Although the weeks leading up to Christmas are a time of twinkling lights and joyous carols, Advent is first and foremost a season of preparation for the coming of Christ. Our associate pastor beautifully reminded us of this in Sunday’s homily when he spoke of Advent as mini Lent. Aside from beloved family traditions like cookie baking and Christmas tree hunting, there are so many ways to give a little more of ourselves this Advent season that can be as simple as going to confession or attending mass during the week instead of just on Sunday. How are you preparing for the nativity of Christ?
Today, December 12th, many Catholics celebrate the second appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego. Her first appearance occurred three days earlier on Tepeyac Hill where she requested a shrine to be built on that spot to share her love and compassion with other believers. Juan Diego went to the bishop with this instruction but the bishop required a sign before he would approve construction. Thus Mary appeared again to Juan Diego and instructed him to climb to the top of the hill and gather roses which he then brought to the bishop in the dead of winter as proof of Mary’s apparition. The cloak, or tilma, in which he carried the roses was imprinted with her image which is still venerated by Catholics today.
The Virgin of Guadalupe was later named the Patron Saint of the Americas. She remains an icon of unconditional love and compassion for Catholics around the world who flock to Tepeyac Hill, now Mexico City, and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe every year.
Although I am a happy Hoosier and have embraced life in the Midwest, I will always be a mountain girl at heart. Every year growing up, shortly after Thanksgiving, my family would strap on our snowshoes and set off into the Colorado wilderness to find the perfect Christmas tree. There were of course the obligatory snowball fights and sledding runs that came with each of these outings before we were ready to head home with the tree secured in the back of my dad’s pickup.
I may be far from Colorado and those stunning mountains but I’m so blessed to have found a husband who is happy to help me keep beloved family traditions like this alive. We might not need snowshoes or sleds this year but even in the Midwest we can still go hunting for the perfect tree.
I’ve written on this subject before in the context of the mass but the fact is there is an appropriate dress code for every occasion. Workout clothes are for working out. Pajamas are for sleeping. Jeans and t-shirts are for grubby errands or work around the house. I realize this is a very unpopular opinion in our casual world. I’m not advocating that we walk around in ball gowns and tuxedos all the time but there is a day-to-day standard of dress which we are called to maintain and which is so often disregarded.
How we look says things about who we are. Fashion is not about celebrating ourselves through a grand spectacle but should instead be an outward sign of our inner virtues embraced in Catholic teaching. Cleanliness, modesty, discipline, humility, beauty, poise can all be communicated and practiced through our daily attire. It reminds us to live out our faith in all situations.
This is an ideal which should be upheld by both men and women. Unless you’re at the beach or on the verge of heat exhaustion there’s absolutely no reason for you to be whipping off your shirt in public, regardless of gender. It doesn’t matter how fabulous your six pack is. In fact, going around town in little more than a sports bra is deeply uncatholic for men or women. It invites scandal by leading others to sin or have sinful thoughts which damages their souls and is in direct conflict with loving thy neighbor.
Likewise, sweatpants or ratty jeans are not appropriate for a day around town. Have you ever noticed how men and women distinguish themselves when getting dressed up for a formal evening event but in the day-to-day routine everyone starts to look the same? This is my second unpopular opinion for the day. Men and women are different. We think differently, we act differently and we ought to dress differently.
I’m not saying that women can’t throw on a pair of pants in certain situations. I regularly do it myself. But so often ladies underestimate the power of a nice dress and a sensible pair of heels, just as many men are loath to don a button down and a pair of slacks. We were made to complement each other in distinctly feminine and masculine ways. By embracing these traits in ourselves we become better partners to each other. If you are called to marriage and are on the hunt for a virtuous spouse your first step should be to start looking and acting like one.
I know there are many people who feel that it’s just clothing and it’s what’s on the inside that counts so let me extend this challenge. Do everything in your power to put your best foot forward this week even if it seems like a waste of time. Perhaps nothing will come of it but we are made in the image and likeness of God in body and soul. How might He begin working in our lives if we all started dressing the part?
It is officially December and time for snowflakes and warm woolen mittens. Over the course of my first 21 years in Colorado, I have completely and hopelessly fallen in love with white Christmases in the mountains. No matter how dry of a winter we had, there always seemed to be a little extra magic on Christmas day that blessed our home with a fluffy white blanket.
Of course, with the knowledge that I have now, I wish I’d been more open and willing in my journey to faith but the truth is my investigation into the Catholic Church was initially driven by pride and spite rather than a deep sense of morality. I didn’t begin learning about God out of a desire to know Him better as I suspect is the case for many Catholic converts.
I began going to church because I wanted to be able to have an educated conversation with my parents about why I was not Catholic. In short, I wanted to be able to better argue my case. I spent my days pondering the faith and trying my best to poke holes in it. Eventually, in addition to attending Sunday mass every week I also began participating in Right of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) at my home parish in order to dive deeper into the scripture and truly understand the Catholic perspective. This was one of the best decisions I could have made at the time as RCIA is designed to educate skeptical non-Catholics like myself as well as guide them through the process of being received fully into the church through the Sacraments of Initiation.
Here there were no silly questions and I was encouraged to voice my concerns and hang-ups about the faith. Each week we dissected the Sunday liturgy to give context to the Bible readings before diving into a group Q&A. Through this process I realized that all of my resistance to the faith could be boiled down to just a few questions which I’ll be discussing on this blog soon. However, on the whole, my values were very much in line with Catholic teachings. I already actively sought to live a generally Catholic life despite my previous lack of formal worship, particularly on topics like marriage, the right to life and Catholic virtues.
During my high school years I sometimes attended weekly mass with my parents and on one of these occasions I took a good look at the people there. I was struck by how similar they seemed to me in dress and mannerisms. Even then I knew that it was a crowd in which I could easily fit in but I would have been doing it simply to make my parents happy. That seemed a poor and dishonest reason to convert to the faith and was quickly dismissed. Years later in RCIA I was hit with the same realization but with a much stronger understanding of the faith. I still generally looked and acted like a Catholic but now had a solid basis for doing so beyond the fact that it was just how my parents raised me.
I do believe that God intended for me to be Catholic despite the first 21 years of my life that were spent without worship. Although some church teachings were harder learned than others, I’m happy to have had the opportunity to come to the faith as an adult and to truly choose God with my whole heart.
Hopefully you get to enjoy a beautiful turkey feast this weekend and spend time with your favorite people. Happy Thanksgiving from the Indiana Dunes! Have a blessed day.
It seems that in the current society of pride and coexistence, skepticism for traditional marriage has reached an all time high. It is commonplace to cohabitate for two to five years before even broaching the subject of life long love and commitment. People say that ‘it’s just a piece of paper’ and ‘most marriages end in divorce anyway’ as excuses to not strive for a successful one. Much like having children, marriage is so often likened to a jail sentence.
Of course any legal contract is only as binding as the two parties which have committed to it but that’s not what God intended for this blessed sacrament. In order to encounter the bliss of God’s work through marriage, one question must be answered.
What is the goal of marriage?
The goal of marriage is NOT to have fun or to have financial security. It’s not even to be happy (you or your spouse). All of these things are byproducts of marriage but when boiled down to its core, the goal of marriage is to get your spouse into Heaven. Marriage is constant sacrifice and service but also, I believe, the closest we can get to Heaven on Earth. If you are truly, sacramentally married you can always rest easy knowing that there is a human being out there in the world who has made it their mission in life to ensure your soul enters the Kingdom of God.
As the winter chill blows in I can recall the warm evening breeze on summer walks through the neighborhood with my husband. Here is a bouquet from one such evening to brighten your day.
You wouldn’t wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt to meet the king of England would you? Why then is it acceptable to wear such things to mass?
When you go to mass or Eucharistic adoration you are in the presence of our king, our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. The sanctuary is His throne room. It is a great honor to witness and reverence our God and ought to be treated as such. If more people grasped the true weight of the mass, a reenactment of Christ dying on the cross for our sins, I think we’d see more suits in the pews on Sunday. This isn’t your mother’s living room, but the house of God.
In the hustle and bustle of 2022 it’s easy to forget to put our best foot forward when we go to worship. Sometimes it can feel like we’re just checking a box before hurrying off to the next Sunday errand or activity. Imagine how God might speak to you if you slowed down, took the time to make yourself presentable, and actually immersed yourself in worship. We are called to turn to God in all things including how we present ourselves to the world.
Blessed in the Midwest 