 I’m a summer girl, so bear with me and close your eyes to imagine the warm weather with bright, yellow sunshine for so many wonderful hours each day. Everything is lush and green and colorful, and, to cool off, you head either indoors or into a cool pool or the ocean. Friends and neighbors are outdoors using grills or mowing lawns, and those scents waft around the neighborhood. You hear sounds of kids playing, birds and insects chirping, and maybe an ice cream truck can be heard faintly in the distance as it makes its way through the town. Now, open your eyes and look outside. Near me, it is dark outside, early in the day right after work. The cold chills to the bone when you step outside, and only evergreen trees stand proudly while other trees are bare and dead. The air is a crisp cold, and the weather could be snowy, icy, rainy, or chilly - you just never know. Summer has really obvious beauty to me, but winter can seem brutal at times, unless we look at it from a different perspective. This cold season may actually be the perfect time for us to reflect and really take the time to see, not just look at the world right in front of us. How often are we consumed with being at the next season, the next weekend, or the next meeting, instead of noticing what’s right in front of us at this very moment? Recently, I have been doing some self-care work and discovered that I have an issue with time –I actually obsess about it. I worry about being on time and backtrack my whole day to make sure I am on schedule for everything I have coming up. I think about what is coming up and miss the moments I am currently in. I do it unknowingly, and my day revolves around this little compulsion, all stemming from childhood. It is very personal, but I share this because I realized I have no real control over time. No control at all. It is all really in God’s hands. I cannot stop time, prevent things from happening, make other people get places on time, go back in time, or make time move faster. As a human with many flaws, this was a very humbling revelation and I am grateful to have learned this about myself. I’m not sure how many other people in the world may have experienced this concept, but I really hope to bring some clarity: God loves us, and life is all on God’s timeline. The sad and tragic things we suffer at times, though we struggle with them and they can hurt us deeply, help us recognize the joys that life can also bring –full of happiness and goodness, light and hope. God is there for all of it on our life journeys. There is a famous reading about time and how God has already perfectly predetermined the structure of time for us in Ecclesiastes 3: 1-11: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. This really puts it all into perspective for me. There is time for everything, purpose for it all, and it is all on God’s time - not mine. Even winter, my least favorite season, really has such hidden beauty and purpose. So let us look again outside on this winter day that I described before. There might be peace in the stillness of snowfall and a refreshing, perfect chill in the air when you take a deep breath. There might be no growing grass to mow or flowers to smell, but there might be a cozy home that protects and comforts you from the elements. The night comes early, but our busy bodies can give way to sleep and find the rest we may desperately need. The hidden beauty is really right here, even in this cold season because it is just that, a season. It is a fragment of time, but with a hope of spring soon, and then summer, followed by fall and winter again. It is all a cyclical part of God’s plan that teaches us so many things about his love for us and that there really is a time for everything. God is there for it all; we need only to look for him, time and time again.
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 For the past five years, I have had the privilege of working full-time in high school ministry. I often hear people say, “That’s so great that you are working with the future of the Church”. For the longest time, this statement didn’t sit well with me. I recently figured out why: young people are not the future of the Church, they are the Church. I have learned during this privileged time of ministry that there is great HOPE and JOY to be found in the young Church today. St. John Bosco is the patron saint of youth - and for good reason! At the centenary of his death, John Paul II named him “Father and Teacher of Youth”. At one point during his ministry, St. John Bosco ran a home which housed over eight hundred young men and he worked tirelessly to promote their dignity. His love for the Eucharist and steadfast promotion of the mercy of Jesus serve as examples for all of us working in ministry. I’ve received a glimpse over these last several years of what St. John Bosco tells us with his life: there is great hope and joy to be found in following Jesus and in sharing that joy with others. The “Father and Teacher of Youth” is famous for saying, Servite Domino in laetitia!, which is Latin for “Serve the Lord joyfully”. In any of our apostolic endeavors, it is crucial that we lead with joy. With everything going on in our world and Church, it can be all too easy to fall into despair - to question or wonder where God is. In the young people I have the privilege of working with, I have seen God’s hand everywhere. I have seen His hand in the ways that they encounter the heart of God for the first time; I have seen it when they grow in communion with each other; and I have seen it when they choose hope over the lies of this world. It is our great privilege to not only share the hope that is to be found in living for Christ— whether in the young Church or elsewhere—but also our responsibility to proclaim the joy of the Gospel. I am grateful for all that the young people I work with have taught me and count myself as privileged to learn what it means to live a life filled with Christian hope and joy. St. John Bosco, pray for us! **At the closing Mass of World Youth Day in Panama, Pope Francis also discussed the role of the young Church and their mission "now." “Not tomorrow but now”, he said. “Realize that you have a mission and fall in love”, Click here to continue reading. For more resources to learn about World Youth Day, please click here. *This repost was originally published January 1, 2019.*
 “What do you seek?” (John 1:38). Jesus once asked this question to some of His first disciples, and the Church, through her saints, has responded to this question time and time again throughout history. Today, the Church celebrates the feast of one of her most famous intellectuals, St. Thomas Aquinas. St. Thomas is perhaps most well known for his contribution to theology in his Summa Theologiae. However, great mind though he was, he was first and foremost a son of God by his baptism. St. Thomas knew that everything throughout his life was entirely secondary to fostering this relationship and growing in deeper love for the Lord. As a student in college, it can be very easy to lose sight of this. There is a real temptation to put academics, extracurriculars, and friends before God and the relationship that I am called to have with Him. When I find myself putting God second, I turn to the example of St. Thomas Aquinas to see how things should be properly ordered. He could never have written his great Summa, or anything for that matter, if he did not first have prayer. For St. Thomas, time spent before the Lord in the Eucharist was of infinitely greater value than time spent writing or studying within his cell, because everything first had to flow out of prayer. From St. Thomas, I know that if I am going to be a better student, or a better man at all, I must first begin with prayer; I must first adore the Lord. Here again the example of St. Thomas Aquinas shines forth. As much as he was a great theologian, he was also a great poet, composing great the Eucharistic hymns which the Church still treasures. At adoration, when the Holy Hour begins and ends, I know that the O Salutaris Hostia and the Tantum Ergo are from St. Thomas. And like St. Thomas, I know that I should remain focused on the Eucharistic Lord, more than the words I sing. God is the end that we must pursue, not only in worship, but in all areas of our lives. Apart from God, nothing really seems important at all. While his great Summa was still unfinished, St. Thomas Aquinas had a vision, a great mystical experience. Afterwards, he refused to write anything further, and he claimed that all of his writings were now only straw. This does not mean that his theology was bad or of no use to the Church, but rather that everything he wrote and accomplished was entirely insignificant to the full glory of God. The idea that the things we work for in life, everything we love, is insignificant when compared to God can seem paralyzing. After all, what is the point of all our work if it is just straw? On the contrary, rather than paralyzing, I find this to be extremely motivating. Knowing where everything in our lives stands in relation to God makes us realize how everything we do can be a means to greater sanctification and holiness, pursuing the ultimate goal of God Himself in heaven. Once St. Thomas Aquinas had gotten a glorious taste of that end in this life, how could everything not seem like straw? This life of prayer, adoration, sacred study, and growth in holiness can be perfectly summed up in the words of St. Thomas Aquinas himself. In another vision, it is recorded that he saw the crucified Christ and heard him say “You have written well of me, Thomas. What reward will you receive from me for your labor?” And St. Thomas simply responded, “Lord, nothing but you.” My devotion to St. Thomas Aquinas has grown greatly during my time in college, not only because I attribute my philosophy papers to his intercession, but also because his whole life was focused solely on nothing but the Lord. And this life was lived to the fullest. Many still speak of his virtue, thousands across the world pray for his intercession every day, and the Church still rejoices in the fruits of his labor. With such an example to celebrate today, we can only wonder about what fruits can come from all of us seeking nothing but the Lord.
  When you hear the word “conscience,” what comes to mind? I asked some friends over the holidays. One said “sin,” and another said “thoughts.” Some other responses were “psychology,” “clear,” “voluntary,” “morality,” “compass,” “truth,” “educated,” and “integrity.” Are any of these words similar to yours? It is a good sampling. It is noteworthy that, out of ten people, there were no duplicates. It was a joy to teach Pastoral Theology at the Dominican House of Studies. The seminarians challenged me to define my terms. I use the Merriam-Webster Dictionary on my phone. “Conscience” is a noun with three meanings. First, a consciousness of moral goodness of one’s conduct, the power encouraging good action, or the superego that commands the ego. Second, conformity to the morally good. Third, a regard for fairness. “Conscience,” has Latin roots, meaning “to be conscious of guilt.” Conscience is a tenet of our Catholic faith (see Catechism 1776-1802). I believe conscience is misunderstood, under appreciated, and far more important to our spiritual, moral, and communal life than we realize. Perhaps this year, as we enter the Jubilee Year as Pilgrims of Hope, we can reclaim, explore, and cultivate our conscience. Conscience is our direct access to the mind and heart of God. When we engage our conscience, we turn our gaze within. We move past our distractions, worries, ambitions, hopes, and even our sins. We begin to gaze, however imperfectly, like the moonlight on a cloudy night, at God who is being itself. The burning bush Moses turned “aside to look at” (Exodus 3:3), burns within each of us because God, the Almighty, creator of all that is seen and unseen, knew us even before we were “formed in the womb” (Jeremiah 1:5). Confession is good for the soul. I must confess that I am only beginning to see “this remarkable sight” (Exodus 3:3). Images help me. Consider this photograph. At first, it was just a curiosity. I went outside early in the morning to see and photograph our first winter snow. As I turned to go back into the house, I noticed this cascading dance into light. I am drawn to the shadows that are slowly illuminated by tiny lights– the steady march of “frames” made by each porch, getting brighter with more lights, until a distant frame ends with a burst of light. When we pause to know ourselves in the depths of our own being, we “rise above the whole universe of mere objects” (Gaudium et Spes, 14). When we are drawn to think about our real self, we turn to those deep recesses of our being “where God who probes the heart” awaits us. Emerging from the shadows, one frame at a time, we move closer and closer to the light. None of us remember our conception. There was a moment when we did not “exist” in time and space and then we did. The modern sciences have helped us understand, first the biology, and more recently, the genetics of conception. Nevertheless, we are more than just bodies. God speaks, and we are created. There are moments in our spiritual lives when we are known– and we know we are known by the infinite love of God. Our Jewish sisters and brothers will talk about “Hineni,” which means “Here I am.” According to Rosie Yanowitch, “Hineni is a declaration: it requires an awareness of the space in time that you inhabit and a commitment to engage with your full self. It is declared despite fear and ambiguity.” (Jewish Women’s Archive). This is conscience. Where we stand before God who created us. Here we decide our destiny. This happened to Moses. As God reveals himself to Moses, he also reveals Moses to himself. “Moses, Moses,” the Lord calls out to him who responds, “Here I am.” God goes on to say, “Now, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:10). It was on Mount Horeb, but also in Moses’s conscience, that God reveals himself, establishes a covenant, gives Moses purpose, claims Israel as “his people,” and begins their liberation. Conscience is a burning bush within us. It is here, like Moses, where we stand before God. “Here I am.” My real self. In the deep recesses of our being. Where God awaits. It is our choice. We can walk into the shadows to find God waiting for us, or we can turn away and get lost in what Pope Francis has called a “multiplicity of desires” (Lumen Fidei, 13).
 “Seek God and you will find God. Seek God in all things and you will find God in all things. Seek God always and you will find God always.” -St. Vincent Pallotti As pilgrims of hope in this Jubilee Year for the Church and for the Pallottine Family, we go forth seeking God and assisting others in doing the same. This was the vision of St. Vincent Pallotti to revive faith, rekindle charity, and form apostles. He was inspired 190 years ago on January 9, 1835, to found an association of lay people, religious, and clergy who would do these things. He called it the Union of Catholic Apostolate. Today, within the Union there are congregations of priests and brothers and sisters, communities of lay people, as well as individual members who are clergy, religious, and laity. “The Union of Catholic Apostolate, a gift of the Holy Spirit, is a communion of the faithful who, united with God and with one another in accordance with the charism of St. Vincent Pallotti, promote the co-responsibility of all the baptized to revive faith and rekindle charity in the Church and in the world, and to bring all to unity in Christ” (UAC, General Statutes, 1). The Catholic Apostolate Center takes its inspiration from St. Vincent Pallotti and his vision of the Union of Catholic Apostolate. We assist in forming the baptized as apostles or missionary disciples who are sent forth by Christ to evangelize, promote collaboration and co-responsibility in mission within the Church, and provide formative materials for the Union of Catholic Apostolate. On this feast day of St.Vincent Pallotti and in this Jubilee Year, may we continue to grow together in hope and live as apostles of Christ in the Church and in the world. May the charity of the Church urge us on! In God, the Infinite Love, Fr. Frank
 During our marriage preparation, my husband and I made a mission, vision, and values spreadsheet for our marriage goals (nerdy, we know!). Part of our goals include living an authentic Catholic lifestyle, which we believe integrates the liturgical season into our new family unit. Some of my favorite memories from childhood include cooking and baking with my mom and having meaningful discussions with my parents about our Catholic faith. Traditions like these are important to my husband and me, and we look forward to continuing to build off of our parents’ traditions while adding our own. To build traditions within our family, we’ve started with the idea of liturgical living. Liturgical living brings the life and breadth of the Church into our own homes and can be accomplished through certain prayers, celebrations, meals, crafts, and other traditions. This can also be described as building up the domestic church – which may be even more important than ever during the Covid-19 pandemic. As newlyweds, we have slowly added liturgical season traditions into our daily lives, such as celebrating saint feast days and preparing our house for Advent and Christmas. A New Year’s resolution we’ve set for ourselves in 2021 is trying to incorporate more of the Church’s liturgical seasons into our home to better appreciate the richness of our Catholic faith. One of our favorite wedding gifts to help us implement our goal of liturgical living is The Catholic All Year Compendium by Kendra Tierney. Tierney shares how her family celebrates the Church’s liturgical season 365 days a year. She starts off the book by encouraging families to begin celebrating what makes the Catholic faith most approachable to each family member – saint namesake feast days and Baptism anniversaries. Special meals and desserts, prayer, stories, activities, and conversations are different ways to make the celebrations meaningful. After noting namesake feast days and baptisms, Tierney recommends starting slowly and gradually, adding in other feast days important to each family and doing things that already fit into existing daily routines. The free calendars given out at church for the new year have these dates with the liturgical year, such as Ordinary Time, Lent, etc. A fabulous Christmas present I also received last month is the Blessed Is She planner that incorporates feast days and the liturgical year. This is all a process that takes time and can be added upon each year or changed. It shouldn’t be meant to overwhelm. In our annual family planning meeting for 2021, my husband and I went through each month and picked which feasts we’d celebrate after our saint name days and baptisms. Our church even made our first feast day celebration easy by providing us blessed chalk and a prayer to say while marking 20 + C + M + B + 21 above our front door mantle for Epiphany on January 6! We’ve also added making “king cake” cinnamon rolls for dessert as part of the tradition. How do you plan to incorporate Catholic liturgical living into your family’s routine this year? What are some of your favorite liturgical living traditions? If you practice liturgical living already, how has this helped your family learn about the Catholic faith? For more resources on Marriage and Family, please click here. *This repost but origionally published January 14, 2021*
 I do not know when I first met St. Martin de Porres, but by the time our youngest son was born, whom we named after him, Martin de Porres had captured our hearts and our hope. That was 2005. My devotion to Saint Martin has slowly grown over the years, and I believe we need to seek his intercession to heal the racial tensions that continue to exist in our country. Martin de Porres (1579-1639) was a Dominican Brother known for his humility, his gift of healing, industry, and care for the poor. Martin was mixed race - his mother was Anna Velazquez, a free Negress, and John de Porres, of Spanish nobility. At first, his father rejected Martin - “son of an unknown father” was on his baptismal registry. Martin had a younger sister, Joan. Eventually, his father cared for his children when he held a government post in Ecuador and, when sent to govern Panama, entrusted Joan to his uncle and returned Martin to his mother, in Lima, and cared for their financial needs. Wanting to know more about Martin de Porres, I read Saint Martin de Porres - Apostle of Charity by Giuliana Cavalini (Tan Books and Publishers, 2000), the biography of St. Martin de Porres officially recognized by the Dominican Order. At a very young age, Martin cared for the poor and sought time in prayer. A resourceful boy, his mother had him shop for their dinner. Martin gave the money to the poor and stopped to pray in churches along his way. Years later, when Martin returned to his mother after four years with his father in Ecuador, he was aware of his precarious status as a mixed race male and his need for a trade. He apprenticed as a “barber” who, in addition to cutting hair and beards, also practiced medicine such as pulling teeth or first aid. Martin entered the Dominican Order at Monastery of the Holy Rosary as a “lay helper,” the lowest status, when he was 16 years old. I am chastened by St. Martin’s incredible story and the remarkable province of God. St. Martin freely and consciously chose “to be an abject in the house of my God.” (Psalm 83:11) and resisted his father’s - and even some of his religious superiors - insistence that he become a Dominican Brother. At first, he did the most menial work - cleaning bathrooms and floors. St. Martin is often depicted with a broom in his hand. Eventually, he became a “brother” and received the full habit. St. Martin prayed before the crucifix. He was captured, overwhelmed, by God’s love for him, “a poor mulatto,” poured out through Christ crucified. For hours he would pray before the crucifix as if absorbing the infinite love of God. His humility, his fasting, his penance, and yes, his mortification, were designed to eliminate any pride that would obstruct God’s love. At times, St. Martin levitated, being lifted up, so he was face to face with Jesus. Eventually, St. Martin became responsible for the infirmary given his medical training. Numerous miraculous healings were attributed to him. He attended the sick and dying with great tenderness. His Dominican Brothers would be upset if he did not care for their minor ailments. He would reassure them and then care for the critically ill. His brothers witnessed bilocation - St. Martin attended to the sick in other places, even countries, and never left the monastery. St. Martin’s charity, and his practical prudence, extended beyond the confines of the monastery. He saw orphans living on the streets of Lima and their need for medical care, food, and education. He worked with benefactors - many cured by his healing touch - to establish the Orphanage of the Holy Cross to see to their health and education while he continued his work in the infirmary, and his duties of hospitality. It still exists today as the Colegio de Santa Cruz. St. Martin is close to us here in the Archdiocese of Washington. Father Felix Barotti was sent to the United States to evangelize African Americans in 1866. He built a chapel, dedicated to St. Martin de Porres, which they quickly outgrew. Since a church is not dedicated to “a blessed”, Saint Augustine Catholic Church, built in 1876, was the successor of Blessed Martin de Porres and became the “mother church” of African American Catholics. Pope John XXIII proclaimed Martin de Porres saint on May 6, 1962. I am chastened by St. Martin de Porres, our “little mulatto brother,” by his total devotion to Christ crucified, the centrality of charity to the Christian life, our call to heal others, and his unwavering belief that hate has no place in the Christian heart. I am not disheartened. An encounter with grace reveals sin, frees us to repent, and enkindles our longing for holiness born in penance and prayer and overflows in love for others - especially for the poor. St. Martin often said, “let us save our souls through the merits of the blood of Jesus Christ.” St. Martin embraced humility to awaken his charity made tangible through menial works of hospitality, fasting so others could eat, and uncommon patience and tenderness. May we learn from his example. St. Martin de Porres, Apostle of Charity, pray for us.
 During this deep portion of Advent, the time of the O Antiphons, we await the celebration of Christmas, the Nativity of the Lord. Our Savior, the Prince of Peace, comes to us in humble poverty since there is no room for him in the inn (Luke 2:7). Jesus, who is love incarnate, is greatly loved by Mary and Joseph. They witness to us how to love the Son of God unconditionally. His love is infinite, more than we can ever fully comprehend. Yet, it is also intimate, loving us individually and unconditionally. In response to Christ, the Infinite Love, we are called to more. The best response to Christ’s love is showing love more fully to God and others. As we come near Christmas and then the end of another year, it is a good opportunity to consider the quality of our love. Is our love conditional, seeking something from the other person or from God or is it striving toward being unconditional? We can only answer this question after reflecting, which we are invited to in these waning days of Advent. In our reflecting, we can call upon the wisdom of God. “O Wisdom of our God Most High, guiding creation with power and love: come to teach us the path of knowledge!” (O Antiphon for December 17) This path of knowledge is the way of love, a reflection of the infinite love of Emmanuel, God-with-us. May you have a blessed Christmas and a good New Year! In God, the Infinite Love, Fr. Frank
 When my husband and I were preparing for marriage, we spent time in reflection and prayer carefully choosing our Mass readings. It was such an exciting decision to make, and we prayed that the readings would reflect and inspire us in our marriage and all whom we would witness to by our marriage. Some of these same readings will be read at Masses across the world on the upcoming feast of the Holy Family, serving as a reminder of how we can live as reflections of the Holy Family in our daily lives. In the second reading, Paul tells the Colossians, “Put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Col 3:12). Just like Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, we are God’s beloved, chosen and loved by God, and with that, we are called to live by these same virtues that Paul shares with the Colossians. The stories of Mary and Joseph consistently show us their lives of humility and gentleness. I think of Mary’s fiat (Luke 1:38), Joseph’s obedience to the angel of the Lord (Matthew 1:24), or how Mary and Joseph took Jesus to be presented in the temple in this weekend’s Gospel (Luke 2:22-40). Just like Mary and Joseph, we are called to serve and love God with faithfulness that is radical, but gentle and sweet. What does this faithfulness look like? For the Holy Family, not only did it manifest in the stories we read about in Scripture, but also in the mundane moments of the every day. Mary nursed Jesus as an infant, Joseph taught him carpentry, and Jesus served his parents and brought them joy! Jesus carried this love in his ministry that nurtured all to whom he preached, and it continues to carry on in the legacy of the Church. These little acts of faithfulness yielded enormous fruits and carried the Holy Family through times of immense suffering. As I feel overwhelmed with my day to day duties of family life as a wife and mother, or my job as a teacher, I find comfort in knowing that perhaps Mary and Joseph felt these demands, too. They were faithful to their vocations, to each other, and to the Lord. Life is a balancing act, but with “Christ dwell[ing] in you richly,” like the Holy Family, all can be done in love, “do[ing] everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col 3:17). You show faithfulness when you do the dishes, when you submit an assignment for work or school, when you make the bed. You show faithfulness when you play with your children, when you have coffee with a friend, when you stop and pray. You show faithfulness when you show up to Mass. Opportunities for faithfulness, humility, and gentleness are in the every day, both big and small. Through these opportunities for faithfulness I have learned that God is never outdone in generosity. He wants to bless us and let us know His love, and He does this in the most profound way when we show Him our faithfulness and love, just as the Holy Family has modeled for us. As we continue to navigate the demands of our daily lives, let us cling to the intercession of the Holy Family, that we may be gentle and humble, showing radical faithfulness in all that we do. Question for Reflection: What are some opportunities to show for faithfulness in your life? For more resources on Marriage and Family, click here. *This was originally published December 28, 2017* AuthorAlyce Shields is a teacher in Washington D.C.
 There is just something about Advent with its joyful anticipation of Christmas, the rush of preparation - decorating, gifting, and writing Christmas cards - and holy waiting. We ponder, like Mary, the birthing of the Messiah in history, in our lives, and our future. We can see the Christmas spirit in “the twinkle of an eye,” a person fully alive with the joyful anticipation of Christmas. When my family would gather for the holidays, there would be a lot of storytelling among the adults. Mom would say to me, from time to time, “this happened before you were even a twinkle in your father’s eye.” At the time, I was not sure what she meant, but I knew that twinkle - in my Dad’s eye over a job well done, carving the Christmas turkey, or preparing to host a party. I also noticed it in the Santa’s I saw, Fr. Jim preparing for Mass, or Sister Prudence teaching us our catechism. It was a sign that a person was fully alive, joyful, and expectant. The Church celebrates the Feast of Saint John the Apostle on December 27th, just two days after Christmas. Saint John, and his older brother Saint James, are the sons of Zebedee, a fisherman. He was one of the youngest of the apostles and he was the last apostle to die. Tradition credits him with the fourth Gospel, three epistles, and the Book of Revelation. I must confess, I have struggled with reading the Gospel of Saint John. At times, it is mysterious, tender, and baffling. Yet, it has always been a grace - deepening my faith and expanding my heart. As we celebrate Christmas - and we must remember it is a season that begins on Christmas Day and ends with the Baptism of the Lord (January 12th) - I want to take the time to pray and ponder the Prologue to the Gospel of John. It is just 18 verses but it is saturated with meaning that elevates the Birth of Jesus beyond the horizon of our awareness, even beyond the boundaries of our imagination. The story of Jesus born of Mary in a stable is found in the Gospel of Luke. Saint Matthew’s account stresses Saint Joseph, his dreams, the three “kings,” and the flight into Egypt. Saint Mark, like Saint John, begins with John the Baptist. Saint John, however, weaves a beautiful poem about who Jesus really is to introduce the testimony of the Baptist. Jesus is the Word of God and, from the very beginning, he was both with God and was God and through him “all things came to be.” Every thing, every one of us, was created by God through Jesus, the Word of God. (John 1: 1-3) Jesus is the light “of the human race,” enlightenment is found in him, and we who accept Jesus, believe in his name, are now children of God. (John 1: 4-5) In Jesus, the Word of God became flesh, dwells among us. In him and through him we see the face of God. (John 1:14-18) When Saint John ends his Gospel, he proclaims both the truth of what he has written, but also its limitation since, “there are also many other things that Jesus did … I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written.” (John 21:25). Hopefully, we will receive many wonderful and meaningful gifts this Christmas. The discipline of Christmas is to receive the gift. To recognize the gift given, the giver, and the completeness of the gift. In so many ways, I am still unwrapping the gift of my smartphone years after my wife, Barbara, gave it to me. As I unwrap the prologue to the Gospel of Saint John, I am struck by three amazing truths. First, all of us were created through the Word of God. Jesus himself participated in our creation. Our being begins in him and flows through him. Second, if we accept the gift of Jesus, and unwrap all of the gift, as we are able, we are no longer creatures. We are now children of God. Third, we have a light, a twinkle if you will, shining within us, “and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) The Gospel of John is a gift given to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a gift that takes time to unwrap. It is so much better than Christmas cookies because its goodness, its sweetness, does not go away. Indeed, the more we feast on its truth and beauty, the more enriched we are. We leave both satisfied and hungry for more.
Advent is one of the most important and joyful times for our Church. We are preparing for the birth of our Lord! While listening to Christmas music and baking cookies, I also am taking time to deepen my faith-life this Advent. This year, I am particularly drawn to thinking about Mary and Joseph and how they must have felt during this time. Mary was a young woman who was told by Archangel Gabriel that she was pregnant and her child would be the Lord. For anyone else, this news would have been overwhelming and scary, but not for Mary. She gave her resounding “yes!” to Gabriel. Because she was born without original sin, she was free of fear and anxiety that sin can sometimes lead us to feel. She cast aside all doubts or fears she may have had and began to prepare to give birth to Jesus. How inspirational that is for us to hear! When things in life seem overwhelming or scary, we are called to look to the example of Mary and put our trust in God. We also see that we are all called to holiness by God, each of us has a vocation and are given the graces to live out this vocation throughout our lives. From the outside, Mary was just a normal girl living a normal life, but she was called to more from God. We are all called to more too, but are we listening to the call God is giving us, or are we ignoring it due to fear? Joseph is also an interesting example of remaining faithful during this Advent season. At the time that Mary found out she was pregnant, she and Joseph were betrothed, but not yet married or living together. Originally, when Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant, he intended to divorce her quietly, as he did not want to bring her shame. As it is written in Matthew, “Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ (Matthew 1:20-21). When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.” (Matthew 1:24). This is again another example of leaning on the Lord during difficult times in our lives. Joseph could have easily walked away from Mary, making her face the world alone during her pregnancy, but instead, he took his wife into his home and supported her. Joseph’s example also shows us to be supportive to those around us as you never know what people are going through. He shows us that through faith in God, we can accompany those who may be going through difficult times. Are we listening to those around us and lending a helping hand, or a listening ear? Or, are we blocking out the noise? If we choose to keep our ears open, you never know just who we might be listening to. For Joseph, he was accompanying Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Who might need accompaniment in your life? I also think about the Nativity story - Mary and Joseph wandering around trying to find a place to lay their heads for the night. On a dark night, the journey must have felt impossible for them. Joseph must have felt helpless as all of the nearby accommodations had no vacancies. Mary must have had some sort of anxiety that they would never find a place to rest. Yet, two people living normal lives are brought to a manger and that is where she gives birth. It is really inspiring when you think about it, that our Lord was born in a humble manger among livestock and hay. It reminds us that we do not need shiny expensive things to live fully through God. We just need to believe in Him and feel the love and support of those around us. That is what makes us rich, not any earthly belongings. As we continue throughout this Advent season and look towards the birth of Christ, let us all lean on the examples of Mary and Joseph during this time. Their witnesses of faith led them closer to Jesus during what could have been a very difficult time in both of their lives. Instead of turning away, they decided to embrace the call from God. How are we embracing the call we are receiving from God in our lives? I hope you all have a wonderful Advent & Christmas!
 When my husband and I named our youngest daughter Lucy Joy, she was born in the springtime, and we had not considered how special the middle of Advent would be for her as she grew older. The feast of St. Lucy takes place on December 13 and Gaudete (Joy) Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent, which is usually right around the 13th. So far in her short life, there has already been one occurrence of the feast of St. Lucy falling on Gaudete Sunday. Our family celebrated that day as her special day, Lucy Joy Day! According to Christian legend, prior to her brutal martyrdom, St. Lucy– whose name means light– would visit the catacombs in Rome to deliver food and supplies to Christians who were hiding there, wearing a wreath of candles on her head to light the way in the darkness. St. Lucy’s feast is celebrated in modern times, particularly in Norwegian countries, where special breads are made to mark the occasion. Ceremonies are held with young girls playing the role of St. Lucy, bringing light into an otherwise dark time of the year, especially in that part of the world. As a child, having been inspired by the American Girl doll Kirstin whose family celebrated St. Lucy’s Day each year, I remember waking up early one December 13th, placing a Christmas wreath from my family’s holiday décor on my head (thankfully, I left the candles off!), and making toast with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on top, and delivering them to my sleeping family. Now as an adult, I have the opportunity to celebrate the feast of St. Lucy and Gaudete Sunday, which are only two days apart this year, by doing what I can to bring light and joy into the world, to my community, and to my family. With all of the darkness and sadness looming in our world, we, as Catholics, are called to do what we can individually to help those around us: by being a light to them and bringing our joy to them. This can be done in simple ways by giving someone a small token of our appreciation, saying “thank you” to someone who has assisted us, providing acts of service to those in need, listening to someone who is having a bad day, or praying for those who need it. As we head into the latter half of Advent and prior to our celebrations of Christmas, may we all find an opportunity to be a light and a joy to those around us. Let us follow the example of St. Lucy and bring our own light into the darkness of the world around us to provide respite, care, and our presence for those who need it most. Let us also live out the actions described in the scripture readings for Gaudete Sunday: shout for joy, sing joyfully, be glad, cry out with joy and gladness, rejoice, and preach good news!
We’re well into the first week of Advent, and if you’re like me, you’re probably sick of all the Christmas displays and music and consumerism that has bombarded our senses since November started. As an American, it’s always been easy for me to get pulled into the secular world’s excitement about Christmas, its eagerness to get started with all the partying, eating, gift swapping, caroling, and general Christmas cheer. But as I’ve deepened my faith as a Catholic, I have found that the more focus I put on Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas, the easier it is to block out the unending secular Christmas noise and ready my heart, my home, and my family for the coming of the Christ child.
For most people, the phrase “preparing for Christmas” probably evokes memories of setting up Christmas trees and hanging lights outside, wrapping gifts, or organizing the ideal Christmas classics playlist. And while those things certainly count as preparation for Christmas, won’t we suffer burnout—or what I have seen referred to as “the holiday hangover”—if we spend all of November and December with our house decked out for Christmas and with Christmas music playing all day long? I know I would. A few years ago, as I was researching Catholic Advent traditions that I could incorporate into my family’s liturgical life, I decided that I ought to shift our emphasis from when to set up the Christmas décor and instead focus on the spiritual longing and the growing excitement for the arrival of the Messiah. Traditionally and liturgically, Christmastide lasts many days—at the very least until the Epiphany, but usually until the Baptism of the Lord. Why not leave the Christmas celebrations until Christmastide and focus on the preparation during Advent? Israel spent countless years in hopeful anticipation of the savior—is it really so difficult for me and my family to spend four weeks emulating that same sense of joyful expectation? The Catholic Church has so many symbols and traditions from which we can draw to prepare our hearts and homes for Christ. In our house, we not only light the Advent wreath every night, but we darken the dining room lights in order to emphasize the light that Christ brought when he came into the world. We also recently implemented the Jesse Tree—a tradition I did not grow up with, but one that I have come to love because it condenses salvation history into a timeline that is easy even for my children to follow. We don’t listen to Christmas music during Advent, choosing instead to listen to Advent music. We read children’s books that discuss the animals’ preparing the barn before the Nativity, or the journey that Mary and Joseph took before Jesus was born. When we experience Advent in this way, the anticipation for Christmas builds with each passing week. As Christmas Day draws closer, we start baking and freezing the Christmas cookies to be eaten during Christmastide and to be given as gifts at Christmas parties. I take time to plan out special activities for us to do during the twelve days of Christmas, or special meals I know everyone will enjoy during that time. We pray the O Antiphons. We make or buy gifts for our loved ones, and we talk about how giving gifts to our loved ones is a reflection of the great gift of Jesus, who was given to us on Christmas Day. In this way, when we finally decorate the house on Christmas Eve, we are all practically bouncing with excitement—and not just about presents, but about the miracle of Christ’s birth. Our children’s—and our own—sense of wonder is bolstered and preserved by our not celebrating too early. By steeping ourselves in the history of the first Christmas and by maintaining that same sense of watchful hoping and waiting, we can more fully appreciate the wonder of the arrival of the promised Messiah. *This was originally published December 3, 2019*
 Advent approaches. How are we preparing ourselves for this season that can go by so quickly? We are given this time by the Church as an opportunity to slow down, reflect, and wait. At the same time, we are called to more in Christ. It is not a complacent time, but one of active waiting. We are preparing ourselves for Christ, but not simply through waiting for our remembrance of the Incarnation at Christmas. We are also called to examine our lives and see how we are living for Christ now. Our lives need to be aligned to what he wants of us, not simply what we want, how he wants us to give of ourselves, not simply receive. Advent helps us examine our intentions, our motives, our ways of living and see how they can be more Christlike. We can do this through being more intentional about our time with God and with others, aligning our hearts more closely to Christ. Rather than rushing these encounters, we are offered an opportunity to patiently be in them through our prayer and care. We at the Catholic Apostolate Center hope that you have a blessed Advent season. We have many resources that can assist you in using this special time well. May the charity of Christ urge us on! In God, the Infinite Love, Fr. Frank
 Growing up in a fairly large extended Catholic family, I remember the Thanksgivings of my childhood always including long, loud dinners, preceded by seemingly longer prayers of grace before the big meal. As children, we were encouraged (or, really, required) to go around the table and each name one thing we were most thankful for. It could be something small or large, momentous or enduring, as long as it was something we were truly grateful to have in our lives. My parents, aunts, and uncles were naturally trying to make sure we didn’t take for granted the food on the table, let alone all the other blessings in our young lives. There were plenty of years when, fancying myself the dutiful elder of two children, I’d spend the week or so leading up to the holiday concocting the best possible thing to say I was thankful for, lest my younger sister or one of my cousins come up with something better. And then there were the years when I completely forgot to prepare, only to halfheartedly come up with something on the spot when my turn came. While the former may have boosted my ego, the latter made up for it by knocking me down a peg. I’d often think to myself, “Could I really be so ungrateful that that’s all I could come up with?” As we hear in today’s Gospel reading, one of the ten lepers, “realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice.” Jesus commended the Samaritan man’s gratitude, telling him, “your faith has saved you.” Don’t we all prefer to think of ourselves as that dutiful, humble foreigner, rather than counting ourselves among the nine ungrateful ones who couldn’t be bothered to thank Jesus? And yet, how quick we are to forget the truth that we are, in fact, abundantly blessed by God. I’ve always found this story to have two key points. First, we are better able to receive God’s blessings and grace when we are grateful: “your faith has saved you.” The second is a bit more hidden, though. Note how Luke mentions that, “one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned” to thank Jesus. It’s not necessarily true that the other nine were just a bunch of ingrates. Rather, they were doing what Christ had instructed them to do. They obeyed in an act of faith, and in so doing, were healed along the way. While they were healed physically, however, the leper who returns is also healed spiritually: he is saved. How often do we forget, in the midst of the stresses and struggles of life, that we’ve each been blessed by God? It’s not a matter of remembering to thank Him for the big things; those parts of life are the easiest to be grateful for. It’s the small things, the things we take for granted, that we ought to try the hardest to be thankful for. Not only will that reflection make us more appreciative of our blessings themselves, it will remind us even more deeply that all of life’s blessings are gifts from God. Question for Reflection: What are some things you are grateful for this year? *This was originally published November 23, 2017*
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