Open Wide the Doors for Christ!

Welcome to Advent (a couple of weeks late)!  Here at the NAC we just had our annual Christmas party (basically, a fun meal - accompanied by the 3rd year guys providing music and cookies followed by a free-night in the lounge - think ice-cream, beer, and some of the guys composing a band, all surrounded by the completion of all the Christmas decorations around the NAC - think lights, and snowmen, and banners, and guys-dressed-up-as-elves all over the place).  However, despite all these festivities, and entering the last week of classes before break, and seeing lights and trees going up all over the eternal city, we are still in Advent, and that is a good thing! 

Here's why:  Advent is meant to be a time when we get prepared for the coming of Christ.  Obvious right?  Well, St. Bernard reminds us that this isn't as obvious, or as easy, as we'd think. 

"there are three comings of the Lord.  The third lies between the other two.  It is invisible, while the other two are visible.  In the first coming he was seen on earth, dwelling among men; he himself testifies that they saw him and hated him.  In the final coming all flesh will see the salvation of our God, and they will look on him whom they pierced.  The intermediate coming is a hidden one; in it only the elect see the Lord within their own selves, and they are saved.  In his first coming our Lord came in our flesh and in our weakness; in this middle coming he comes in spirit and in power; in the final coming he will be seen in glory and majesty." 

The Church divides the liturgy of Advent into two halves: the first 2 or so weeks of Advent emphasizing, in the readings at Mass and Liturgy of the Hours, the second coming of Christ (at the end of time, to judge the world) and the last 2 weeks of Advent emphasize the first coming of Christ (in the Incarnation, to save the world).  However, while these are incredibly important things to meditate on - God becoming man, yep, pretty world-changing; the end of the universe, again, pretty big deal - often in celebrating Christ's coming 2000 years ago, or getting excited about His coming in the future, we forget that He wants to enter our hearts and lives every day, right now.  Bernard continues:

"Listen to what our Lord himself says: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him. There is another passage of Scripture which reads: He who fears God will do good, but something further has been said about the one who loves, that is, that he will keep God's word.  Where is God's word to be kept?  Obviously in the heart, as the prophet says: I have hidden your words in my heart, so that I may not sin against you.  Keep God's word in this way.  Let it enter into your very being, let it take possession of your desires and your whole way of life ... If you keep the word of God in this way, it will also keep you.  The Son with the Father will come to you." 

So, our goal this Advent has to be to truly prepare ourselves for Christ's coming - not only by considering the Incarnation, recognizing the incredible love that Jesus humbly shows us at Bethlehem, and not only in making sure we'll be ready when Christ comes in glory - but even more immediately, in being ready for Him to enter our hearts now, at this moment, in the Eucharist, in the Scriptures, in those we meet. 

I was listening to a homily by Fr. Michael Schmitz and he recounted how he had been struck by a quote which read something like "do I desire to love God as much as He can be loved?"  That's a question that we all need to ask ourselves (and I've been asking myself these last few weeks).  Do I desire, do I strive, do I pray, to have the grace, strength, conversion-of-heart, fervor, and everything else, to love God, as much as He can be loved.  The fact is that we are created to love God, and only in loving Him will we find true fulfillment.  No amount of Christmas cookies, the latest technological gizmo, going out to eat, watching movies, plush cars, honors, or even friends will fill our hearts because they have been created for something more, for something infinite, for someone (God) to fill.

However, here we can fall into another trap: trying to fill ourselves with God.  It's tempting to think that if we pray enough, or read enough theology, or kneel stoically enough, or fast arduously enough, that we will turn ourselves into saints and - boom - live happily ever after (with God dwelling within us).  The problem: praying, studying, kneeling, and fasting aren't any good if we're doing them out of our own pride (thinking ourselves better than others, or thinking that we're now deserving of God).  Sanctity, holiness, grace, divine-love, Christ dwelling within us - it's all a complete gift of God.  We can't deserve it; we can't earn it; we can't "steal" it.  We can only accept it.

I am a "doer", I'm that guy that thinks that if I fit in another holy hour, or pray that extra devotion, or read some extra book, or make another sacrifice, then I'm making myself a saint, but while all those things are great, they aren't the most important.  Martha was a doer, she was, I'm sure, running around making a delicious meal for Jesus, but Mary, who isn't doing anything, just sitting at Our Lord's feet, is the one who has chosen the "better part".  Samuel, in the Old Testament, gives us an example as well, responding to God, "speak, Lord, your servant is listening".  We, this Advent, need to have this mentality.  Before we start doing something, we need to  allow Christ to do the doing within us.  We can't fill ourselves with His love, only He can.  Certainly, we must be attentive, we must be listening, but - above all else - we must simply be open to God, and not filled with our own desires, plans, goals, or ideas.  St. Bernard has this in mind when he exhorts us to "let [God] take possession of your desires and your whole way of life".  Our job isn't  so much to go bulldozing through our life, making room for Christ, how we think we should, but instead we should simply surrender to His will, in each and every moment, and allow Him to make room within us for His love. 

Some days things don't happen the way we want them too - so many times I get to the end of the day and I think "gosh, I didn't get as much done as I wanted to today".  But this is my own idea of a productive day, God simply wants me to get to the end of the day and ask if I loved God as much as I could that day.  He doesn't ask for efficiency, but charity, not production, but love.  Blessed Mother Theresa was quoted saying "do little things with great love".  It's a quote we've all heard before, but do we follow it?  Are we willing to be so humble as to accept whatever God - in His providence - has planned for us today, and simply trust that He will give us the grace necessary to do it in the loving way that He wants.  Are we willing to surrender to such an extent that we allow Christ to come to us, and not try to force our way to Him? 

In His coming at Bethlehem Christ emphasizes humility.  In His middle coming into our heart - whether through sacrament, scripture, or neighbor - He also emphasizes humility.  Christ humbles Himself completely in order to come with us, are we willing to stoop low enough to enter that stable with Him - to leave behind our own ideas, plans, or whatever, and simply kneel there in His presence?  Are we willing to be like Joseph, silent before the Christ child, simply gazing upon God's incarnate love?  Are we willing to be like Mary, staying the night in a stable because nobody else cared?  Are we willing to round up our sheep, tossing out our own plans, like the shepherds, and tromp into Bethlehem to bow before our infant king?  Are we willing to pack up our treasures and sit on a camel for a month, to just catch a glimpse of Jesus?  All the figures we see didn't really do something to earn God's coming to them, they were just ready to obey when God announced it to them.  We too, during this advent, aren't so much called to do something, as we are called to willing do whatever God places before us. 

For me, that means studying Hebrew (one of my classes this semester) - not exactly my favorite past-time - is more important than doing something different where I think I will encounter God.  Praying the Office - even when I think it gets repetitive, or boring, or tiring - is a better prayer than whatever devotion resonates with me this week.  You get the picture, following God's plan is more important that following our own plan.  Why?  Because God can only enter the humble heart.  The heart filled with its own plans, ideas, or pseudo-holiness, doesn't have any room for God.  Advent isn't for replacing our old attachments with new, better, ones, it's for emptying our hearts of our own attachments completely and letting God fill us.  Back to the analogy of listening: we aren't supposed to start pumping new, better, music through our ears, but to stop filling our ears with any noise and just allow God to speak. 

Is this hard?  You better believe it!  Stepping back, accepting everything as an opportunity to follow God's will, listening, surrendering - all these things mean coming out of ourselves and dying to self.  You have no idea (ok, maybe some of you do) how hard it is for me to kneel there during a holy hour and not pick up a book to read.  I want to do something, I feel like I am so distracted when I'm just there, doing nothing, in the presence of God.  But God so often comes quietly, humbly, simply.  2000 years ago, God came - not as a mighty, world-conquering, evil-pulverizing, divine king - but as a child, a weak, helpless, approachable, little baby.  And, today, He enters our hearts in the same way - in silence, in stillness, tenderly knocking and asking if He can enter. 

Do you desire to love God as much as He can possibly be loved?  That's the question this post began with, and hopefully that is the question that it ends with.  Christ comes to bring us love, to unite us with God, to restore us to the original union He had planned for us since the beginning.  Advent is a time of preparation, not in the sense of packing up our stuff and asking God where He wants to send us, but in leaving our stuff behind and watching Our Lord, to follow the path He takes before us - the path of humility, love, and obedience.  May we pray, with Our Lady, that God's will be done, in us, according to His word - not expecting, or predicting, or presuming, what God wants us to do, but allowing His will to unfold before us and accepting whatever it might be with His gratitude, enthusiasm, joy, and love.  Not filling ourselves with our own love - whatever that might mean - but simply remaining open to God filling us with His love, and stretching us to hold more of His love, throughout every day.  Not doing something to try and bring Christ to us, but just being ready to receive Him when He comes.

Hey guys! Here are a few videos that I have run across over the last week or so.  Some of them are long, but all are really fantastic!  I have several posts in the incubation stage, but haven't been able to finish them up yet. Exciting news: I sent off my application to the NAC this week! Have a wonderful Friday, remember to offer your sacrifice today up for something - it makes it so much more meaningful. Enjoy!

As the title indicates, Christmas break has now ended and I'm back in Indianapolis.  The new semester starts tomorrow!  I am excited for most of my classes, but I don't know if I am actually ready to do the work for them...  Anyway, I've been wanting to do a post about the 5 hour drive from Quincy to Indy for some time now, and I am also going to try to increase the number of posts that I'm writing, so here's my attempt at a somewhat funny, somewhat comprehensive, somewhat short look at the drive between Quincy and Indianapolis.

This morning I finished packing up all my clothes, books, partially-finished PNAC application, a tray of leftover Christmas cookies, and everything else that I would be bringing back to Brute.  I filled up with gas on my way to 11 AM Mass at St. Rose and after Mass was over (12:30ish) finished throwing everything in the car, changed into jeans, and met the family at Culvers, where they sometimes eat with other people from church on Sunday afternoons.  I ate my burger and ice-cream quickly because I was fast approaching my 2 PM deadline for leaving, said a quick good-by, and then hit the road.

The first hour was mostly spent staring at the road and listening to the radio.  By the end of that time period I was getting tired of the radio, and was also getting pretty sleepy because I had been squinting the entire time (it was sunny, the road was a bit wet, and I didn't have sunglasses), so I put in a Lighthouse Catholic CD - Power in Prayer (Sr. Mary Gabriel, SV).  It was a great talk on the importance and power of prayer.  Prayer, as she reminded, can't be just about asking for stuff from God, it very much has to be about opening ourselves up to Him.  We have to open our heart to His presence, we have to allow Christ to reign over us, and that only happens by being in communication with Him in prayer.  2 hours down, 3 to go!

After that CD, I listened to the radio some more.  I actually ran across a football game, which I guess I didn't know they broadcasted on the radio, but it surprisingly it kept me alert and awake for the 40 minutes or so that I listened to it.  Eventually it did get old (and I think I lost the station after a while), but it burned a lot of time!  

Having crossed the half-way point of my journey (somewhere in the middle of Illinois), I started listening to some podcasts by Fr. Michael Schmitz.  They were all absolutely fantastic!  One was on how we need to find the things in life that are taking us away from God, the near occasions of sin, and choose, right now, to get rid of that problem.  Another was on having the simple trust in God that Mary had.  Just saying "yes" even when we don't know how everything is going to work out.  Another was on how difficult it is to find out how much of something is enough.  How much is enough food, enough money, enough friends?  Fr. Schmitz noted that sometimes we need to cut back on things like these so that we can have more than enough of the joy and love that comes from Jesus Christ, the only things that are truly worth having "too-much" of.  Obviously, they were a lot more interesting and inspiring than my descriptions of them.  Suffice it to say that I haven't very often listened to homilies for over an hour, and I was really attentive to these (listen to some, there phenomenal).

By this time, believe it or not, I was only about 30 minutes from Indianapolis, so I pretty much just enjoyed the rest of the ride.  Some of the time I just let my mind think about the things I had heard - meditating on them I suppose - but I also listened to the radio a bit.  Finally, around 7:30, I pulled into the Bruté parking lot and my sojourn was over.  It was a better trip than usual.  The weather was perfect - no rain, no snow, no slippery roads.  I was pretty awake the entire time - which usually isn't the case (though the Mountain Dew Kick-Starter probably explains part of that).  

Some funny moments that didn't fit in up above:

Shortly after passing Springfield, I was listening to the talk on prayer and I was rather engrossed at the moment and managed to miss my exit.  Unfortunately, I have come to rely on the GPS for directions and since it was muted for whatever reason, I failed to realize that I had a turn.  It was only a 5 minute delay, but I was a bit bemused because I'd guess that not to many people miss their exit because they were listening to a talk on praying...

About half an hour later, I was driving along when a lady passed me in a minivan.  Well, I glanced over to see who was passing me and was surprised to see that both her (bare) feet were up on the dash, one leg on each side of the steering wheel.  I had seen passengers put their feet up on the dash to relax, but never the driver...  Good grief, what if she had to stop!  Yeah, that got my attention...

I didn't expect to have anyone surpass that, um, talent, but another guy came close.  As he passed me I again looked over - you never know, maybe the person is cheerful and will wave at you or something - and anyway, he had his head inclined all the way back, looking up at the ceiling of his car, and was in the process of putting the last touches on shaving his neck.  It was an electric razor - thank goodness - but still made me laugh.

Finally, at another point in my drive, I was shooting right along, listening to one of the podcasts, I think, and I had just passed a car and was moving back into the right lane when I saw that there was a car parked on the side of the highway with the occupants standing next to their vehicle getting ready to change the tire or something.  The guy in front of me changed lanes to the left, and I did the same, just to give them more room.  Suddenly, the guy in front of me swerved back to the right - I immediately stared forward to see what was up, and saw that there was something on the road.  I followed his example, going about halfway into the right land, and was surprised to see that a large shovel, along with fragments of something wooden, were strewn on the road.  They guy who I had just passed swerved around to the left - almost going off the road in the process - and the cars behind him followed suit.  I guess its something you see every so often, but it made me think about how badly that could have turned out if I had been less alert...  

And there's my story for the day!  Time to hit the sack and get some sleep before everything gets going tomorrow!

As I start this post it is right before our retreat starts at St. Meinrad (so the no electronics policy hasn't started yet), and I wanted to write a short post about something I found in The Priest is Not His Own, by Venerable Fulton Sheen.  I've been reading the book for a while (I probably started it nearly a year ago), but it is somewhat long, very dense (in a good way), and I have had a pile of books which I am reading simultaneously (which slows down how fast one can read through one book).  

Anyway, on pages 200-213 he talks about the Eucharist (a topic that goes throughout the entire book, but this happened to be the place that I started today, so it's what I wanted to make a post on).  He begins by looking at the Old Testament, how Melchizedek, and his sacrifice of bread and wine, prefigure Our Lord, and His sacrifice of bread and wine (which, of course, is Himself).  This probably is an obvious type (where something in the Old Testament prefigures something in the New), but Bishop Sheen goes further: what does Abraham do when he gains victory (saving Lot)?  Instead of taking the spoils for himself, Melchizedek arrives and blessed Abraham, reminding him that the spoils, the victory, are truly God's.  

Next, Bishop Sheen looks at the bread of the presence in the Old Testament.  This is another obvious type of the Eucharistic bread that Christ will give in the New Testament.  I quote: 

Finally, he looks at the New Testament.  The first words Jesus speaks (in John's Gospel) are "What would you have of me?" [John 1:38]  It is a question that we should all ask ourselves.  Are we coming to Jesus Christ for worldly power or prestige, money, military power, or some other worldly good?  Are we coming to take some part of what Jesus says, but not quite everything?  John and Andrew, when they first came to Jesus, got it right.  They accepted everything, they didn't say, well, we like the healing the sick part, but not so much the picking up one's own cross.  They simply asked Jesus "where are you staying?".  As Fulton Sheen explains, we need to do the exact same thing - go to where Jesus is present - accepting everything from Him who gives us everything in the Eucharist.  

I am now back from my retreat, which was awesome by the way, and this theme, to be open to Christ coming into my life and transforming it, seems to keep reappearing everywhere.  On the drive back from Effingham on Thursday, I listened to a podcast by Fr. Michael Schmitz, which was his homily for Christmas Eve.  In that homily he reiterated that Jesus came into the world out of love, He wants to enter your life - your entire life, the good and the bad - and transform it.  He was born into a cold cave at Bethlehem, was laid in a slimy, nasty, manger, and visited by the not-so-spiritually-great shepherds.  But that is the entire message of Christmas, that God becomes man precisely to enter our broken, messed-up, hard world.  He comes as a man so that He can save all men from their sins and bring them to Himself.  It is up to us to accept that invitation.  To meditate on the beauty, tenderness, and love shown to us in the Incarnation, but also on the same beauty, tenderness, and love that Jesus shows to us everyday in the Holy Mass.  We must receive him into our lives just as Mary did.  We must have incredible reverence, devotion, and love for this incredible gift of Himself - something the Israelites forgot to their peril.  And finally, we must give absolutely everything to God, just like Abraham did.  (Side note: Abraham is often called the father of faith, but it's important to remember that faith is more than just believing/agreeing with doctrines, dogmas, etc.  Faith means we give our lives to God and let Him change us.  It means acting differently! - something I learned today in a talk by Bishop Paprocki to a men's prayer breakfast here in Quincy.)  Let Christ entering into your heart, especially in the Eucharist, totally transform your life!  There is so much more to say here, but I have run out of time, so I'll have to leave you with that for now...

Alright!  Well, that post ended completely differently than I had intended it too, but blogger.com stopped working so I lost the last half and had to retype it (and I went into a totally different topic).  Think of it this way, it means I have something else to write about later!  Anyway, I am now in the last days of my Christmas break, having been running around non-stop since it started, having still not completed the application to the N.A.C., and having not read all dozen, or so, books that I wanted too.  Good thing I'll have tons of free time this semester... (not!)  Ah well, business is a sign of abundant blessings I suppose.