grow "in age, wisdom and grace before God and man" as our new liturgical year unfolds. But more important for me is that he increase in me during this new liturgical year, so that I can grow to the maturity of Christ in doing the will of our heavenly Father. That in turn means that I must decrease in doing my own will in the New Year.

This law of love, this law of growth of holiness, is expressed in another way by Christ: "not my will but thine be done." This year's canonization of Canadian-born Brother Andre Besset in Rome, and the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman by Pope Benedict XVI in England struck a noticeable contrast: the simple brother with little education and the highly educated and intellectually gifted Cardinal. Yet both followed the same law of love: "He must increase and I must decrease." In each, this tenet bore the fruits of holiness with the Holy Spirit.

I was privileged to hear the same message during the special year for priests that came to a close earlier this year. This wisdom was particularly evident in the life of St. John Vianney, the Patron Saint of Priests, and the Church has given him to us as our patron and model. I ask your prayers that we priests will renew our gratitude for our patron and model, and grow in imitation of him, for if we allow our will to increase, the devil will certainly take advantage of it.

Because of my work, I am also aware of how important it is for families that fathers follow the law of love: "He must increase, I must decrease." It particularly means that Christ's Will must increase in the father with respect to serving his family, so that he can be more like Christ in serving the Church and her spiritual children. The goal of this service is to help them to grow in holiness, so that they can be presented to the heavenly Father "without spot or wrinkle." (cf. Eph 5:21-33) The good news is that during the past year I have met many people who are renewing and recommitting themselves to living Christ's law of love.

Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, who sat beside the Christmas Crib, lived the law of love in a profound way, becoming more like Christ as she lived the Father's Will together with St. Joseph. We continue to benefit from the fruits of holiness it produced in our lives. Let us all say a special thanks to them this Christmas.

With Love and Prayers,

In J.C. & M.L.

Fr. Joseph Hattie, OMI

Wow..I feel like this is a fantastic summary of everything important about the Advent and Christmas seasons. I love how he says if we let our will increase, the devil will take advantage of it, goes well with what T and mimi said..let's move, friends! Let us live out Christ's law of love, in fact let's make that our great collective New Year's resolution :) Haha sounds easy right??

God bless you, my dear friends!

The reality of evil

This afternoon, I read an article about Syrian terrorists bombing a Catholic Church in Baghdad. Many were killed, including two priests, and the parents of a three-year old boy named Adam. As it happened, Adam then followed the terrorists around (inside the church) saying "enough enough enough." They responded by murdering him as well. Re-writing this just acts as yet another wake-up call to the evil in the world; the evil that is lurking in the corners, and the evil that is in plain sight.

I went to see the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the 5th Narnia book, 3rd movie) last night, and it's kind of all about this too. In the movie, evil is represented as green mist, and it weaves its way through different tempting situations... visually similar to how the serpent would have slithered around the garden of Eden. So at one point, Aslan says "In order to overcome the temptation/evil around you, you first need to overcome the temptation within yourself"
AMEN.

So back to the terrorist article, I was reading it (it goes on a lot to talk about evil in the world/morality) and thinking okay well what do I dooo?! A few different things I think:

I was reminded of a talk I heard at the Halton Pro-Life dinner last month, and sort of placed somewhere in the back of my mind. The founder of 40 Days for Life, David Bereit spoke and he challenged us, saying that even if we are already pro-life activists, there must be more that we can be doing. I could be praying more, I could be donating more money, I could be giving my time to women's shelters, sidewalk counseling.. something. I read lifesitenews everyday, I read about the ever growing evil, but what am I doing about it?
....I'm not sure it's enough to just offer up an intention every few days, in fact I'm pretty sure it's not.

So that's one thing. and.. that's my life, maybe not yours. But I think each of us are called to show greater love, in some capacity. And the love of Christ compelling us.. in terms of overcoming evil, I think is where the power's at. (Backed up by prayer, the Holy Spirit and all that good stuff.)

The other thing I can do, comes from the Aslan suggestion, and that is overcome temptation within myself. If we want to be reflections of Christ in the world, if we want to shine His life,we need to become pure dwelling places for Him. What seems an impossible task, with Christ, becomes possible! PTL.

Evil is real.. as much as I'd love to ignore that fact, it's here, and it's "gaining ground."
Friends, let’s not stand by and watch.

Here's the article (originally found by our lovely Anastasia):

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=39519

We cannot love nor serve unless we learn to ponder in our hearts

So first thanks to Nick for bringing “In His zone” into my life! Some of us received that book at a retreat early summer and I must admit it sat on my bookshelf, unread, until now. The first section I read pretty much summarized some of the keys to holiness God has been teaching me during Advent! He works in such beautiful ways!

The main point from the passage in Fr. Mark’s book was that it is hard for us to be in solitude because we have to face ourselves.  Our poverty, brokenness, weakness, sinfulness…  We resist being in silence because we don’t want to face ourselves – so we keep busy, distracting ourselves every moment of the day. In order to exist in solitude, we must accept who we are, and through that we will acquire the virtue of humility.

Fr. Mark put it beautifully here: “To be humble is to know the truth about oneself. Only the person who is able to face the reality of his own brokenness and poverty is able to allow the Lord to begin the arduous process of interior transformation”

“The proud cannot be healed because they are not willing to admit they are sick”

Pridefullness can be so subtle…

I think I walked around in complete ignorance (couldn’t see past my pride!) of these fundamental points for a long time, so thank God for revealing them to me. One day this Advent I said to myself, “I don’t think I have a pride problem.” And then I thought, well the fact that I don’t think I have one must mean I actually do! So before I could even see my pride, I persisted in asking Him to reveal it to me as well as asking for the virtue of humility.

Mother Teresa makes a crucial point: “Our Lady pondered His words in her heart… We too like Her must learn that silence which will enable us to ponder His words in our hearts and so grow in love. We cannot love nor serve unless we learn to ponder in our hearts.”

We need silence… so that we can be humble and receive this 
interior transformation, this healing, to become holy in order that we may 
love each other with Christ’s love...

The fruit of silence is prayer,

The fruit of prayer is faith,

The fruit of faith is love,

The fruit of love is service,

The fruit of service is peace.

This advent certainly has been a time of growth. It’s perfectly staged too – because Jesus is at the end! :D AND HEYYY It’s the last week of Advent so let’s really give Christ our all!! Let us ask for humility (another good friend recommends praying through this Scripture passage: Philippians 2:1-11) and for the strength to spend some time daily in silence with our Lord so that He may work in us! :)

Our Mother + The Canaanite Woman's Faith

I've been really inspired lately by the passage in Matthew called "The Canaanite Woman's Faith" (Matthew 15:21-28). The passage follows below:

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’26He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’27She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

Matthew 15:21-28

The Canaanite woman calls out to the Lord, interceding for her daughter. But

He doesn't respond. She preserves and asks Him again for His help, meanwhile

the disciples are asking Jesus to send her away.

He responds with, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
She then humbly kneels before our Lord, in complete submission, asking again for help on behalf of her child.

He answers her with "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

And then perhaps the most beautiful, climactic part of this passage is her response, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."

What faith!! Jesus acknowledged her great faith, and granted her the answer to her prayer because of her great faith. I find myself sometimes wondering in prayer if Jesus is really going to answer my prayers... sometimes I limit His power... and so I kept coming back to this passage for inspiration.

Then I realized that what the Canaanite woman did for her child is what Our Mother does for us!! She intercedes for us at the feet of Jesus with faith and humility that outshines the Canaanite woman's, making Her intercession for us incredibly powerful. Jesus always listens to His Mother (reflect on the Wedding at Cana) and with her petitions for us, we can confidently say that He will answer our prayers. We have to keep in mind that our prayers aren't always perfect (sometimes selfish) or sometimes they aren't the will of God. But certainly, He will answer them in the ways He thinks are best for us.

And we are incredibly loved by Our Mother... the love the Canaanite woman had for her child cannot compare to the love our Mother has for us.

International Day of Prayer for the Jesus Youth Jubilee Conference

Click me out!: Jesus Youth Jubilee Prayer

If we could take a few moments thanking God for Jubilee graces and His blessing and will to be done at the Conference in a few days (?!)- that would be beautiful.

Come Lord Jesus!

In His Zone

Tonight I was reading a book called “In His Zone” by Fr. Mark Goring, CC*  which explores the practical wisdom needed for thriving in solitude. I was at the end of chapter one when a paragraph in particular stood out as something I wanted to remember. Quoting directly from the book,

         “Those who are running away from God can never expect to enter into His Zone. If we are drowning out His gentle voice with our music players, if we are turning down His invitations to be with Him by sitting in front of the TV, if we prefer to chatter on the phone rather than be consoled by the Holy Spirit’s friendship, then our hearts will remain lukewarm.” (pg 23)

After reading this, I couldn’t help but think of all the times I turned on the radio because it was too “quiet” or called someone on the phone because I was lonely. Now that we’re nearing the third Sunday of Advent it seems like a perfect time, if you haven’t already, to turn down that music or try texting and talking on the phone less. This is the time of preparation for the birth of our Lord and Saviour! We should strive to be In His Zone, to listen and let Him talk to us. To be in His Zone is “is to experience supernatural peace” (pg 15). As Fr. Mark explains, one cannot force God to give us this supernatural peace, but we can dispose ourselves to it. Meaning, if we give our best time to God, He’ll give us peaceful souls. The closer we know our Saviour, the more peace we will feel and the more likely we are to be In His Zone! So, my brothers and sisters, even though we’re all stressing about exams right now, try and give Jesus the best part of your day, whether it be a few minutes in the morning as soon as you awake or later at night before you sleep. Already we’re nearing the third week of Advent, but there’s still plenty of time to prepare for Christmas and turn our hearts and minds towards God. Remember, He loves you more than you could ever imagine!

In Christ, 

Nick

____________________

*Fr. Mark Goring, CC,  In His Zone - 7 Principles for Thriving in Solitude

Symbolism

I was sitting in Mass this past Sunday, and my youngest sister turns to me and asks, "Mike, what does the Advent wreath mean?" Being big brother, knowing everything (or appearing to) is part of my job description, so I open my mouth to answer...only to realize with a start, that I don't actually know! The only thing I could come up with was the symbolism of a wreath in general, so a little while later I decided to do some research.

Oh, how I love our Church! :)

The amount of symbolism that is present in something as simple as an Advent wreath (which I'm sure you're all familiar with) is absolutely amazing. It sits at the front of every church during this time of year, and for me when I was younger, it served as a timekeeper of sorts - when the last candle was lit, I knew that Christmas Day was fast approaching! I now realize how beautiful the wreath truly is. Every single detail of the wreath has a purpose, and every single detail reminds us of some beautiful aspect of the Advent season.

I'll briefly run through some of the symbols I discovered (I'll put the links I used at the end):

1) The wreath itself has a wealth of significance - the evergreen symbolizes life, and the circular shape symbolizes eternity, and endless hope, and ultimately God Himself, and He is hope eternal :)

2) The three purple candles symbolize penance, prayer, and preparation/hope for Christmas, and the pink candle symbolizes JOY and REJOICING! :) Many churches have also started putting a white candle in the middle of the wreath...care to guess? Yes, it symbolizes the birth of Our Lord, the Center of all Creation! AHH.

3) As a child I wasn't far off the mark when I thought of the wreath as a timekeeper...it was just for the wrong reasons :P It is indeed a countdown to the coming of Christ, as we light each candle each week, until the joyous day when we light the white center candle! Come Lord Jesus!!

Our Church truly is amazing, reminding everyone who enters a church during this season about all the things we should think about as we await the coming of Christ. And there is even more - in my parish near McMaster, the Advent wreath is placed close to a beautiful Marian statue, and I don't think this was an accident. As previous posts have so beautifully touched upon, she is SO important to our coming closer to Christ, and we can never go wrong in coming to her.

I challenge each and every one of us to examine ourselves next time we attend Mass (Sunday or otherwise) and look at the Advent wreath, so prominent at the front of the church, asking ourselves if we are adequately preparing our hearts, and how we can improve!

God bless you all abundantly :)

Mike

p.s. I just thought of something related to Rachel's most recent post, about the manger...and I think it was appropriate for Christ to be placed in such a dirty place after His birth, for just like the manger is unclean, imperfect, unfit for a King...so too are our hearts unfit for Him, for we are imperfect and unclean. Yet He still came to be with us, He still comes into our hearts through the Eucharist, and He still came to earth to open up the way to salvation for us.

GOD IS SO GOOD. Amen.

Links:

- http://livinghopeomaha.wordpress.com/about-living-hope/bible-stud/the-meaning-of-the-advent-wreath/

- http://www.penitents.org/stmartin2006.htm#WREATH

- http://www.crivoice.org/cyadvent.html

On prayer- from a good friend

>>>The struggle most of us go through are probably like this?

>>>Ok, I am inspired to change after a retreat or after an awesome speaker talk or even after a TERRIFIC praise and worship concert. I want so badly to develop a personal relationship with God. I'll read the bible...

>>>one week later, everything stopped, life back to normal.

For this Advent season, I challenge you to focus on just one, i.e. mental personal prayer. And I'll just share some insights I gathered from my life so far. Most of which are adapted from Time for God- Jacques Philippe

1. Tendency to turn prayer into a certain Christian Yoga.

This is the greatest misconception on prayer I held. I think if I follow a set of instructions (read a bible passage, say rosary, some other prayer to saints, etc.) I'll be guaranteed to pray well. This of course is false, the life of prayer is not based on a technique, but it is a grace we received. To do so would rely solely and ultimately on human efforts.

"The best method of prayer is not to have one, because prayer is not obtained by technique but by grace" -St.Jane Frances de Chantal

Some immediate consequences:

Since prayer is a gift, what we must focus instead is the necessary conditions for receiving the gift. And the most fundamental condition is FAITH.

-Faith in God's presence: regardless of what we might or might not feel, the preparation we have or have not done, how good we are, etc.-GOD is here, with us, looking at us, loving us. He is not here because we deserve him but because he promised: "Go into your room, and pray to your Father who is there in secret..." (Mt 6:6)

-Faith that we are called to meet God in prayer and he gives us the grace we need for this meeting: whatever difficulties, challenges, we must believe that God calls each of us personally to a life of prayer. It is because He is the one inviting us, calling us, and he is just, he will give us the grace needed to overcome whatever barriers.

-Faith in the fruitfulness of prayer: don't be discouraged. We are promised again by God that whoever ask and pray will receive. (Luke 11:9-10)

2. Focus on Perseverance rather than the quality or quantity of prayer.

We need lots of this especially in the beginning. I think it was from the DTP training that said it takes us 3-4 weeks to develop a habit.

On top of this, we have a weird notion of prayer. We think prayers that are long, focused, free of distractions, enriched with deep thoughts, etc. are the perfect ones. Instead, commit and be faithful EVERY day in mental prayer, even if it is poor, distracted, and relatively short. It is WORTH much more and will be infinitely more fruitful for your progress.

Imagine: would you rather want a constant, faithful lover professing their love to you everyday  (even if they feel down, sad, worried, distracted, etc.) or someone that occasional profess their love to you only if they are feeling their best.

3. Purity of intention.

This is one that we struggle a lot. We often feel discouraged and worried when our mental prayer "doesn't work" or feel dry. We should not pray for the sake of self-satisfactions or the benefits we receive (in analogy, that's like love with benefits). Instead, focus your prayer with true purity of intention and heart. One that is self-less and mainly aim to please only God. For it was said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Mt 5:8). What matters is that you truly "waste time" and freely give it for God's satisfaction and God's joy.

4. Humility

This is another huge struggle. In community prayer, we can rely on others. But in solitude and the silence of our heart, we are ultimately confronted by our loneliness, our distraction, our reality, and our poverty. We find ourselves unsupported. 

Humble people don't struggle with this, indeed it counteracts the dryness. Because they understand that they don't rely on themselves. They are not discouraged because they trust not in themselves but God.

5. The measure of a successful prayer life is not inside prayer but outside.

Another thing I struggle with, I tend to measure my progress by seeing how well I am doing inside my prayer life instead of outside. FALSE! There is a huge connection between prayer and the rest of your life. Prayer is like a growing relationship of love. What you gained within your prayer is practiced outside your prayer life. (your disposition changes slowly, and the perseverance, purity of intention, humility, faithfulness will shine through)

Reverse scenario: if outside of your prayer life you always struggle with distractions, sins, and other non-essential, how would you expect your prayer life to be?

With that, I'll conclude with my top 4 excuses I find myself using for not praying.

1. I don't have enough time. With that, I simply remind myself- People don't die of hunger because they don't have enough time to eat. This has to do with your priority. If you tend to struggle with this a lot, do your personal prayer first thing after you get up.

2. Time spent in prayer is time stolen from studying or from others. Simple rebuttal, if you cannot be committed to your time with God, you are guaranteed to betray your time with friends and with work. On top of that, prayer always predisposes us a capacity to love and be present to others. 

3. It is sufficient that I pray while I work. This one is not all wrong. We are asked to offer up our sacrifices. But keep in mind this isn't very realistic and it's very hard. Use the analogy of a super hard working business man. He has a wife and kids, but he only expresses his love for them by working hard at work. He won't have time for the anniversary dinner, or the kids' ball game. hmmm, I wonder if he really loves them that much.

4. I need to feel sincere in my prayer. To start praying when I don't feel like it, is like forcing and fabricating these emotions to pray. This in itself is insincere. I pray only when I feel a spontaneous desire for it. Well, this isn't that logical either, if we are ruled by our emotions, we'll never have the mood to do anything. Real freedom are guided by our enduring choices, not emotions that come and go.

And finally, the last weapon I use- imagery.

If you feel dry and wasting so much time with this pointless activity, imagine a relationship between a loving father and an infant baby. Regardless of what the father says, the baby is not going to understand. But that doesn't mean the baby is not loved.

Same with us, God is so loving that we can't comprehend him. If we do, I imagine either our head will explode or we'll just die on the spot. Rest assure that every moment (even if we betray him), he will LOVE us unceasingly. Because God is LOVE.

amen!

For I am meek and humble of heart

During my preparation, I was focusing on the nativity scene. It's popular portrayal in our culture – little Jesus perfectly bundled up, snuggled in a manger, surrounded by a blanket of unsoiled golden hay on the ground while Mother Mary and St. Joseph huddle over the manger and adore Him – is probably not the most accurate depiction. I think the scene was much more humble than that.

I’m well acquainted with barns and mangers seeing as ever since I was very young, my family has had horses. I can attest to how difficult it is to keep the hay that lies on the ground unsoiled. Mangers also get very dirty – their purpose is to hold the food the animals eat. And also the smell can get quite putrid. On another note – Mother Mary just gave birth and as beautiful as she must have been, no woman is going look so fresh. She must have been somewhat disheveled.

I’ve been searching and seeking to understand all the ways that Jesus was humble on earth in order to become humble myself. Mother Teresa once stated that what the devil fears the most is humility (even over strong faith) because having humility makes us more like Christ. And there is so much to learn!

Now how humble is the nativity scene? Christ didn’t enter the world with a big display/show/bang, He entered silently, humbly… Even when He left this world, He took His disciples and His Mother up to the top of Mnt. Olive and from there ascended into Heaven. He didn’t do it, for example, outside the temple where many people would have witnessed. When He proclaimed the Word, He never rounded up people and said, “look! I AM THE MESSIAH! Listen to what I say!” He simply taught and whoever listened, was drawn to Him by His teaching. His arrival was never announced, He just showed up, cared and taught those who would listen, and moved on.

As we are preparing ourselves during Advent for the coming of our Saviour, I challenge us to learn from His examples of perfect humility and humble ourselves before Him and our brothers and sisters :)  And what a perfect chance to allow Mother Mary to direct us to His humble heart!

Staying on the Road of Preparation

Ahhh.... Advent :) This season fills me with so much joy! I get ecstatic thinking that my family will be together and we'll be able to finally laugh, talk, cook and do other wonderful family things together. But a majority of my joy should be on the celebration of Christ's Birthday!!! So how do I do this? PREPARE!

I'm not going to lie and say that there haven't been moments when I felt too busy, lazy, or tired to pick up my Bible, Saint book or journal. However, preparing for the Advent season doesn't have to have a negative connotation at all! Christ's love is wonderful, HAPPY and never boring! If our hearts are on fire, nothing will be hard work for us but pure joy!

So here's a way of bringing back that true sense of joy to Christ's coming... Baby Jesus! Not only is Christ in a little form adorable but super special too! It shows Christ's humble and patient love for us. So for this advent season I am going to try to focus on two wonderful qualities of baby Jesus and try to imitate them. Simplicity and dependence on Mary.

Simplicity- Simple acts of LOVE are truly pleasing to God! So are prayers of open and honest hearts talking to Jesus as if he were sitting in the chair beside us! It is our hearts that He wants, and it takes beautiful intentions, not big actions, to do that :)

Dependence on Mother Mary- Advent draws us close to Christ just as it draws us close to Our Lady :) Baby Christ was completely dependent on Mary and Joseph in his early childhood. As St. Bernard said, "If you follow her [Our Lady] you cannot wander from the road." So what are we waiting for? Mother Mary wants our prayers to help draw us to the heart of her most precious son!

Soooo that is how I am going to try to stay on the road of preparation this season (and hopefully you too!) :D

Ps. Delving into the Word should not be replaced by the things I mentioned :) I'm just mentioning 2 easy ways to bring back the sweetness to our acts of faith that require a bit more discipline!

God bless you all with peace and joy <3

Advent preparation for programmers/mathies

An algorithm to follow while preparing for Advent:

5 (not always easy) steps.

1. Read and Reflect on the Scripture

2. Repent and Reconcile with God

3. Receive the Eucharist

4. Rejoice

5. Repeat from 1 as often as you can!

Happy Advent.

In Christ, with love,

Jerin

As you like it.

I have been blessed. Blessed with a perfect family, a perfect group of friends, roof over my head, food to eat, clothes to wear. I have had the finest group of friends, who challenge me, inspire me and suffer my obnoxious self with joy (or at least they pretend to :P). My family has never left me on my own, supporting me through anything and everything I went through. Never once did I have to feel, by the grace of God, what it means to be forgotten, unloved or alone. I am blessed, abundantly.

A quick reflection on this begs the question, "Why AM I so blessed? Why ME!?!?"

A slightly deeper reflection suggests a possible reason... some people are blessed this much because they need all this to realize the love of God for them! Blessed are they who have been forgotten, who are unloved, who go hungry, and yet realize the love and care of the loving Father! The blessings also offers a greater calling, a calling similar in many aspects to what the Blessed Virgin Mary had.

Advent is a time of preparation, a time of awaiting when I must, realizing God's love for me, should say like our loving Mother "My soul magnifies the Lord .... For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden". St Luke chooses a seemingly strange vocabulary to describe Mary's joy, "magnify". Like those of us having trouble reading, uses a magnifying glass to enlarge text, the Blessed Virgin is a glass that magnifies the Word of God! She enlarges and clarifies the goodness of the Lord through Her blessings for those (like me) that find it hard to see His glory.

I hope and pray that this Advent, we all can emulate Mary, awaiting Christ, while magnifying God's work with the blessings He has been gracious enough to provide us with.

In Christ, with love,

Jerin

P.S. I did not know how to title this post... I used Shakespeare's trick =).

i don't want to miss a thing

So a priest was sharing how a few years ago, he realised on Boxing Day that he’d missed Christmas. He felt like he had just lived off of other people’s energies for the past Advent Season, and so he’d missed it. Makes sense?

I’ll use an analogy from my experience that hopefully clarifies. I’m afraid you’ll think it’s silly, but it works for me.   I have a few beautiful people in my life that LOVE to hug.  And so when I see them here and there, I am the sole recipient of love and attention for a few, few moments . But this is usually during the school day, I’m usually tired and blah, and I completely miss it. I miss the love in that action and move on. It’s recently that I stopped and realised I’d taken this for granted. That maybe a hug back was what they needed too? Maybe? Maybe.

And it’s the same with life and these beautiful seasons the Church offers us. I am tired of just going through the motions, being passively involved- being a dispassionate Catholic. Apathetic.  Blah.

AND SO I WANT TO REALLY LIVE THIS ADVENT. Prepare myself for His coming. Realign and recommit and reflect. At Christmas, when the Church rejoices and exults that God would be man, that the Kingdom would come, that He would love us enough- I want to be right in on the action.

So this season I’m trying to cut away a few of my attachments. To spend a little more time in love and prayer. Trying to be in the world, but not of this world. I challenge you to do the same!

And really, I think perhaps Advent is just a small sense of how we’re supposed to live. In joyful expectation that He’s coming back for me. This  will not end in vain, He will come in all His power and majesty and glory- and He will reign.

May our joy be overflowing and captivating, our longing be deep-yet sure.

Come Lord Jesus!

(eeeeee, I can’t wait! haha)

Day 1 (2? lol) - Sebin

Today, I learned of a repentant hope from the Compass talk - a hope that is necessary for our wait for Christ - the advent season. It was pointed out clearly that the hope that we must carry should not be focused on economy, technology, politics or any other worldly material but must be fixed upon "my" salvation.
I suppose it is with this hope that I can give the fullest of my abilities to do what I am doing. Thank God for that. At the same time, I suppose it is exactly when I forget or lose this hope do I stumble and fail in anything I do.
And through this true hope comes true Joy! :)! I want to prepare for this Christmas in the best way possible by me. Funny thing is that, I decided to omit meat for the season, but royally failed by devouring a BK SteakHouse XT.
Maaay be I can be a bit more alert :).

A season of giving

I had a great conversation with my religious studies TA today. We talked about traveling, family, etc. which lead to our faith and common belief that God is everywhere and that He is love.  It is important to note that He is not described by the definition of love that dominates in our culture. God is Agape love: self-sacrificing love, a self-gift to us.

As I was walking home I was thinking about how God gave us the gift of His Son, who was born on Christmas day. A huge part of loving is giving. I don’t think there is one person who can say that he doesn’t receive joy from giving to the less fortunate. This is something all of humanity experiences. When we give, we experience a deep sense of satisfaction and joy.

Then I thought about evolution (crazy right? I promise I’m not going off on a tangent). Evolution operates on the concept of “survival of the fittest” and even animals in nature naturally leave behind the weak, less unfortunate. The concept of giving is not natural for animals.

But that’s not the case with humans. Why are we so different from the animals from which we supposedly have evolved? One of the reasons is the presence of a conscience through which the Holy Spirit can speak to us. Also, we have this desire to give because we are made in the image of our Creator, who gives abundantly. 

In this season of Advent, I pray that we all grow in His love. I pray for the courage to give His love, and that we would let the Holy Spirit guide us to give it to those who need it most.

PS. FYI: advent is derived from the latin word "adventus" meaning "coming" aaaaaaaand, the colour PURPLE is used during advent because it represents a penitential spirit :)