Advent - Eucharist

We’re in the home stretch, but it’s not Christmas yet! First, we heard an amazing (my favorite) story this weekend about Mary (pregnant with Jesus) visiting her cousin Elizabeth (pregnant with John). John actually leaps in his mother’s womb at the mere presence of an unborn Jesus! God came into the world in such an inconspicuous manner—in the womb of Mary as a baby. This is obviously one of many reasons why the Church is against abortion, but it is also a testament to the source and summit of our faith—the Eucharist.

Every Sunday at every Mass, Jesus again enters this world in an inconspicuous way. He becomes physically present (Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity) in what was once a piece of bread. Like an infant Jesus, it’s easy to confuse this Sacrament for something else. Yet, like John, we should recognize His presence and leap with joy!

Advent - Joy

Sunday was the third of four in our current Advent season. Gaudete Sunday. Joy. We take a break from waiting and anticipating to rejoice! There are a few reasons this happens, and it’s not just so our priests can wear rose-colored vestments (don’t call them pink… whatever you do).

1.     We are celebrating that Christmas is coming! It’s not “Christmas MIGHT come.” Christmas IS coming!

2.     We can rejoice because Christmas has already come! The first Christmas was when Jesus entered the world, which has already happened.

3.     As Catholics, the Mass is ALWAYS a time to rejoice. It doesn’t matter what liturgical season it is, Christ has come and conquered death and given us His body to consume.

Catholics should always be filled with joy because we know Jesus. We know that He came down to save us. We know that He died to make that happen. We know joy because we know salvation.

Advent - Reconcile

The Second Sunday of Advent is now behind us, and as of this writing, Christmas is 18 days away. So let’s take an inventory of Advent so far? Has the priority been shopping, party-planning, flight-booking, etc? Or has significant time been spent to “prepare the way of the Lord, [and] make straight His paths”? Whether you answered “yes” to the first or second question, there is still time to prepare. One of the best ways is to head to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; however, it wasn’t until Jesus’ death on the Cross that Baptism had that power. Baptism can only occur once in a lifetime though, and I’m pretty sure you’ve sinned since then. Luckily, the sins committed since then can be absolved in Reconciliation. Enter the Christmas season purified and ready to receive the Christ the Newborn King, run to the Sacrament of Reconciliation!

Advent - Hope

This year, the first week of Advent and the first candle we light represents hope. We aren’t just hoping for a good Christmas, the opportunity to buy gifts and travel, or for a new N*SYNC Christmas album (I know some of you are… don’t lie). But hope, as a Catholic virtue, means trusting in God. Trusting that God will answer His promise of sending Jesus again to finish His mission, and we eagerly await this second coming.

Advent is a time of great anticipation—recalling the anticipation of the Old Testament. We are waiting for our Savior. We often have misguided hope. Our trust gets misplaced. Even though Christ has already come, Advent both reminds us of how exciting that fact is by getting us excited for the celebration of His original coming while directing our attention towards His second coming. This isn’t a season of shopping (or N*SYNC), but a season of anticipation and hope.

Christ the King

Yesterday, we celebrated the Solemnity of Christ the King. As Catholics, we pledge our allegiance not to a country or a job or even to our family, but to the God of the universe—a King. When we accept this, everything we do as Catholics begins to make sense.

At Mass, we kneel, bow, and genuflect because our King is present. Notice when we do all of those things and the direction in which we do them.  We kneel when the Blessed Sacrament (Christ our King) is present. We bow at the moment of consecration. We genuflect as we went enter or exit our pew in the direction of the tabernacle. Recognizing why we do this and for Whom changes everything.

Knowing Who shows up at every single Mass and is present 364 days per year in the tabernacle, there should never be an excuse or reason not to see celebrate our King every Sunday (or more)!

Tithing

Let’s say you have $10. Biblically, $1 of that belongs to the Church. Tithing is not something we as Catholic do very well. Most of us are blessed to be making far more than $10 per week, yet frequently put $1-20 in the collection basket.

Beyond our monetary donation, can you imagine what our lives would look like if we also donated 10% of our waking time to the Church?  That would be about an hour and half.

Why is it so difficult for us to give? The woman in the Gospel reading this Sunday didn’t have much, but she gave EVERYTHING. She gave all “$10”! Seemingly, it was insignificant and couldn’t help all that much, but that’s not that point. She was willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING for God and the Church. Whether it’s our time, money, or the effort we put into following Church teaching, I think we can all give and sacrifice a little more.

Final Destination - Sainthood

Yesterday, we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints. Our goal as Christians is to reach Heaven. More important than the goals we set in our education or career, the end game is to be united with Christ, and the path isn’t an easy one. The world and those around us make it difficult. Our own choices lead us astray. And through it all, we’re called to hold the course and fix our eyes on Christ. However, the reward is greater than anything our imaginations can comprehend.

As Catholics, we’re lucky to have Christ’s physical presence in the Eucharist. However, much like at Christ’s own baptism, in heaven, we will be together with the entirety of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No movie or book (except the Bible) can describe what it’s like to be in the presence of God in Heaven, and the only way to know what it’s like is to get there. The Destination is worth the struggle of the journey.