|
 Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Happy
Fourth Sunday of Advent! Our Advent wreath now looks just like Herman Landau’s
birthday cake! This is it! We are in our final few days of Advent! Christmas
is this Thursday! Undoubtedly, these will be busy days and these next few days
will go very quickly. That’s all the more reason for all of us to have a plan
and some goals in mind as we head into them.
First
of all, we’ve got to keep in mind what’s most important. It’s Jesus’ birthday.
Is it really going to matter if we have those couple more decorations or strings
of lights? Will it give Jesus greater honor is we have another appetizer at our
party? Will that extra gift for Aunt Gertrude make the angels sing any more?
These last few days before Christmas are when we start second guessing ourselves
and go overboard. Sometimes enough really is enough. We’ve got to keep a
perspective. We’ve got to set our priorities. And unfortunately, none of the
ads on TV or in the flyers in the newspaper are coaxing us to stick with our
priorities. All they want us to do is spend, spend, and spend.
Our
emphasis during this Fourth Week of Advent is on our compassion and charity.
How can you be more compassionate and charitable these next few days without
spending money? Who could you go visit? Who could you call up on the phone, or
write a letter to, or send an e-mail to this week? When’s the last time that
you stopped by St. Augustine’s Home on 86th
St. or any of the many other nursing homes and care facilities? Or how about
making peace with someone that you know you need to make peace with? Jesus did
say “Blessed are the peacemakers!”? Are you a peacemaker? Sometimes, before we
try and make peace in Iraq or Afghanistan, we need to make peace in our own
family rooms. Is there someone that you should apologize to, before Christmas?
What an extraordinary thing to do BEFORE Christmas! These are the important
things that we need to take care of, this week, before we get to Thursday. How
many of these things will you make time for in the next four days?
And
of course, there is absolutely no better way of making our final preparations
for Christmas than by being on our knees in Eucharistic Adoration. It is my
dream that the Adoration Chapel would be full at every hour, during the next
four days. Wouldn’t it be great if we all stopped in the Chapel of the Holy
Spirit, daily, for the next four days? There is no better way of centering our
priorities on Jesus and our Faith, than by making time for Him in Eucharistic
Adoration. Think of what an incredible Christmas gift for Jesus that could
make! Eucharistic Adoration is healing. It calms us down. It gives us the
peace that only Jesus can give. If the rest of our world knew how powerful and
life-changing Eucharistic Adoration really is, everybody would want to be
Catholic and everyone would want their own hour of Adoration! Oh, what so many
people are missing! In Eucharistic Adoration, Jesus changes us. You can’t spend
time in front of Him and NOT be affected by His great love and power. So
couldn’t you make some time for Thee Birthday Boy in the next few days?
And
when’s the last time you got out your Bible, individually or as a family? How
cool would it be to read the stories of Jesus’ birth right out of their original
source? Both St. Matthew’s and St. Luke’s Gospels start out with what are
called the “Infancy Narratives”, the stories of Jesus’ birth. Dig out that big
old family Bible and read it. I just had somebody tell me last week that
Catholics don’t read the Bible. And that’s NOT true. The Catholic Church is
based on the Bible. We wrote it! We’ve preserved it. We’ve protected it. We
use it every day in every thing that we do! Saying that Catholics don’t read
the Bible is like saying that Peyton Manning doesn’t play football. So
sometimes all of us need to get on board with the rest of the Church, pick up
our Bibles, and read God’s messages for us contained in it. Wouldn’t it be
great to read the Infancy Narratives at the end of dinner together as a family?
Just think of how that could help us to get ready for Christmas?
These are great days! These are days of great opportunity! Let’s make the most
out of them. We are so very happy to welcome home all of our college students
who are coming in from all around the country, including our seminarians. On
Wednesday evening, Dec. 31st,
our own Josh Bennett is going to be receiving the Ministry of Acolyte from
Bishop Higi. This will take place at a 5:00 PM Mass at St. Paul’s in Marion,
Indiana. Next Sunday, we will have a pre-reception reception for Josh after our
10:00 AM Mass. Please come over and join us in congratulating Josh in this next
important step in his becoming a priest.
In Christ,
Fr. Kevin
Prayer should
be the key to the day and the lock of the night.
|
