Am I a Catholic?

There are times when people come to me with a frowning face and heavy shoulders, asking for some guidance in their lives and their relationships, and after sharing their stories they will take a deep breath and say with a sad voice,

“Father, it is difficult to be a Catholic.”

Sometimes I ask myself, what makes Catholicism difficult?  What is the hardest thing about being Catholic?  And I realized that the most difficult part of being a Catholic is “BEING” a Catholic itself.  Many of us in this world call ourselves Catholic Christians, but can we truly say that we are really living like Christ and living out the our faith as Catholics?  Often many of us are living our own version of Christianity, and our own version of Catholicism, the version that makes us the most comfortable and does not rock the boat, cause trouble or cause an argument if faith is on the line or being challenged.

In the book of the Prophet Amos, there was a priest named Amaziah.  He asked Amos to leave Bethel and prophesy somewhere else because Amos was rocking the boat, making waves or causing trouble against the King’s sanctuary in Bethel and his government, and Amaziah didn’t like it.  This was sad because Amaziah was a priest, a spokesman of God.  He was supposed to be an expert in the things of God, but he didn’t recognize God’s voice, or if he recognized it, he didn’t follow it.  It shows us that some of the difficulties facing the Church today are not completely new.

In our Church today we find the same thing, there are times that we Catholics, even social and political celebrities, even priests, preach a different gospel, a gospel that is comfortable.  There are occasions that we reject certain aspects of Christ’s teaching that comes to us through his chosen messengers.  There are circumstances that we put forth our own opinions as gospel truth, we put forth what we think is the right opinion.  And those opinions which we call “popular culture.”

Popular culture tells us that abortion is a human right.

Popular culture tells us that promiscuity, lust and self-indulgence are healthy and normal behaviors.

Popular culture tells us that so-called gay marriage is morally equivalent to true sacramental marriage.

Popular culture tells us that killing human embryos to harvest their stem cells is noble and praiseworthy.

When Catholics who promote these positions say that they are listening to their own conscience, it is certainly not true.  In fact they are listening to popular culture; they are accepting the comfortable lies instead of the uncomfortable truth.

We are called to be prophets, even if we are not qualified like the Prophet Amos who is only a shepherd and dresser of Sycamores.  But according to St Paul, God equips us with grace, a LAVISH grace, and overflowing and abundant blessing so that we could be God’s co-workers in the fulfillment of God’s mission.  There is a lavish grace but we are expected to do something.  As a  prophet by virtue of our baptism we are expected to live a blameless and holy life.  We cannot say to ourselves:

“It is OK not to go to church on Sunday after all, I am very tired from working all week.”

“It is ok to cheat in my business dealings after all, I’m donating something to the church.”

It is NOT OK!  We are Catholics and we are called to be prophets who should strive to live a holy life.  Let the witness of our lives be our main tool in preaching the Gospel of Jesus.  But if along the way we fail in the aspect of being Catholic and being a prophet, let us not be discouraged, let us not lose hope, let us always remember that God doesn’t give up on us, even when we choose to live in conformable lies.  He continues to call all of us to follow the steep path of salvation, to allow God’s voice resound in the deepest corner of our hearts through the preaching and teaching of the Pope, the catechism, and the example of the saints and to continue to have hope in God’s unconditional love, mercy and forgiveness.

Our conscience is like the radio that God built into our hearts; but it’s up to us to keep it tuned in to the right channel.

New Year's and the Te Deum

When I was in eighth grade, New Year’s meant not only a change of year, but a change of century and a change of millennium.  I was in the St. Cecilia choristers at the Madeleine Choir School, and we sang for a special Mass that started before midnight on December 31^st and ended in the early hours of January 1^st.  Many things were special about that Mass, but two stand out in my memory.

The first is how excited we all were.  For many of us this was one of the first times we had been allowed, or indeed, encouraged to stay up for midnight and see the New Year in.  Of course, those who are old enough to remember the uncertainties about the impending start of the 2000s will recall that there was a certain amount of nervousness and “doomsday” prophecy going around as well, so that added to the general sense that this was a special day.

The second thing I remember was the fact that we sang a specially commissioned setting of the Te Deum.  The Te Deum is a traditional prayer of the Catholic Church, which typically is recited during Compline, the prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours said before sleep.

The text should be somewhat familiar to those who know the hymn “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name,” which is based on the Te Deum:

You are God:  we praise you;
You are the Lord; we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.

To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.

The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;
Father of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the king of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.

When you became man to set us free
you did not shun the Virgin’s womb.

You overcame the sting of death
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come and be our judge.

Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.

V:  Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance;
R:  govern and uphold them, now and always.
V:  Day by day we bless you;
R:  we praise your name for ever.
V:  Keep us today, Lord, from all sin;
R:  have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
V:  Lord, show us your love and mercy;
R:  for we put our trust in you.
V:  In you, Lord, is our hope;
R:  and we shall never hope in vain.

Imagine beginning a new year with this attitude of praise and thanksgiving for the greatness of God.  If you would like, make a resolution to include the Te Deum in your prayers more regularly.

"Ora et Labora"

“Ora et Labora” is a Latin phrase which literally means pray and work.  During the Middle Ages, ora et labora refers to the monastic practice of working and praying, and usually was associated with the Rule of St. Benedict.  St. Benedict viewed prayer and work as buddies and partners, and believed in combining contemplation with action and there should be a balance of prayer and work in the monasteries.

And so, let us reflect on the two poles of our Christian life:  Prayer and Action.

In the Gospel of Mark 6:30, Jesus’ Apostles had completed their first successful missionary work.  They preached repentance; they cast out many demons, and anointed sick with and healed them.  Now they returned enthusiastically and exhaustingly to report their progress.  And how does Christ respond when his missionaries return from their exciting and busy adventure?  He takes them aside to rest, to be with him again in the quiet intimacy of their small community.  To be with Jesus, means talking to Jesus and talking to Jesus means prayer.  The lesson is clear, we need to work and we also need to pray.

We who are energetically and enthusiastically occupied in evangelizing the world around us, need to balance our activity with contemplation, with time spent in personal conversation with the Lord.  After all HE is the master and WORK is not the master that should dictate us.

Sometimes we can wonder why we get so emotionally and spiritually exhausted by the busyness of our lives.  It’s because we aren’t recharging our spiritual batteries.  Stress, discouragement, and other crippling emotions can bring us down if we aren’t daily reinforcing our loving conversation with Jesus.  Only our friendship with Christ can supply us with the grace, wisdom and strength we need to be truly successful, successful not just in the roles we play, but in who we are beneath those roles.

But even though both are equally important for our spiritual maturity, in today’s world one of them is harder than the other.  “It is easier said than done” as they put it.  Today’s society is so focused on getting things done, on task lists and action points and bottom lines, that many people have actually lost sight of which things are really worthwhile doing and why.  The fast and superficial pace of life in the digital world makes prayer harder and harder, because prayer requires internal discipline and depth.

And God will certainly help us, if we just give him the chance.  And one way to do that is to make a commitment to a regular prayer life, not one that shifts with our moods.  We need to pray daily, to have a daily quiet time when we can speak to Christ, pray for our loved ones, reflect on the scriptures, or read some good, solid spiritual book.  That means carving out the time.  It doesn’t have to be a lot of time but it has to be consistent, and that means self-discipline.

We must remember that without prayer, study, and moments of being alone with God, our well will soon run dry, we will have nothing substantial to offer others.  On the other hand without action, without giving freely to others what we have freely received from God, our spiritual waters will become sluggish, dormant, stagnant, and lifeless like a salty lake with no outlet.  Contemplation and action, prayer and work, such was the way of Jesus, so every Christian’s should follow that way.

Christmas Traditions

As of tomorrow, we will officially be five days away from Christmas.  This might set off alarm bells in your head or it might trigger great feelings of excitement.  The former is probably more to do with the secular expectations that accompany the celebration of Christmas.  The latter would stem from a child-like delight in Christmas and/or from a deeper understanding of why we are celebrating – Jesus is born for us!

We are lucky here at St. Ambrose to be exposed to multiple cultures.  The students at Cosgriff will take part in a school-wide Posada tomorrow (the Hispanic tradition of traveling from house to house – or in this case, room to room – seeking shelter, as a re-enactment of Mary and Joseph entering Bethlehem and finding no place to stay other than the stable).  On Saturday, St. Ambrose will host the Filipino community for Simbang Gabi, a novena of Masses leading up to Christmas.  We host the Polish-speaking community for Mass twice a month.  Each community celebrates Christmas a little differently.

My family is a blend of European cultures.  My mother is Hungarian and my father is of English descent.  As such, we have a blended Christmas tradition.  We celebrate “European Christmas” on the 24^th.  We celebrate “American Christmas” on the 25^th.  This gives us the opportunity to experience the best of both worlds, as it were.

Our Christmas tree rarely goes up before the Fourth Week of Advent, not because we are too lazy or too busy to put it up before then, but because in Hungarian tradition, the tree wouldn’t go up until the 24^th.  Jesus and the angels (in the guise of the “grown-ups” in the family) bring the tree and the gifts.

We abstain from meat on Christmas Eve, following Catholic tradition, but we usually have a family dinner.  At the end of dinner, we read the Christmas story from the Bible, taken from the readings for Mass at Midnight and Mass at Dawn, and then the angels (in the guise of one of the “kids” in the family) ring bells to let us know that the tree and gifts are ready for us.  We sing some Christmas carols together, and then we open gifts.  On Christmas Day, we celebrate the more “American” way, with Christmas stockings and a larger family gathering.

Of course, we also attend Mass either or both days.  In recent years, due to involvement in the choir, we have mostly attended Mass or Masses on Christmas Eve and skipped going to church on Christmas Day.

I like my family’s traditions, partly because I grew up with them, so they are familiar to me, but also because they keep Jesus Christ in Christmas.  I may come from a blended family (both in terms of cultures and religious backgrounds), but Christmas for me has been always truly “Christ”mas.

Surprise!

Have you ever experienced being surprised by someone who is very familiar to you?  You were surprised because you didn’t expect this ordinary person could be someone who is so great.

Jesus was well known in Nazareth.  He was too ordinary for them.  They knew His father was a carpenter and they knew that Jesus was one, too.  Thus, it was not easy for them to accept the transformation of Jesus.  From a carpenter who got paid for practicing his trade, to a prophet who performed miracles for free.  To the people in His town, Jesus was just like any one of them, simple and ordinary.  But while Jesus was like all of us in everything, He was not an ordinary mortal.  Jesus was sinless.  There is something beyond ordinary in Him, something that even His own neighbors failed to see.  There was something they had never seen in him:  they never saw the power of God working in Him.

Our life can seem too ordinary to us sometimes.  We may not recognize the voice of God when he calls to us, when he asks for a deeper faith and commitment to him.  We may not recognize him speaking through the example and words of others.  We may not shake off our routine and truly listen to the Word of God.  But we can learn from the surprise the people of Nazareth showed at Jesus’ true identity, as it will help us to be more alert to God’s increasing surprises.

And so, how can we recognize Jesus and His surprises in our lives?  How can we see greatness in the ordinary?  I believe there is one thing necessary.  And that is Purity of Heart.  It is only the pure of heart that can go beyond the ordinary and see the Divine.  As the scripture tells us:

“Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God” (Mt. 5.8)

Only the pure of heart can see the work of God in every flower blooming around us.  Only the pure of heart can see the work of God in the homeless people in the streets.  Only the pure of heart can see God in the simplicity, in the ordinariness, in the routine of our day to day life.

Without the purity of heart, life becomes a burden, and life becomes heavy for us.  But if we are blessed with the purity of heart, we can look and see beyond the ordinary to Jesus Christ.  Beyond the ordinary is the love of God made present in all of us.

We will pray to the Lord for this grace.  For a heart that is pure so that we may be able to look beyond the ordinary and see the wonders of God’s being present among us.  Let us pray to the Lord for a purity of heart so that we can look beyond the ordinary and be surprise at the beauty of God’s love for us.

-- Fr. Joshua

Seriously Celebrating

Advent, by its nature, is a season of anticipation.  This makes it a more solemn season in the course of the Church year.  The word solemn need not mean “sad” or “somber,” especially in the context of Advent, during which we are preparing for the joyous event of Christmas and Jesus’ birth.  Indeed, in this context, it means “serious.”  We have feast days during the Church year that are celebrated as Solemnities.  For instance, for our parish, the feast of St. Ambrose on December 7^th may be celebrated as a Solemnity because he is our patron saint.  This means we get to celebrate a little more than usual.  We can take the day more seriously.

During this season of anticipation, we have one Sunday during which we celebrate a little more:  Gaudete Sunday, which is the Third Sunday of Advent.  We celebrate because we are halfway (or a little more than halfway) to the celebration of Christmas.  We light the rose-colored candle.  We allow ourselves to be a little more joyful.

The word gaudete is Latin for rejoice.  It is a command to us.  The reason we call the Third Sunday of Advent Gaudete Sunday is because the entrance antiphon in the Roman Missal for this Sunday is taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Phillipians, in which he tells the new Christian community to “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philipians 4:4).  We are to rejoice because the Lord is coming.  Indeed, He is near.

As Christmas approaches, and with it, our commemoration of the first coming of Jesus, the anticipation grows as well.  Yesterday, I overheard one of the little ones in EDP asking, “Mommy, is it Christmas?”  The mom responded, “Not yet, soon.”  The excitement was evident in the child’s voice.

As we get older, we tend to become more serious, somber, and solemn.  We lose our childlike joy as we become jaded by life experience.  Starting today, try to indulge your inner child.  Try to find the joy you may have felt growing up when the first signs of Christmas appeared in your surroundings.  Rediscover the awe and wonder of one of the best things that has happened to you, because Christmas is just that:  one of the best things that has ever happened for humankind.

How will you rediscover your childlike joy this Advent and Christmas season? 

On the Seventh Day...

People in the city seem to have a stronger urge to work than those people who live in the countryside.  Many people in the cities love to work.  Some people even take pride in being called workaholics.

Many of us live with the viewpoint that a person’s worth is defined and measured by the way he or she works.  It means, the more work, the more worth; the less work, the less worth.  Sometimes we feel guilty if we take a break while other people we know are working.  We want to be well occupied always.  We want to work not only for the sake of working, but also because when we work, we get a greater chance of earning much and live a happly and comfortable life.  And because we always want to work, we become uncomfortable with silence.  There must be music, or something we can read.  There must be something to work on.  If there is nothing to work on, or music to listen to or books to read, we become uneasy, tense and troubled; because we no longer know what to do with silence.  To rest is not a sign of weakness.  Rest is not only limited only to the old and sick people.

Sometimes we become uncomfortable with silence.  We become perturbed by solitude.  We start to feel guilty when we want to rest.

There is a mother who boasts that since she became a mother she has not taken a vacation because, she says, she doesn’t need a vacation.  Then a priest asked the children, Is it true that your mother does not need a vacation?  “Maybe, the children replied:  “but mother does not realize that sometimes we need a vacation from her”.

Sometimes we are afraid to rest because we are afraid to realize that even if we are far away the world will still go on.  Sometimes we are afraid to resign, to get away, to take a break, to take a leave, because we are afraid that when we return, things have become better without us.

On the seventh day, God rested.  Even God the mighty rested.  Jesus the Son of God, the savior of the world, invites us.  “Come to me all you who are tired and I will give you rest.”  There was so much to do.  People were coming to Him.  People were rushing to Him to hear God’s word.  Yet, the most practical way, the most pastoral and apostolic way to handle such situations was to rest, to keep still in the presence of the Lord.

Let us ask Jesus for the grace to slow down, to be comfortable with rest, to be comfortable with solitude.  Because in solitude, we are confronted with that small voice inside us which tells us that we are loved by a gracious God.

-- Fr. Joshua Santos

Advent Calendars and Christmas Count-Downs

Secular culture hears the phrase “Advent calendar,” and what comes to mind almost immediately are the cardboard boxes with the pictures of Santa Claus or a winter scene with the little doors.  Open a door, get a little piece of chocolate, rinse and repeat each day until Christmas.  These commercial “Advent” calendars usually start on December 1^st and go until December 25^th, with no regard for what the liturgical season of Advent actually is.

Typical commercial “Advent” calendar

Of course, there is nothing wrong with using one of these commercial calendars with your family, so long as there is also a focus on the liturgical season of Advent.  However, it is my personal opinion that such calendars should be thought of as Christmas count-downs rather than Advent calendars.

I am lucky to have and use an Advent calendar that my family made for me when I was young.  It consists of a wooden Christmas tree with ornaments to place on it each day of Advent.  There are enough ornaments for each day of Advent, regardless of whether it starts the last week of November, or the first week of December.  My brother’s is a similar concept – a felt Christmas tree with felt ornaments that one can attach to the tree with Velcro each day of Advent.  Both of our calendar ornaments contain religious symbols, as well as more secular symbols of winter.

An Advent Calendar similar to my own

An Advent Calendar similar to my brother’s

These calendars enhanced our experience of Advent growing up, when the commercial calendars were far less prevalent, because they opened the door for conversation about why we were celebrating during the run up to Christmas.  It gave our mother the chance to get us ready:  mind, body, and soul.

What kinds of Advent calendars do you use with your families?  How do they help you get ready for Christmas, and “Prepare the way of the Lord”?