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From the Pastor…
December: beginnings and endings. We begin another liturgical year with the season of Advent. We get ready to end the calendar year and begin another year, 2001.
Advent is a wonderful season when you take the time to enter into its spirit. It is a time of waiting for the Lord. It reminds us that we are constantly waiting for the Lord… now and at the hour of our death. But most of us are not very good at waiting, are we? Have you ever had something wonderful happen to you while you waited? I came across the following reflection by Fr. Donal Neary, SJ, and I think it deserves a wider audience:
My grandmother used to talk about the people she met at the bus stop. Waiting for the bus could have meant a good conversation, a laugh or even the beginning of a friendship. Good
things can happen while we are waiting for something. Waiting for God in our lives can open
us to the mystery of God and the ways of God. As we wait for love, we realize that to be incomplete
is to be human. We know in our waiting that we cannot find wholeness on our own. We need our
times of waiting to know that God is not an easy solution to life's problems. Advent is a time
to introduce us to our incompleteness and this makes us humble. Good things happen while
we wait, for then we know who we really are--men and women utterly dependent on God for
what is most precious in life.
Jesu, we wait in hope,
we wait in patience
we wait in joy.
I need to remember that I am "incomplete" while I journey through life. It is so easy to forget that God is the end of the journey, but also a God who is constantly with us, near us, loving us even now.
Our preparation for the great feast of the Incarnation (Christmas) is also a time to remember the real meaning of this season that we celebrate for 12 days. God took flesh (unbelievable!) and dwells among us. Humility on our part is a proper response. One traditional way to adore and to be humble before God, is to celebrate God's great love and forgiveness as we acknowledge what keeps us at a distance, wrapped up in ourselves, maybe a tad dishonest.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation helps us to be honest and truthful with God, and with ourselves. I can fool myself into thinking that everything in my life is A-OK. Why do I need God's loving forgiveness? I pray, I get along with most people, I try to work hard, I try to be a decent human being. But I am also a weak human being. It is so easy to rationalize, to lie to self. Only honesty leads one to faith and to God. As twelve-step literature reminds us: "You are as sick as your sickest secret and you will remain sick as long as it remains a secret." One pamphlet on alcohol states: Sobriety is only 10% about alcohol, it's 90% about honesty.
Spiritual health is 90% about honesty with God and self. December: endings and new beginnings… a time to look at our spiritual integrity/honesty.
Enjoy the wait!
Fr. Bill
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