So here we go . . . the mad dash to Christmas. I’m sure you saw the pictures of people (perhaps you were there yourself) waiting in line to begin shopping.

Adding to the frenzy is the dismantling of the firewall around Thanksgiving. This holiday has traditionally been most pristine in observing family traditions — the parade, visits to grandparents, football, the table, the turkey, the prayer (“okay everybody say what they’re thankful for.”)

Not anymore. It’s just like any other day now. “Stores are open for your shopping convenience. Get a head start on your Christmas gift list. Have that turkey, then join us for our huge holiday savings!” One poor fellow was quoted in the paper, “I know it’s Thanksgiving but I have to buy my kids some stuff.”

Somehow we’ve gotten things out of order. The tail is wagging the dog.

There’s a remedy for this. It’s called Advent. These next four weeks are a time of waiting, reflecting, praying. It is a time where, with God’s humble birth soon to come, our hearts can soften and a freshness to life be restored. It is a joyful time of expectation. Advent is sort of like that happy buzz in the theatre while everyone waits for the curtain to go up.

So how can you celebrate “waiting”? What rituals help us understand “expectation”? Advent helps us experience what we call “less”. Or another way to express it . . . “without”. Here are some suggestions to help your Advent waiting. (I don’t mean to sound like a Grinch here but I think these will help prepare for the great Feast of Christmas).

Avoid the “Christmas Specials” on television . . . the ones that have Santa and huge happy endings with everyone singing and clapping. It’s not Christmas yet.

Avoid listening to the popular carols (Jingle Bells, We wish you a Merry C, Joy to the World, Silent Night, etc.). Christ hasn’t come yet. Handel’s Messiah is great Advent music.

“Small”, “Quiet”, “Slow” are good. (Big, Loud, and Fast tends to get us tense and anxious.)

Red and gold throughout the house says Christmas . . . try silver, blue and purple during Advent. I sound like Martha Stewart!!

“Secrets” are great ways to prepare for the Christ Child. Do something really nice for someone. Do it in such a way that they will never discover you were the one who did it!

Lower your expectations. This will NOT be. .“the best Christmas ever!” It will be good and holy in just the way God wants it to be for you . . . if you practice the Advent spirit.

Teach the children/grandchildren to appreciate the small and humble way God chose to come to us. Find some small little task to do with a child to “get ready” for the Feast. (Bring your child to church during the week; light a candle for someone they choose and say a prayer).

Sadness often comes at Advent. We’ve all suffered some loss that the season puts us in touch with. Let any Advent sadness we have soften our hearts for others. There is always someone who suffers more than me. Pray for them in the midst of your sadness.

You are your best gift to others. You can bring a new freshness to your affection for people. Let yourself be renewed by the wonderful quiet and smallness of Advent.

Go slow. God bless you!

Fr. Tim

I’m thinking of a spiritual lesson I’ve had to learn over and over in my life. It’s the simple fact that God wants all of me.

There’s a tension here. Everything I have has been given to me: parents, siblings, personality, talents . . . all gifts. The problem is I forget my very existence is given to me by God. I start thinking I’m in charge. It’s MY life. . . and I’ve got plans for me.

All this can work well so long, as my father used to say, “It squares with the Home Office”. In this case that’s God!

Chaffing under these limits to freedom, don’t we try to strike a deal with God? “Look Lord, I’ll keep the 10 Commandments as best I can, Mass on Sunday when schedules permit, and, what the heck, I’ll throw in a few bucks for the CMA.”

“But . . . don’t ask me to give you my habits or my preferences. I’ve spent a lifetime developing them: my bedtime, my cocktail, my personal time, a particular hobby, etc., all these are mine. I’ll do what I want with them.” “Got a problem with that?”

So God is patient. He lets us have our way. But see what happens. Habits and preferences (even the good ones) start to protect themselves. To the point where they start to run the show. We start living in a way that expects our habits to have no interference. (“What do you mean the plane is delayed?” OR “No coffee!!? That’s impossible!” OR “Take a walk? Can’t you see the Bills game is on?”)

Once again God lets us have our way. And I don’t know about you, but every time I start thinking “I’m a good guy–I don’t need God’s will to tell me what to do”… things get muddy.

It’s weird. I start out wanting a little “life for myself”. God won’t mind. And now I discover there’s a growing part of me that doesn’t want God interfering with my habits at all.

And look what’s happened to God. God becomes “the Law”, the cop in my rearview mirror. Our loving Creator is now a kill joy, someone to flee.

Poor God. How we twist things about Him. How we make Him out to be some grumpy boss who loves to order people around. Our vision of life slowly changes. Happiness is something to be grasped by ourselves. God is someone to flee. Adam and Eve hid themselves.

So what went wrong? We did. We failed to give God everything. Call it what you want . . . mistrust, selfishness, pride, arrogance . . . it’s all the same. It’s a voice that says, “NOBODY IS GOING TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO.” Quietly God calls to us but we’re not in the mood to listen.

Ever have that feeling? Ever hear yourself saying that? Welcome to this fallen world.

We’ve forgotten that God loves us. We’ve forgotten that, in His knowing love, He knows us better than we know ourselves. (If God had granted every wish or prayer I’ve made, I dread what I would have become!) And, get this.

God’s will is our true happiness! St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, prayed this prayer (The Suscipe) for God to have all of him. See what you think.

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, Thou hast given me: I surrender it all to Thee to be disposed of according to Thy will. Give me only Thy love and Thy grace; with these I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more. Amen.

Next Week Advent. We start all over!

Fr. Tim

It’s strange. Something that gives me comfort in the midst of our current world and national turmoil is the realization that some things are just out of my control. I’m not off the hook by any means. I must do my part. But how this all turns out – – – that’s in God’s hands.

So what are those issues that cause you to wonder just where this world is headed? What keeps you up at night worrying about the future your child or grandchild will experience?

I’ll bet it’s one of these:

• The possible impeachment of our president . . . and the radical polarization of the American people to- ward each other.
• The critical issue of foreign interference in our elections past and future.
• The serious instability of Mid-East nations – Syria, Iran, Ukraine.
• The nearly 3 million refugees currently seeking safety from corruption, war and hopeless poverty.
• Our broken immigration policy at the Southern Border and the haunting vision of parents and children being separated.
• The growing breach between rich and poor. (3% of the world’s population holds 85% of the world’s wealth.)
• Can we add . . . the Opioid Crisis, the Catholic Clergy Abuse Scandal? . . . and just for fun let’s throw in Global Climate Change.

Each one of these problems taunt us with their seeming insolvability. So what are we to do? Is there some foothold that stops this downward spiral? Has God abandoned us?

No. He has not abandoned us. And yes, He gave us foothold, (actually a rock!) against which “the jaws of death will not prevail.” Mt. 16:18. It is the rock of Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

And what does this gospel say about all our troubles? Several things. First we ought not be surprised by the problems of life and human history. Jesus tells us, “In the world you will have trouble. But take courage. I have overcome the world.” Jn. 16:33.

That’s it in a nutshell really. God’s plan for the world has already been secured. He has overcome the world by Christ’s death and Resurrection.

There is no power on earth that can overcome the will of God to save the human race. Period.

The future (though there will be suffering along the way) has been won. Think of it. All the forces of darkness and sin gathered in one horrible day, and killed the King of Love. In fact the enemy of Christ is still at work in the world (see the list above). But it’s a losing battle . . . the love of God is the supreme and final reality. Death is overcome by a Love that is God Eternal.

However . . . the story (with its victorious ending) isn’t over. It needs you and me to do our duty. The final end of history will not happen without our imperfect cooperation. God wants us to share in the story He’s already completed! “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.” Mt. 6:33, 34.

This is a real act of Faith, isn’t it? (We don’t have the slightest notion of how this will turn out – only that God’s plan wins.) To trust in a victory that’s already happened; but one I cannot yet see. This Faith brings about the second great virtue – – Hope. (Read the beautiful passage of St. Paul in Romans 8:18-25), “And so we boast of the hope we have of sharing God’s glory . . . and this hope does not disappoint (in spite of life’s sorrows) for God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to us.” Romans 5:5.

We never give up hope. Never! Why? Because Christ has won the victory. Human history will complete itself in God’s good time. And when it does, you, who have longed for its coming, you battle scarred and wounded faithful, you will shout for joy.

Let us each do our part.

Fr. Tim

Every once in awhile it helps me to go back to some of the theological books I collected in seminary and early priesthood. There I find in writing some of the “fundamental principles” that help explain the Christian Faith. Words that define realities like “person”, “truth”, “guilt”, “love”, “spirit”, “history”, etc.

Let’s look at one of these defining principles . . . . Freedom. What is freedom exactly?

For a twelve-year-old mind, freedom means “staying up late ‘cause there’s no school tomorrow!” Or . . . summer vacation starts this Friday! Or . . . no homework. For a child, freedom means “not having to do something”, which thereby makes them free to do whatever they want. In fact, we all have this initial experience of being “set free”.

On closer look however, things go much deeper. Human freedom is what sets man apart from everything else in creation. Think of it. Every creature you see, whether (as we used to say) animal, vegetable, or mineral, is harnessed to a natural order which totally determines what it becomes.

The flowers in spring, the geese flying south in a wing, that stone at the end of your driveway, are all part of a natural order. This “order of nature” requires flower, goose, and stone to act in a particular, predetermined way in order for them to be what they are. (Beware! The goose that stops by your kitchen to have coffee with you is really not a goose!).

Isn’t this fun?!

The human being however is a different creature. We are set in “openness” to becoming. (It’s like we’re driving a convertible with the top down . . . while the rest of nature drives a hard top with the windows closed!)

That means we must discover the character of our nature – – – who I am. Our freedom is not “freedom from” but freedom “for”. We are summoned by our freedom to action that defines us as we go. We become “truth tellers” or “generous” or “patient” or “forgiving”.

Or, equal in possibility, we can become “liars”, “greedy”, “unforgiving”, etc. It’s up to us. We’re free. This is the wonderful dignity of the human being as created by God. God has made us, in effect, co-creators of ourselves. Our actions put into history who we are. We “become”. And because it was done in freedom . . . we become “responsible for it”.

Some people don’t like this. The responsibility that weighs on every human to create for themselves their own character and to stand by that as defining who they are . . . is too heavy.

“I just wanna be. I’m the boss. I say what I want to do. And, oh by the way, nobody tells me who I am or what I should become.”

Now here’s the kicker . . . Don’t miss this. Our human nature, as created by God, is to share in His nature! God created us to have His love as our meaning.

We know this because God has revealed it to us in Revelation (Sacred Scripture). What does the bible tell us about ourselves?

1. We are made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis).
2. We are God’s children. 1 John3: 1-3 “But it is not yet clear what we shall become . . . but we know when Christ appears (the Day of the Resurrection) we shall become like him, because we shall see him as he really is.”
3. Ireneaus said it centuries ago; “the glory of man is to see God.”
4. The purpose of the gift of freedom is to one day share in the nature of God…. that is a share in the pure, selfless, joyful, eternal giving of Himself in the relationship of the Trinity. God has a place for us in the Trinity!

So back here on earth – – – what are we to do with our freedom? Love God with all our heart. And love our neighbor as Christ has loved us.

Let’s get to work!

Fr. Tim