Getting caught up on Advent

Like a lot of things, I realized that I was behind on my preparations for Christmas.  For Catholics and many other Christians, this is the season of Advent.  It is the time that we prepare for Christmas. One way is to light Advent candles and reflect on the coming of the Messiah by yourself or with your family.  Here is another way to think about Advent:

Advent is a time to wonder and to anticipate again and to remember the magic that is in Christmas.  Christine Simpson

First Week of Advent

When you don't get the outcome you expected

Sometimes in life things don't go your way.  When I was growing up, I was told that this is how life works sometimes and you just have to get used to it and accept it.  After all, there will always be people who are smarter than you, faster than you, stronger than you, luckier than you, and so on.  As long as you did your best you should be able to handle the results.  Oh sure, it might hurt or make you upset that something didn't go your way, but if you made an honest effort, then hey, move on and try again next time.  We can learn from our mistakes or shortcomings.  Was there something I could have done differently to produce a better outcome?  What can I learn from my opponent?  What did he or she do different than I that helped them win or succeed?  How can I improve in order to make a better showing next time?  So rather than blame anyone and try to find reasons why something didn't go my way, we should always strive to find no fault with anyone but ourselves and learn from our mistakes so we can be better or do better next time.  That is really the best approach.

Spanish Mass

Yesterday our family decided to visit another parish and see how they do Mass.  My wife came up with the idea earlier this summer as a way to see the other churches in the local area and note the differences in architecture and style.  We found a local parish in Arnold that was having a 12:30 pm Mass.  Our family typically goes to the 12 noon Mass at our church because we like the music and it lets the kids sleep in on Sunday which they like to do.  Well to our surprise, the 12:30 Mass at the church in Arnold was a Spanish speaking Mass.  Rather than leave, we decided to stay and experience the Spanish Mass.  While we didn't understand the language and what was being said, we did understand what was happening because we know the order of the Mass.  The people were very friendly, many came up to us to shake hands during the Sign of Peace, even the priest!  The music was great, they had such a good choir with many percussion instruments accompanying the organ.  The priest even gave a 5 minute version of his homily in English after he finished his Spanish version.  It was a very neat experience.  What we all found out was that while we didn't understand every word, we knew what was happening because all Catholic Masses are basically the same.  The order of the Mass is the same.  That's the beauty of Catholicism.  At every Catholic church in the world, people are celebrating the Mass in the same way, just in different languages and with difference styles of music.  And we all receive the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  How cool is that?

Parades

Today's blog is a guest post by John Fischer:

Everybody loves a parade.

Part of our Fourth of July celebration yesterday included attending a local, small town Fourth of July parade. The star of this show, especially for us, was a young girl playing in a beginning youth orchestra including little kids with violins almost as big as they were. Our young friend played a cello, and that was a bit of a challenge for a parade, calling on Dad to pull a wagon that she could set her instrument in. About every couple hundred feet of "marching" (they were actually just walking along), they would stop, put their cellos and bases on the ground and play one verse of "My Country 'Tis of Thee."

What is it about these small town parades that is so compelling? There were hundreds of people lining the parade route on Main Street, and huge traffic jams in and out of town for a funky little parade that didn't have one band (not with school out), had only three horses, and mostly people walking along representing various groups such as Vegans, the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, a color guard, a group of veterans, a couple motorcycle clubs, two fire trucks, a half a dozen Ford Mustangs revving their engines and a few town officials. What's the big deal?

Well it's simple. The big deal is us. For a moment in time, whoever wants to be a star, is one. We, and our children, and our friends are on parade. After watching most of the parade go by, we walked alongside the youth orchestra and cheered wildly every time they completed their song. The little five-year-olds were overcome with pride.

In 2 Corinthians 2:14, Paul teaches us that you and I are on parade like this all the time. "But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere." "Christ's triumphal procession" is the parade you and I are in today. You are on display, and this parade is going on all the time, even when you are unaware of it. That's because the whole point of this parade is to spread around the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere we go.

This fragrance does not take effort, nor is it something we put on. We have it already, and it's growing in us. It is the knowledge of Christ. We're not memorizing anything; we're not reciting anything; we're simply being who we are, and the presence of Christ in us puts off an aroma in this parade we call life. God does the rest.

So whether you know it or not, or whether you like it or not, you're in a parade today. Might as well go along with it. Enjoy it, in fact, because everybody loves a parade.

Summer

When does summer begin?  Or should I rephrase the question:  when does summer begin for you?  For my children, summer begins when school lets out at the end of the 2nd semester, which was on May 23rd this year.  For many people, Memorial Day weekend is thought of as the beginning of summer.  That was May 30th this year.  For some people it doesn't seem like summer until that first 90 degree day.  That was yesterday, June 10th.  For the purists, summer doesn't begin until the solstice, which will be June 20th this year.  When I was growing up, I was taught that summer begins on June 21st and ends on September 21st.  Now it seems to change from year to year as we are more exact in our measurements of time.  For a few, summer doesn't begin until you take your vacation from work and go on a trip out of town.  I guess it really doesn't matter, unless you make calendars.  Enjoy the warm weather and time off of work.  Slow down and enjoy the enjoyment!

Memorial Day thoughts

This post was originally published on Memorial Day 2015:


My wife and I went to Mass on Memorial Day and our priest told a story in his homily about a man he knew that grew up without parents.  The man's name was Matt.  Matt led a lonely life and it seemed that everything he did or tried was met with a closed door.  He joined the military and eventually was deployed into active service in Afghanistan.  On return home to the US while on leave, he seemed bitter and distant to the priest and others who knew him.  His demeanor had changed now that he had been exposed to the brutality of war.  Upon his return to Afghanistan for another tour of duty, he fought bravely for his country, but this time he was killed by enemy fire and returned home to the US again, but this time he returned in a flag draped coffin.  He was given a proper funeral Mass and burial service, and this time he went through an open door, a door which led to heaven.  At this point the priest got choked up and everyone could see that he was very moved by this story.  The story of a person he knew personally, who had fought and died for his freedom as an American.  A person who was not loved by many people on this earth, but was loved tremendously by God.  We often don't think of the thousands of people, real people, real human beings, who lost their lives for this country, when we think of Memorial Day.  We tend to think of the patriotism and the flags, but we quickly turn to thoughts of summer time, BBQ's and time off from our jobs to be with our families and enjoy a day off.  When you think about people who were touched by a soldier who gave his life, it gets personal.  We live in a great country because of people like Matt.