Making Room for Advent

I like Advent very much. Not growing up a Catholic, my childhood Protestant Church at the time had no Advent to precede Christmas. So, among the many spiritual riches of our Catholic Tradition, I was given Advent when I started attending the Catholic Church.

Even still, our society doesn’t celebrate Advent at all. There is a diminished sense that the time before Christmas is still a time of preparation. But business has high-jacked this time as a time to buy gifts, to spend lavishly, even if you have to go into debt. (See this sad article: HERE).

And I suppose in order to get people in the "Christmas mood" to buy gifts, business has promoted decorating ever earlier for Christmas (I think the TV shopping channels have had Christmas trees and decorations in October!) and the shops play Christmas carols earlier and we have Christmas parties and Live Nativity scenes in the Protestant churches and TV Christmas specials —all before Christmas Day, which is still, by the way, December 25^th.

I am no Grinch when it comes to Christmas. I love Christmas. But it makes little sense to me to over-celebrate the things of Christmas before the actual day of Christmas. Some will decorate now and enjoy the parties and listen to carols and that is ok---I am not trying to make anyone feel guilty for whatever celebration we chose to enjoy!

But for the Church, we are not right now in the Christmas Season. You are going to notice that the Church (at least the Catholic Church) does not sing Christmas carols or decorate or celebrate Christmas before Christmas Day. Yes, there will be a Children’s Christmas Play on Dec. 8 and other parish Christmas parties, some of which I will gladly attend. I’m not rigid in my Advent Observance. But I do wish Advent was not so drowned out in our lives as it tends to be. At least when we enter the Church during this time, we can fnd some alternative space to reflect upon the message of Advent.

The Church does have a Christmas Season–it’s for about 3 weeks after  Decemeber 25 (more today than the 12 Days of Christmas of yore which ended on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany). Then the Church celebrates by singing Christmas carols and decorating and the Priests put on their finest vestments. But because society has been pushing everything Christmas (except the religious stuff),  (more today than the 12 Days of Christmas of yore which ended on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany). Then the Church celebrates by singing Christmas carols and decorating and the Priests put on their finest vestments. But because society has been pushing everything Christmas (except the religious stuff), I fear our Catholic people will be exhausted by actual Christmas Day ands want it to all be over. For many Protestants it is over after December 25.

There are two remedies for this, short of a Vatican takeover of the United States and a subsequent prohibition of Christmas celebration before December 25.

First, I am very blessed as a Priest that every day of Advent (over its almost 4 weeks) I will celebrate Advent Masses. The Scripture Readings and prayers and songs in these Masses are all about Advent and the various comings of the Lord (Second Coming at the end of time, First coming at Christmas, and how he comes to us in between these two events).

Every day I will pray the Liturgy of the Hours (the Church’s Official Morning and Evening Prayer and other spiritual readings), where everything is again geared for Advent. I will be reading some book specifically about Advent as daily spiritual meditation. And I have to preach Advent for 4 weeks. This means I get to live in "the world of Advent" while still stepping in and out of our consumer society’s "holiday season."

I suggest to anyone reading this that you can experience some of this yourself without having to enter a monastery! The U.S. Bishops website has the daily Scripture Readings for Mass (HERE). You could read these Scripture passages daily for a "taste of Advent." You could, if so blessed, actually attend some daily Masses in Advent. You might also read a Catholic daily devotional booklet (like Living Faith) which gives meditations on Advent. The U. S. Bishops website also has a very brief daily video reflection which will be on Advent until December 25. (Found on the same page as the daily Mass Readings)

Second, when Christmas does come, then we can celebrate what I call "the Spiritual Christmas Season." But I shall have more to say on that later.

Till then, "Merry Advent!"

View and Listen to a Beautiful Advent Hymn HERE

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Thanksgiving Memories

Thanksgiving Day has always had a certain appeal for me. I was born the day after Thanksgiving on November 25, 1955. My mother went into labor on Thanksgiving Day and she said I spoiled her Turkey dinner! But I was born a happy little bundle the next day and she was thankful.

As I was growing up, Thanksgiving Day usually meant that my birthday was near–and even some years my birthday is on Thanksgiving Day and I can pretend all the nation is giving thanks for my birth!

As a child of school age in the early 1960's, I went to public school (my family was Methodist at the time) and I received what I remember was a very good education. There seemed to be a lot of civic lessons presenting a very idealized view of American history. We had a lot of art projects in honor with the holidays.

So at Thanksgiving we were told about the Pilgrims and how they came to America seeking freedom. They sailed on the Mayflower and landed on Plymouth Rock. Their first winter was harsh and many died, but in the autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims and the Indians had a thanksgiving feast together. My imagination was filled with images like these surrounding Thanksgiving:

At the time we also really celebrated autumn and drew or colored trees changing in color (not very evident in Jacksonville, Florida). I was trying to google some examples of the construction paper turkeys we also made in school and had forgotten about the "hand turkeys" we would make in the early grades. Here’s a typical example of the favored genre:

　

I barely remember what happened 49 years ago on this day, November 22, 1963: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I was 8 years old and I only remember that there was a great disturbance at school and the older children seemed very distressed. I learned only much later that little John ("John John") Kennedy, Jr. had his birthday 2 days later, which is also November 25.

And another famous birthday on November 25 was that of Pope John XXIII:

How delighted I was when I became a Catholic in College to discover this. The Council that Pope John convened in 1962, the Second Vatican Council, is being celebrated on its 50^th Anniversary in this Year of Faith. I don’t think I would have become a Catholic years later if there had been no change in the Catholic Church. Just the fact of Mass in Latin would have seemed too foreign to me. I have written some reminiscences about this in a prior blog entry ("In Gratitude for the Second Vatican Council" Here).

So I’m getting a haircut yesterday from my barber of many years. He’s a kind of nonconformist Baptist. As I waited my turn he announced that the First Thanksgiving was actually in St. Augustine, Florida. I was surprised that he knew this, but he cuts a number of priests’ hair.

Yes, indeed, the actual First Thanksgiving was in 1565 by the Spanish at St. Augustine. A Mass was celebrated (recall the Eucharist means Thanksgiving in Greek, the original language of most of the early Church). They even had a meal afterward with the native population, the "Indians."

Here is a news article summing up the event:

"ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Forget the turkey, the silly Pilgrim hats and the buckles.

Forget Plymouth Rock and 1621.

If you want to know about the real first Thanksgiving on American soil, travel 1,200 miles south and more than 50 years earlier to a grassy spot on the Matanzas River in North Florida.

This is where Spanish Admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles came ashore on Sept. 8, 1565. This is where he, 500 soldiers, 200 sailors, 100 civilian families and artisans, and the Timucuan Indians who occupied the village of Seloy gathered at a makeshift altar and said the first Christian Mass. And afterward, this is where they held the first Thanksgiving feast.

The Timucuans brought oysters and giant clams. The Spaniards carried from their ships garbanzo beans, olive oil, bread, pork and wine."

So here is a new image for our "Thanksgiving collective memory":

First Thanksgiving Mass 1565. Mural in the Cathedral of St. Augustine, FLorida

　

I wonder though what it would look like if back in second grade I had to make some craft project, not of turkeys, but of clams and oysters!

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Long Weekend Away and How We See Things

I returned on Tuesday from what I suppose can be called a long weekend where I crammed as much as I could into 3 days (plus 2 days there and back). I had planned a longer time of vacation, but plans fell through I ended up only spending time in Charleston, South Carolina, where my brother and his family live and also two evenings and a day at Pawley’s Island about an hour north of Charleston on the coast. I’d only read about that area by accident and wanted to visit and see it.

Charleston is one of my favorite cities to visit. I love to see the different architecture of the homes, some from the 18^th century, some from the Antebellum period, many with interesting and sometimes eccentric designs.

 I had a few shops to explore, looking at local art and crafts. On one such exploration with my brother and sister-in-law and my nephew who is 15, I discovered that my nephew had taken an art painting class in school. I was glad to hear that. As we discussed the benefits of learning about art, someone mentioned that learning to paint a subject trains one to see the ordinary differently.

I was immediately inspired by this observation. If you read any "back entries" of this blog, you learn that the way we see things, especially the "hidden revelation" of things, is a theme in my thinking. That’s why I like and quote a line from poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (read the entire entry HERE "Seeing God in the Ordinary"):

       "Earth’s crammed with heaven.

        Every common bush aflame

            with the fire of God.

        But only those who see it take off their shoes.

        The rest sit around and pick blackberries."

We might look at a blackberry bush and all we see are leaves and berries. I found a photo of a blackberry bush, but even photos make us stop and look at something more carefully, if we take the time, like this photo:

I wondered how some artists may have painted blackberry bushes. What would their painting invite us to see? I found one by an artist named Sören Dawson. Here it is:

Blackberry Bush

I have so many questions I’d ask about this painting. I wouldn’t have known it was a blackberry bush except that the artist names it so. And yet, this seems to be Browning’s bush that she saw. For it is aflame with a fire it seems.

The point might be made even more with a photo of an autumn bush (how timely) in Massachusetts:

As I wrote before, Browning is alluding to the burning bush in which God spoke to Moses. Moses who removed his shoes in humility and worshiped (See Exodus 3:1-5 HERE). The burning bush was for Moses an epiphany, i.e., a revelation of God speaking to him, yet from an ordinary bush that was not so ordinary.

This is what an artist seeks, I think, in painting something ordianary in such a way that we see "something more." Perhaps it’s simply that we see the beauty of something we had not seen before. But beauty is an attribute of God also.

There is something in good art that invites us to slow down and ponder deeper things, or meanings.It is the same in beautiful places of nature. When I was traveling this weekend, I sped by many places, and in speeding by I barely saw them. To see the architecture I so love looking at in places like Charleston one must slow down if in a car, but better yet, get out and walk to see what’s there to be seen.

I had stopped in Savannah, Georgia, on the way home and browsed some art studios and their paintings and other works of art. But I found it somewhat difficult to take in all the art because so many works invited contemplation–really looking at them and appreciating color and technique and subject. After awhile I had to stop looking because I was just "speeding by."

In another one of my blog reflections (HERE) I quoted Fr. Ron Rolheiser about the "mystical imagination," that is, a deeper way of seeing (imaging) reality:

"The mystical imagination can show us how the Holy Spirit isn't just inside our churches.... But how do we learn that?

"A saint might say: ‘Meditate and pray long enough and you will open yourself up to the other world!’

"A poet might say: ‘Stare at a rose long enough and you'll see that there's more there than meets the eye!’

"A romantic might say: ‘Just fall in love real deeply or let your heart get broken and you'll soon know there's more to reality than can be empirically measured.’

"And the mystics of old would say: ‘Just honor fully what you meet each day and you will find it drenched with grace and divinity.’"

How do we find the time for that? I tell on myself by earlier mentioning tmy attempt  to put many things and experiences in a very short period of "time off". Is that the habit of our time, always being in a hurry, on the go, preoccupied with the next thing? I know it is.

My last two evenings and the day in between spent at Pawley’s Island was at a more leisurely pace.By mere chance (or God’s design) I booked a hotel on the beach in the "off season." There were a lot less folks around and a more quiet pace than Charleston. The clerk was kind enough to upgrade me to a beach side room on the third floor with its own balcony. It was breath-taking to see the big wide ocean outside my sliding door windows and balcony. Here was the scene I was treated to for the duration:

Pawley's Island Beach in Novemeber

I woke early and enjoyed sitting on the balcony, praying, and taking in the scenery. Every now and then a person passed by walking on the beach. One was a man who looked like he was walking for exercise. He was also reading a book as he went! Another had on ear phones! Why not listen to the crashing of the waves and the sea gull cries? Why not look around and see the beauty of such a place? Were those beach walkers representative of our constant "sleep walking" through life?

Of course, I don’t live there and so everything was fresh and new. But that’s the challenge: to wake up, at least for moments, to look up and see.

Now I’m back home, still off the schedule until Tuesday, so I can catch up with a lot of work. It’s nice to go away, and nicer to come home!

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A Little Vacation

I'm going on a small vacation today to Chaleston, South Carolina to see my brother and his family and exploring another Carolina coastal town--Gerorgetown, third oldest town in South Carolina. There I'm staying at the beach and it'll be warmer by Monday.

I plan to eat in new restaurants, browse artisan and book stores, see some historical places and always to check out the architecture, especially churches.

So there will be a blog entry next Friday of more substance. You, my readers, will be in my prayers.  And Go Gators!

For All the Saints

Growing up a Protestant, like my refection last week when I shared that I knew nothing in my youth about Purgatory, indeed the teaching was refuted, so it was the same with the Intercession of the Saints. In the United Methodist Church  we did profess in the Apostle’s Creed "I believe in...the Communion of Saints," and we sang "For All the Saints," which was actually written by an Anglican Bishop in the late 19^th century. (Listen HERE You can tell that they are probably Protestant as they are all singing with gusto!)

But although the saints are in heaven, for me as a Protestant youth they weren’t doing anything in particular. When I read the Book of Revelation, I would have read about saints. For example, Revelation 5:8 mentions certain figures in heaven: "Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

But Methodists don’t have saints! It was explained to me that the word "saint" was the translation of a Greek word meaning "holy one." Yet it is undeniable that in heaven the prayers of these "holy ones" are present. Are these the prayers only of Christians on earth or does it include the prayers of holy ones who had also died and are in heaven?

I’ve mentioned that when I was in College here at UF, I became interested in understanding why Catholics believe what they do. I met some very religious Catholic College students and others, some with whom I came to live with, who believed in Christ (surprise!) and read the Bible (another surprise) and seemed to differ from my faith only on certain (strange to me at the time) doctrines–like the Intercession of the Saints. Only later would I realize that there is a basic difference of approach to religious matters between Catholics and Protestant. (Episcopalians and Lutherans still had some of the Catholic view on certain things–a kind of Catholic-Protestant hybrid at times). That difference I’ve written about: the Sacramental Approach (Here and Here).

After thinking as thoroughly as I knew how in those College days about this matter of the Saints praying for us and asking for their prayers , I realized that if a Christian dies and goes to heaven, that Christian would be a better Christian than he or she was on earth, because there would be no more temptation to sin or the distractions of this earthly life. And what is it that a Christian is to do? Pray and worship and love God and one’s neighbor.

And it occurred to me that if on earth the Christian prays for others, why not in heaven as well? It would seem strange that a Christian would intercede on earth but not in heaven. And if we would ask a holy Christian on earth to pray for us, why not ask a holy Christian in heaven? And just as on earth we are attracted to certain personalities, why wouldn’t the same hold true about the saints in heaven? I believe that in heaven all love one another perfectly, but we on earth will be drawn more to some saints than to others; thus, our Patron saints or special saints of whom we ask for intercession.

St. Francis

It was in those days of investigation also that I read The Little Flowers of St. Francis. It’s a book of early stories about St. Francis and I was totally charmed by the personality of Francis and his early companions. As you may know, he’s very special to me.

Later I would also come to cherish St. Benedict (My first year at a seminary was St. Meinrad’s with Benedictine monks).

Even though my middle initial "M" stands for a family name, Morris, in the program at my ordination it had Michael as my middle name. I decided St. Michael was being given to me as a special Guardian angel.

St. John the Beloved

And of course, there is my name John. My first Patron Saint is St. John, the Beloved Disciple and Apostle of divine love.

I’ll share a personal detail about my morning prayers. Every morning I pray the Liturgy of the Hours required of priests and religious (recommended to the laity also). I also pray as I put on my medal of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and my Crucifix:

"Father, may I live this day

by the Cross and Resurrection of my Lord Jesus Christ,

and by his Ascension into Heaven,

your sending of the Holy Spirit

and Christ’s  return in Glory.

May I and the parish be consecrated this day

to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

May we have the Intercession of Mary,

the Most Holy Mother of God. (Then a "Hail Mary")

May we have the Intercession of St. Michael, Strong in battle.

May I have the Intercession of St. John, Beloved Disciple:

may I, too, become a beloved disciple of the Lord.

May we have the Intercession of St. Francis and St. Benedict.

O Holy Guardians, pray for us.

O holy men and women of God pray for us."

So you can see I've become quite a Catholic boy when it comes to the saints! I conclude this personal sharing with a quote from our Holy Father Pope Benedict about the saints which sums up some of what I’ve been sharing:

"There are very dear people in the life of each one of us to whom we feel particularly close, some of whom are already in God's embrace while others still share with us the journey through life: they are our parents, relatives and teachers; they are the people to whom we have done good or from whom we have received good; they are people on whom we know we can count.

"Yet it is important also to have "traveling companions" on the journey of our Christian life....I am also thinking of the Virgin Mary and the Saints. Everyone must have some Saint with whom he or she is on familiar terms, to feel close to with prayer and intercession but also to emulate.

"I would therefore like to ask you to become better acquainted with the Saints, starting with those you are called [named] after, by reading their life and their writings. You may rest assured that they will become good guides in order to love the Lord even more and will contribute effective help for your human and Christian development.@ (Pope Benedict, General Audience 8/25/10)

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