Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a time of joyful remembrance for all the blessings God has bestowed upon us. It is a day of reflection and gratitude for the lives we have, and for those whom we share. Thanksgiving is a time to look around us and open our hearts to those in need. Just as the Native Americans shared out of their poverty with the first settlers, so to are we called to share with others in need out of our poverty.

Exactly what do I mean by poverty? I am not talking about being poor; rather I am talking about giving from our genuine resources instead of our left over abundance. Faithful gratitude shows us that God has good gifts that God wants to provide to those willing to accept them. Therefore the more we give of ourselves, the more blessings we receive from God.

Thanksgiving reminds us that God is at the center of all creation, and a simple word of gratitude opens up for us countless abundance, grace and love.

I wish you all a most holy and blessed Thanksgiving. May the God of peace and mercy shine down upon you and your families restoring relationships where broken, heal broken hearts, and bring love and warmth to all.

Holy consumerism and the Second Coming of Retail

Where has the beautiful and rich liturgical season of Advent gone? On that note what has Christmas become? It’s heartbreaking to learn that even before Thanksgiving people are already camping out in front of retail stores in order to be first to purchase consumer products. Consumerism has not only hijacked Christmas, but Advent as well.

What have we lost? Will the second coming of Christ find all of his sheep living into the theology of consumerism, forsaking their baptisms and the call to live out the Gospel life? And for what? A fifty-inch large flat screen television? Is that what our salvation has come down too? Will the birth of our Savior continue to be second to shopping for the best bargain? What about the true gift of grace Incarnate, Jesus, who came into the world only to die for our sins? Did he die so that we can celebrate our gift of grace at Best Buy?

Advent celebrates not only the anticipation of the birth of the Christ Child, but second coming of Christ in all his majesty and glory. Christmas celebrates the gift of the Incarnation, God taking on human flesh and life. It is the beginning of Christ’s salvific mission to save us from the powers of sin and death. This is vital to our Christian understanding and beliefs. Yet in this post Christian era many people would never understand our Christian theology.

The season of Advent is almost non-existent and Thanksgiving is nothing more than the preparation day for Black Friday.  The only anticipation of the season is what deals and bargains one might receive. When we think of John the Baptist pointing towards Christ, in this day and age he might as well be pointing towards the latest retail ads!

Christmas has become little more than decorative lights and sitting on Santa’s knee. Do folks still understand that Christmas is more than just one day? It is a season.  

As the Church it is our responsibility to go into the world and reinvest our energy and spiritual lives into reclaiming the true meaning of Advent and Christmas. We need to somehow reach out to this generation made up of largely unbelievers and “Convenient Christians” and evangelize the Incarnate Word of God.

The seasons of Advent and Christmas are too important for us to allow their meaning to be lost to the world of retail. Perhaps if people filled their spirits the way they fill their shopping carts the Church would look like a very different place. Many souls would be fed, perhaps some that don’t even realize they are in need of Christ.

When Negative Emotions Become too Great

As human beings we are (blessed?) with a wide variety of emotions. Joy, gratification, happiness, accomplishment and such are all emotions that we tend to enjoy and not avoid. As a matter of fact most of us would prefer to go through life experiencing only good and positive emotions. We only wish life was that perfect. Unfortunately it is not!

Reality proves that life is full of negative emotions, which tend to constantly plague us. Fear, trepidation, low self-esteem, insecurity, worry, doubt and so on, manage to afflict our minds and spirits. We often try to avoid these emotions or merely hold them out so far away from ourselves that the tension becomes unbearable. When we hold them too close to us we are inclined to wallow in them. Neither of these ways of dealing with negative emotions is healthy or helpful.

So what do we do with these wretched emotions that bring us down and create internal stress? We certainly don’t wish to go through life weighed down by them. Often we try and control our negative emotions but that only makes them worse. We can accept them for what they are, but then we reside ourselves to a life of self-pity and doubt. We can avoid them but of course that never works. They will always pop up and strike us down. So what is left? What can we do to deal with these emotions that cause us mental and spiritual anguish and discomfort? As stated before if we get too close to them then we wallow in them, and if we hold them off at a distance we create an overbearing tension. If we try to control them we find ourselves out of control. If we avoid them then we live outside reality.

Perhaps the best ways to deal with negative emotions is to imagine laying them in our laps and engage them with curiosity. By simply letting them go we can experience all the beauty of life, the lovely sounds and the wonderful fragrances that we so often miss when caught up in ourselves. We can carefully observe these emotions and begin to dissect them, discovering what it is that actually gives them life. Once we see how life is breathed into them and how they function then we are better able to cope with them. Developing the ability to cope with life’s problems, whether they are internal or external is absolutely vital in order to live a healthy life. The ability to cope gives us hope. Hope tells us that this too shall pass and we will find joy in life once again.

The bottom line is that we will always experience negative emotions, just as we will feel positive ones. It is how we choose to deal with the negativity that is important. We don’t have to give negative emotions reign over our lives. So the next time we find ourselves on our “pity-pot” due to some distasteful emotions, try letting them go and then become curious about them. Curiosity will disempower them and give us a chance to learn the skill to cope. We often find that these negative emotions are not nearly as bad as we originally thought. Coping with them takes away some of their power over us and creates space for light, hope and joy. Remember that happiness is a byproduct of learning and developing coping skills. So cope, hope and look at our negative emotions with genuine curiosity.

Advent is Upon US!

It is the time of year beautifully placed between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Through her rich bluish clouds and highlighted purples, light eagerly builds on the edges, piercing through in some places. There is an ever-developing anticipation that occurs upon the first candle lite on the round wreath made of spruce and holly. This is the liturgical season of Advent. The season in which the days grow short and the darkness comes early. Yet it is no ordinary, nor is it a frightening darkness, rather it is one filled with the opulence of the divine.

The days are filled with the lovely fragrance of the Tea Olive plant, as the Camilla’s bud at the first touch of cooler weather. There is more than just a charge in the air there is an eagerness and hopefulness that rides on the winds. Something in the very center of the cosmos has stirred and awoke. From the heart of the divine, expectancy drapes a sheer translucent shroud of fine linin lightly laced over the world.

Can you feel the overwhelming sense of joy that is anxiously building, ready to explode across God’s creation? Mary says, “yes” to the angel. The Christ Child will soon be born as Angels visit both Mary and Elizabeth. The one who is to point the way of the Lord kicks inside the pregnant Elizabeth at his first encounter with his cousin Jesus, carried within the holy womb of Mary. Life has changed in the world, but as of yet no one realizes the sheer magnitude of transformation that is about to be released in the cosmos. Yet there is an excitement in the air. Perhaps the winds of change are stirring bringing a long lost and forgotten hope to God’s people. The prophecy of Isaiah rings with truth, a Messiah is to be born of a Virgin.

A voice of one crying out in he wilderness is heard like thunder in the desert. The waters of Baptism are alive and the sins of the penitent lie stagnant upon the surface of the Jordan. All the while the anticipation grows. The Baptist points to who it is to come, one whose sandal thongs he is not even worthy to tie.

Advent is such an important season, yet we in the Christian faith often overlook. We miss the stories, and the anticipation and joy of the season. It is too easy to jump right into Christmas, but we are not there yet! ‘O Come o Come Emmanuel’ rings in our ears and hearts. ‘Lo he Comes with Clouds Descending,’ resounds throughout the creation. The magnificent Second Coming of Christ is anticipated as well, swollen with all the train of saints behind him.

Christ in his glory is upon us breeching the clouds and parting the heavens. Down rains his majesty and magnificence. A real sense of wonder fills the chilly air. Our Savior is coming and is yet to come. Sing Halleluiah! “The Redeemer of the nations, come; reveal yourself in virgin birth, the birth which ages all adore, a wondrous birth, befitting God.” (Hymn #55 vs.1).

Finding Gratitude in the Simplicity of God

The air is crisp and cold. On the eastern horizon the sun is just breaking over the canopy of thick oak trees in a long orange and red glow. Somewhere there is the faint sound of a trickling fountain of water that is soothing to the senses. Nature is coming to life as the squirrels began to move around in the treetops. Birds begin to make their morning song, welcoming the new day. The red, gold and orange leaves of autumn begin to take shape as some quietly float to the ground. What intense beauty to behold. Acorns fall from the trees, landing on the frozen ground. Mysterious sounds of all kinds break the silence of the morning light. The darkness of night slowly gives way to the dawn of a new day and a new chance on life. Refreshed and renewed, this is God’s holy beauty; the gift of creation. No artist can capture its radiance or subtle exquisiteness.

Despite the worlds troubles, in this early dawn hour we are reminded of God’s creative and redeeming love for life. God the divine artist has splashed his palate of paints across the landscape, giving life, loveliness and motion to all that his brush strokes touch. And in that moment his brush sweeps across me, awakening my soul, giving new birth to a renewed life in order to meet the oncoming day. 

Awake, awake! Rise and shine! For a new day is upon us with endless opportunities. Our sleep is over and our internal clocks reset. The golden light of God’s divine touch is inspiring and uplifting to all of God’s creatures. To behold the magnitude of his beauty is life altering and special. A genuine sense of gratitude pulses through my body as the first long ray of the sun brushes warmly across my face, despite the lingering cold. Basking in the moment, I realize through all of my life’s struggles that it is in the simplicity of the dawn that they give way to love and gratitude.

During this season of Thanksgiving it is the simple things in life that we often fail to remember. This is a time of gratitude and praise to God, as well as the abundant life he offers each of us. There is something holy and redeeming to the human soul when gratitude fills our hearts and rules our day. We realize we have so much more to be thankful for in life than perhaps we realize. Gratitude for the simplicity of life propels our spirits to a new level of joy; a joy that can only be found in recognizing the awesomeness of our Creator.

So awake, awake! Life is happening all around us; a good and wholesome life through the simplicity of God.