Advent Calendar - Day 8

Today is the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holyday of obligation (that means you should have gone to mass today just as if it was a Sunday).  For every Catholic kid who gets tripped up on his or her theology test, let's be clear:  today we celebrate the immaculate conception of Mary, not Jesus.  AND your teacher slapped her head in frustration after you asked why Jesus' conception wasn't free from sin.  (Of course the Son of God was conceived without sin!  God can't sin dummy!)

First, let's review what it's about.  This is one of the Marian dogmas - things you have to believe in order to be a Catholic.  It causes so much confusion until you give it a little thought.  Mary is the Mother of God (also a Marian dogma) and that has been an accepted teaching since the earliest days of Christianity.  The Mother of God cannot be stained with original sin.  So, when Mary was conceived by St. Anne and St. Joachim (her parents), she was preserved from the original sin of Adam which stains us all.  Only four people have been created and born free from original sin: Adam & Eve (sinless before the fall), Jesus and Mary.  Mary is the new Eve - why should she bear original sin when she was going to bear the Son of God?

So what's the point of this solemnity in the middle of Advent?  For me, celebrating this feast in Advent reminds me of Mary's visit to Elizabeth during their respective pregnancies.  When Elizabeth saw Mary, her infant (John the Baptist) leapt in her womb and, full of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth cried: "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?" Luke 1: 42-43.  

It also drives home the critical truth of the Incarnation - God became a man.  He had a human mother and her blood coursed through his veins.  The fact that God came to us is humbling enough (see my post yesterday), but today we are reminded about how God came - He humbled himself to become a man!

This gentle creature that God made free from sin, and saved by her own son is our model.  She doesn't ask why, she gives her fiat and accepts what God asks her to do.  So today we honor her and in the United States we are dedicated to her patronage.  

Mary, the Immaculate Conception, pray for us!

CC

Advent Calendar - Day 7

Today I'm getting excited.  The Christmas tree is up, the house is decorated and concerts are in full swing.  We're still more than 2 weeks until Christmas, but this is where the momentum picks up for me, especially as I start to hear those familiar Scripture passages.

I need to stay back, to live in the waiting, to reflect more on the message.  But oh, what a message!  I could read this all day.  The poetry is captivating, but it's the message that is even more riveting.  He's coming.  God is coming.  Enough with the fits and starts of history, the inconstancy of God's people.  He's coming to save - a fresh start for God's people.  A time when God will dwell with his people.

Isaiah 40: 1-11

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, 
and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken."

A voice says, "Cry out!"  And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.

Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings, lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah, "Here is your God!"
See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

If the language isn't beautiful enough, as a musician I hear the music too.  If hearing the message that way appeals to you, here it is:

The Christmas tree may be up, but He's not here just yet.  There is joy in the waiting.

CC

Advent Calendar - Day 6

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

If you received some gifts today (especially in your shoes), you might already know a little about St. Nicholas.   His name is sometimes used interchangeably with Santa Claus, but St. Nicholas was a real person.  Want to know more?

St. Nicholas - giving back in Christ's name before it was cool.  Hope you find a little bag of gold in your shoes.

CC

Advent Calendar - Day 5

It's hard to include you on the specific Day 5 activities because the paper behind our Advent Day 5 door says:

"Make sandwiches!  We're feeding the homeless tomorrow!"

We've done this before during Advent and it is really rewarding.  People are genuinely grateful for what they receive.  Isn't that interesting?  People are genuinely grateful for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a few Christmas cookies.  Thing is, you can tell it's not necessarily about the food.  More often the comments we get are "Thank you for coming out to see us and thinking about us."

The other thing that strikes me whenever we do this is "We should do this at other times of the year."  The poor receive more at Christmas than at other times of the year and Christ didn't limit his generosity to a virgin birth in a stable.  He gave his life - the last three years of his life was a continuous ministry.  The poor are with us all year and they need us to come out and think about them all year round.

Maybe this year instead of giving more gifts that won't be remembered two days after Christmas, we should make a gift to the poor and needy.  For many of us that may mean writing a check to a mission, but if it is possible for you, try going to a homeless shelter or a food bank.  Look at the grateful faces who receive your gift.  You might just get a gift yourself.

Happy Advent.

CC

Advent Calendar - Day 4

Today I turned in a slightly different direction and asked my family to consider doing for others this Advent season.  Jesus didn't come for his tight knit group of family and friends and shower them with expensive gifts they didn't need.  He came for people who didn't know who he was and who didn't care.  He served people who had problems that kept them from asking who he was.  They just knew he cared.  Without ribbons or bows, he gave what they needed.

I challenged my children to each find a charity that supports poor children.  They will pray for the charity by name during Advent and if God puts it on their heart, they will donate their money.

Here is a video from the Advent Conspiracy which brings these concepts to light from a secular as well as religious perspective.  It's from 2011, but Advent Conspiracy brings the message of giving every year.  Find out more at www.adventconspiracy.org

Go light up the world.

CC

Advent Calendar - Day 3

Today's reading from the Gospel of John:

John1: 1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

This is one of my favorite passages of the New Testament.  It pretty much sums everything up in a couple of verses.  Think of just how much the Holy Spirit was moving through this inspired author less than 200 years after Jesus Christ died!  Equating Jesus - who they knew as a man - with God the Creator of Life!  Stunning.

My kids are 11 and 13 so some of our Advent Calendar is pitched to a slightly younger audience.  Here is the message they are receiving today:

It's a cute presentation, but are you getting the message?  He's coming soon!  

The baby - the man - the Creator of the Universe.

Will we be ready?

CC

Advent Calendar Day 2 - A Message from the Catholic Church

Well, it's not exactly an official message, but it sure is a nice video to get you warmed up for waiting for the Guest to arrive.

My kids have Hershey kisses included in their Advent Calendar - sorry there are limitations to the internet.

CC