Advent - Thy Will Be Done!

JMJ

The Catholic Church has been around for 2 thousand years! (give or take a few)
It has seen the rise and fall of nations and empires.
It is also the only Church that can make the claim that it was begun and is protected through the ages by God Almighty!

As Catholics we have access to the full 2 thousand years of wisdom of the Church taught through Divine Tradition.

One of these sources is in the Liturgy.

Advent is a time of new beginnings.
It's the Church's "New Year"...and first penitential season.
What better time, then, for a Catholic to form some New Year's resolutions!

Advent is also a time of hope; we look forward to the coming of Our Lord.
The Church says that there are 3 comings of Our Lord;

His incarnation and birth in Bethlehem
His coming to each soul through grace
His final coming at the end of time.

We look forward to celebrating Our Lord's birth at Christmas, and while we are busy preparing ourselves spiritually for Christmas, we are also preparing our souls to receive His other coming; His coming to us in grace.

The Abbot Marmion says in "Christ and His Mysteries" that the graces Our Lord gives to us during the Liturgical Year are special to the feast day being celebrated;
in other words, the graces we receive at Christmas are different from the ones received on Good Friday and Easter.

This sparks my imagination!
What kind of graces are special to Christmas??

Jesus came on earth, becoming Man in order to be able to suffer and die as Man to make up for our sins.
But in His goodness, Jesus also wants to show us the way to heaven....or in today's language you could put it;

"Life hacks according to the Word made flesh....the way to eternal happiness"

Psalm 39 Expectans expectavi is a prophetical psalm of Christ's coming. Verse 7-9 says:

Burnt offering and sin offering Thou didst not require: then said I, Behold I come. In the head of the book it is written of Me that I should do Thy Will: O my God, I have desired it, and Thy law in the midst of My heart.

St. Paul knew this psalm. As a Jewish scholar he knew his scriptures well. This is probably an understatement. The story goes that a Jewish doctor of the Law could put a pin through the scriptures and be able to tell which words it went through!
This may be exaggeration, but the fact remains that Jews revered the Word of God. They all had it read to them in synagogue, and so all had some knowledge of scripture, and the scholars....the "theologians" of the time would have much of it committed to memory.
And St. Paul uses the scripture to prove that Jesus was the true promised Messiah.
In Hebrews chapter 10 verse 5-7 he quotes psalm 39 in speaking of Our Lord,

Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith: sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldest not: but a body Thou hast fitted to Me:
Holocausts for sin did not please Thee.
Then said I:Behold I come: in the head of the book it is written of Me: that I should do Thy will, O God

Wow.
Here I was, an hour ago, thinking that the obvious lesson for Christmas is poverty and detachment.
It seems, though, as if the first lesson Our Lord shows is a hunger for the Will of God.
Okay, this makes sense.
First Communion catechism;

Why did God make You?
God made me to know, love and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him in the next.

I once answered the phone to be greeted by a young girl who was a Jehovah's Witness. She was very polite and said she was doing a survey. She asked me if I would be willing to answer one question, namely, what did I think was the purpose of life?

Normally, this would have put me in a tailspin as my mind swirled amid the many ways one could approach this, but thankfully, the Holy Ghost must have stepped in as in a "Aha!" moment, I laughed

"Oh, that's an easy one!
I'm Catholic, and when we are little we are taught;
Why did God make you?
God made me to know Him, love Him and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him in the next."

Well, her response surprised me.
I heard a gasp and she said, "Really? I've never heard that before!"
There was a pause and then she asked if she could call me again sometime.

That is what our Catholic Faith can do.
This, I think, is authentic Catholicism. Just putting the truth of the Faith out there in simplicity. I am grateful for that experience.
Unfortunately, I never did hear from her again. Please say a prayer for her.

So, back to the Will of God.
A hunger for the Will of God. This is the mind of Our Lord,
John 4:34:

My meat is to do the will of him that sent me

Luke 22:42

not my will but thine be done

God made me to know love and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him in the next.
Thy Will be done.
This is what it all boils down to.
This is our end. Detachment from the things of this world is only a means to an end;

Mother Mary Loyola in her book, "With the Church" volume I says that the lessons of the Liturgical Year should be practical. We should carry these lessons into our daily lives.
we aren't supposed to go to Mass on Sunday and think, "Oh, nice. Food for thought and then forget all about it."
Nope. We have to live it.

Could the love of the Will of God and its faithful accomplishment be a special grace of Advent?

Our Lady of Fatima said that the sacrifice that is pleasing to God is the faithful accomplishment of our duty of state.
We can always do better.
Oh boy, as a parent I know there is always ample room for improvement.
Being a parent is the hardest thing to do, (but more on this later).

What is your duty of state?
Is there something about it that could be a good subject for an Advent (and New Year's) resolution?

Becoming Traditional Catholic - Part III Seeing Things for What They Are

+ JMJ An aspect of becoming a TCatholic is realizing that some things that you thought were 'Catholic', really aren't. For example, communion in the hand, not kneeling to receive or during consecration. Don't believe me? Here's an EWTN article on the topic: In the Latin Church, however, kneeling is the sign of adoration for Christ who has just become present on the altar. This came about through the dogmatic development of Eucharistic theology in the West. To go back to the earlier practice in the West would be a sign of devolution of doctrine, and in fact, that is the way the devout faithful perceive efforts to change Latin practice, as a counter-sign of faith. For Eastern Catholics this is not a problem, since they have never inculturated the Latin way of expressing adoration. EWTN - Kneeling at the Consecration Then we get to the topic of apparitions (not unique to nTCatholics). In this regards we have Bayside, Medjugorje and Fr. Gobbi to name a few....

Becoming Traditional Catholic - Part IV Knowing The Catholic Truth

+ JMJ In my previous post, I discussed seeing things for what they are ... including the actions of Pope's. I know this is a hard pill to swallow, but it is necessary to have an objective measure by which to assess the actions of the Pope - even without a PhD in Theology and Philosophy. The objective measure is the Teaching of the Catholic Church. Hence, it is important to study to know your Faith. For undiluted instruction I recommend Catechism of the Council of Trent and Catechism Explained. This would serve as a foundation for understanding not only the crisis, but also recognizing error when it appears in front of you! Having said this I have two counsels to give: When something you see or hear 'feels' wrong and / or heretical, don't react right away. Do some research to make certain. The biggest problem in the last 50+ years, has been Popes that speak out of both sides of their mouthes. One moment they speak as a 'Catholic', the nex...

Becoming Traditional Catholic Part I

+ JMJ It is a big step from the non-Traditional to Traditional Catholic World. First of all, the Trad world is much smaller, isolated and under siege. This leads to a number of interesting elements that a person making the transition needs to take into account. The Trad World Is Smaller It is a fact that in the states there are about 30,000 Traditional Catholics who support the SSPX and about 3,000 in Canada. The other Traditionalit orders (FSSP, ICK, etc), I assume, are in the same ball park if not smaller. Let put that in perspective, in my area there are 270,000 non-Traditional Catholics. Consequently, aside from the larger centers, a Traditional 'Parish' or Mass Centre will be 200 people or less. This has the advantage of being like an extended family and cozy. It has the disadvantage that any crazy 'uncles' in that family will be in plain sight. Be forewarned that any eccentricity that would be drowned in a sea of people in a non-Traditiona...

Becoming Traditional Catholic Part V - Staying Traditional Catholic

+ JMJ My post about seeing things as they are has drawn a fair amount of attention. A quick recap: Part: Outlined the isolation of Traditional Catholics Most non-cradle Traditional Catholics experienced an transitional moment when they realize that they've been tricked / lied to most of their Catholic lives by Popes, Bishops, Priests, Brothers, Nuns and other Catholics. Seeing things as they are. For example: The Catholic Charismatic movement is anything but (ie it is really a protestant hook that the naive Catholics have inhaled). Communion in the Hand (as practiced now - not as practiced in some placed early in the life of the Church) is protestant. That removing the Filioque from the Creed is Schismatic. ... the list goes on. How to help distinguish the Protestant / Schismatic elements that permeate the 'Modern' Catholic Church from the vestiges of Catholicism. - Study! Now the question is how, once one has found Traditional Catholicism, to r...

Thoughts on the Thoughts of a former SSPX priest

+ JMJ Well Gary Campbell, former SSPX Priest and now laicised has posted a new article on WherePeterIs. https://wherepeteris.com/thoughts-of-a-former-sspx-priest-on-the-july-1-consecrations/ These words stuck out: Heck, they have built a five-star hotel, wine bar, and Walmart on the opposite bank of the Rubicon! They are not in danger of entering a state of schism, for they are already in a state of schism. I believe he doth protest too much. All the actual facts indicate that the SSPX was not in a state of schism before July 1st and an examination of the decree of excommunication highlights the either ineptitude of those in charge or a desire to leave the barn door open. The chasm between an act of disobedience and act of schism remains just what is has always been - an inconvenient barrier that person(s) in Rome seek to bridge but appear incapable of succeeding. The SSPX re-stated that they recognize the Pope as the Vicar of Christ and feel obliged by conscience...

Tradicat

Search This Blog