Tag: Fr. Robert

On May 27, 2002, Robert E. Serafin, an American soldier during the Second World War, was interviewed by the writer David Venditta of The Morning Call. In that interview he narrated how wounded and dying soldiers would cry out for morphine and for their mothers to be relieved from their pain. He shared how one guy in complete body cast from the neck down was crying for his mother. A nurse said, “We can only give him morphine. Other than that there’s nothing we can do for him.” His mother could not there for him as he was in great pain.

Serafin further added, “I found out in Vietnam, too, that as soon as a guy would be in bad shape, he’d always ask for his mother.”
Dr. James Murphy, special correspondent on the Italian Front, also testifies to this longing for the mother in time of great need. Dr. Murphy writes: “I suppose it is true that the men of every nation become children in the most critical moments of their lives, but I think this is truer in Italy than elsewhere. Wounded soldiers crying out in their agonies generally call for their mothers; they sometimes call on their God, and sometimes they curse their fate. In Italy I have scarcely ever heard any cry from the lips of an agonizing soldier except ‘Mamma mia! Mamma mia!’ You hear it when they are being brought in on the stretchers. Home and mother seem to be the one idea running through the distraught brain.”
This longing for the mother must be across cultures. The Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World’s Cultures says that “for young men in combat, their mothers can symbolize a nurturing feminine sphere that contrast with war. It is their mothers that dying soldiers most often call out for on the battlefield.”
We know the longing and even the preoccupation for the mother is shown particularly at a younger age. There is a story about a teacher who gave primary grade class a science lesson on magnets. In the follow-up test, one question read: “My name starts with M and has six letters, and I pick up things. What am I?”

The students were supposed to answer magnet. Half of the class answered the question with the word: mother.

People need especially their mothers in times of need, of uncertainty, of insecurities. We need our mothers to pick us up, perhaps for those who are already old – no longer physically but emotionally and spiritually. As we begin another year with all the uncertainties that it may bring us, the Church is telling us that we need our Blessed Mother Mary.
Filled with gratitude to the Lord for the year 2012, with all its joys and sorrows, achievements and failures, we begin the new year not only confident of God’s abiding love and presence as Emmanuel, God with us, but also of Mary’s maternal care and example. We welcome the new year with the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God and our mother as well, imploring Mary as the Theotokos, God’s Bearer, she who received and carried Jesus in her heart and in her womb, to also carry us through another year. We look up to her as our model of faith and discipleship, prayer and contemplation, and fidelity in our on-going journey through life in this world.
How do we begin another year with our Blessed Mother Mary? First, we begin with Mary by imploring God’s blessings upon us, upon our families and upon the world. The blessing uttered in our First Reading from the Book of Numbers is used by priests in imparting God’s blessings upon the people at the end of the prayer assembly.
The blessing formula, “The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give your peace!” is actually a triple statement imploring God’s favor upon us. It is a triple prayer for God’s prosperity, presence and peace expressing our hope in God who alone can make our new year happy, blessed, grace-filled and peaceful.
We pray that as we begin another new year, we may be blessed by the Lord as Mary was blessed. We remember Elizabeth’s greeting to Mary, “Blessed are you among women.” In the language of our day, the word that we use is benediction and this word expresses primarily an act of consecration to the Lord and the experience of being filled by God’s divine presence. With Mary, we pray that God may ever fill us with his divine presence and action in the year 2013 and that we may be truly consecrated or reconsecrated to Him and to His ways.
Secondly, with Mary we face the new year with the assurance of the loving presence of the Father. St. Paul, in his Letter to the Galatians in the Second Reading, tells us that because of Jesus and His Spirit, we have become children of God, intimate enough to call him “Abba” or “Daddy”. By his incarnation and solidarity with our human situation, Jesus has made us adopted children of His Father.
To be reminded of our being children of God on the eve or the beginning of another new year is extremely important. We cannot foresee what the new year will hold for us. Thus, we need to be assured of that certitude of our being beloved children of God in facing whatever await us with great confidence and trust in God who will always hold us in his loving heart and hands. In life, things may not always be good and rosy, but the assurance of God’s loving fidelity helps us to go through life with courageous and childlike spirit.
During the Second World War, Cardinal Desire Mercier, Archbishop of Malines, Belgium, wrote a Pastoral Letter asking the people to pause everyday for some time to be in touch with God as they faced the trials of war. He asked them to be assured, especially in deep connection to God in prayer in the depths of their hearts, that God their Father was with them and would continue to be with them, especially in that time of great difficulty. This assurance helped the people to be strong and focused in the face of great adversities. The Second Reading wants us to do this as we begin another year.
Finally, with Mary we face the New Year carrying the name of Jesus. In the Gospel we come to Mary who together with her husband Joseph names the baby born through her Jesus and who keeps all these divine happenings in her heart. The gospel passage says, “When the eight day arrived for his circumcision, the name Jesus was given the child, the name the angel had given before he was conceived.”
Mary and Joseph, by naming the child Jesus, remind us who the child is, what his mission will be and that his power is the power of salvation. We know that the disciples of Jesus later on expel demons and work miracles in the name of Jesus. The power of the name of Jesus is made ever more clear after the resurrection and the name of Jesus must never be used with impunity and disrespect.
To invoke and to pronounce the name of Jesus is to appeal humbly to the one whom we recognize as Lord and in whom we place our faith. It is to receive Jesus who frees us from evil and to be open to salvation, like the man besides Jesus at the Crucifixion who asks, “Jesus, remember me when you enter upon your reign,” and to whom Jesus responds, “I assure you: this day you will be with me in paradise.”
Mary and Joseph are the first ones to receive the name of Jesus through the angel Angel Gabriel. In the Bible the name stands for the very presence of the person himself.
This is how we are to begin another year – in the name of Jesus our Savior and Lord. We face the new year carrying and contemplating the name of Jesus, his presence and his action in our hearts, in our lives, in this world. And if God is with us and for us, nobody and nothing can be against us? We can face another new year and the years after with confidence and courage because this Jesus is our Savior and He is Emmanuel, God with us, who has promised to be with us until the end of time.

About Fr. Robert and his reflections

There is a beautiful story about a four year old Margaret who loved her picture of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The picture hung low on the wall within Margaret’s reach and every night, she gave it a resounding kiss before she got into bed.

One night, just as she was settled in bed and her mother was giving her a final tucking in, Margaret announced, “I have to get up! I forgot.” She immediately stood up and went before the image of the Holy Family and gave it a loud smack. Back in bed she settled herself contentedly, looked up to her mother and remarked with a deep sigh, “They are such lovely people.”

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph are indeed such lovely people because of the love among themselves and their loving obedience to the will of God in their lives and in their family.

The gospel reading is about the Finding of Jesus in the Temple by his parents, Mary and Joseph. In this passage Luke calls our attention to at least three important things.

First of all, Luke calls our attention to the religiosity of Jesus and his family. Throughout the birth narrative of Jesus we see this religiosity of the Holy Family being consistently shown: Mary and Joseph name the child Jesus in obedience to the angel Gabriel and they go to the Jerusalem Temple in obedience to the Law of Moses about purification and presentation. But in this episode of the finding in the temple, Luke adds a new note – Jesus is also shown as respectful of duty and is pious and religious in accompanying his parents in the Temple visit to Jerusalem.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph was a family that made room for God and God’s will in their lives and in their family. Mary made room for God and His will when she accepted God’s plan for her to be the mother of the Son of God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph made room for God when he obeyed the message of the angel to take Mary as his wife and to be the legal father of Jesus. The Son of God became Incarnate because Mary and Joseph made room for God and his birth was first revealed to the shepherds who made room for God when they heeded the sign of the infant in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger revealed by an angel. The three magi, the first non-Jewish people to witness the birth of Jesus, also made room for God when they searched for the Messiah born in Bethlehem. The crib or the “belen” with the Holy Family, the shepherds of Bethlehem, the magi from the East and even the animals represents the entire humanity and creation making room for God in contrast to the “inn that did not have room for them.”

Pope Benedict XVI, in his Christmas Eve homily, raised fundamental questions about making room for God. He asked: “Do we really have room for God when he seeks to enter under our roof? Do we have time and space for him? Do we not actually turn away God himself? We begin to do so when we have no time for him.”

We live in fast changing times and a highly technological and globalized world. The Holy Father added that because of so many developments in the world, we can become already full and the question of God may not seem urgent. The Holy Father further cautioned that we can become “so ‘full’ of ourselves that there is no room left for God. And that means there is no room for others either, for children, for the poor, for the stranger.”

The Church documents on marriage and family make it clear that the family is our primary school of holiness and love. Every Christian home is a domestic church, a community of parents and siblings and other family members united in God and in following Jesus. The parents are the first catechists. The family is the very first venue where we learn how to make room for God in our hearts and in our lives.

In the past, this making room for God was not only symbolic; it was also literal. Families would gather in the main room or the living room of the home to pray together. Making room for God literally meant making a special sacred place for the family to be united with God and with one another in prayer.

When people ask me, “How did your vocation to the religious life and the priesthood start?” I would always go back to those childhood memories where our extended family of grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles and cousins would gather in one big room every night to pray the rosary. My devout and holy grandmother would always lead us in this prayer. Sad to say, many families have lost or are losing this sacred space for God in their homes.

In 2009, I had a great privilege of being with more than 1,500 members of the Couples for Christ and its sub-ministries across the United States who were holding a national convention at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. I was then ministering as spiritual director and assistant chaplain at the St. John’s Catholic Newman Center, the Catholic Chaplaincy on campus, while doing my doctoral studies at a theological school in Chicago. I had a number of Masses with the Couples for Christ delegates and one of them was with the members of the Kids for Christ, mostly Filipino-Americans born in the US.

It is never easy to give a homily to young kids, so I decided to begin my homily by asking, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

One kid said, “Father, I want to become a nurse.” Another said, “I want to become a teacher.” Still another remarked, “I want to be become an engineer.”

Then I young boy raised his hand, but was not content in answering my question where he was standing. I came to know that his name was Josh. Josh went in front and faced the other Kids for Christ and the parents who were there and said, “Father, I want to become a saint.”

Everybody started to clap. And I said, “This boy gave the best answer.” And I said, if you have a son or a daughter who wants to become a saint and not just an engineer or a nurse, you are doing a pretty good job.” Yes, be an engineer, a teacher, a nurse, whatever, but be holy and good engineer, teacher, or nurse. And when I asked, “ Who are the parents of this boy?” I had a great surprise when I learned that the mother of the boy was one of my students in religion class when she was in her senior year.” The mother was there at the gathering but I did not immediately recognize her. It was a very happy reunion for us and I congratulated her for being a good mother.

Of course, we do not have to become canonized saints. But the Church tells us, through the document Lumen Gentium, that our universal calling is to holiness. We are not all called to become nuns, teachers, nurses and so on, but we are all called to holiness. And the universal call to holiness, according to Lumen Gentium, consists in the perfection, growth, increase of practical love of God and neighbors. You may want to put it simply – to have a wide room for God and for others in our hearts and in our lives.

Josh, at a young age, already has very big room for God. I think it is only because his parents have room for God in their lives.

This leads us to the second point we see in the incident of the Finding in the Temple. Luke also calls our attention to the wisdom of Jesus. “All who heard Jesus were astounded at his understanding and his answers.” This manifestation of wisdom on the part of Jesus at an early age is an anticipation of the wisdom that he will eventually show in his preaching and ministry.

Eric Lane says that the concept of wisdom is about how best to find our way through the maze of this world. We need wisdom to go through life in this world. Proverbs 9:10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fear of the Lord is to be understood more as the love of the Lord or deep loving reverence for the Lord.” A person who goes through life with deep and loving reverence for the Lord is a wise person. A wise person is one who has truly made room for God in his or her life. I trust that the Holy Family Academy has not only made you intelligent and smart people who have already achieved a lot in life but truly wise people capable of finding your way through the maze in this world equipped with the reverential love for the Lord, for His will and for His ways.

The third motif we see in Luke concerns the basic attitude of Jesus’ life. When Jesus says, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” he is showing that his priorities are with God rather than with earthly concerns, even those that affect his family. Jesus stresses the priority of God’s claim and he is teaching his parents of this priority, something that he will emphasize when he talks about discipleship. The family of Jesus is characterized by that common desire to seek and follow God’s word and will above all things in their lives. Christian disciples who are members of the family know their priorities in life: God above all else and everything around this priority of God in one’s life. Indeed, seek first the Kingdom of God and all others besides will be given unto you.”

We have just started the Year of Faith, which the Holy Father has described as a journey that commenced at baptism and that will continue until the end of our lives.

It is important to take note that we do not only embark on this journey as individuals but as communities, starting with our families. May we as individuals, as families, and as communities continue to be nourished by our faith in God and in Christ as we continue journeying through life providing always a wide room for God and for others, especially our lesser brothers and sisters, in our hearts and in our lives.

About Fr. Robert and his reflections

Midnight Mass Homily, shorter version (“The Birth of Jesus: God’s Humility and Generosity”)

Charles Colson, the founder of Prison Fellowship, tells of a memorable experience he had while bringing Christmas gifts to the children of prison inmates. Colson and his wife met a small boy who told them his name was Immanuel. When Colson opened his Bible on Matthew 1:23 and showed Immanuel that his name means “God with us,” the boy jumped up excitedly and said to his mother, “Mommy, Mommy, God is with us! God is with us!”

This is the summary of Christmas – “God is with us.” Christmas is all about God’s coming among us in human flesh in the mystery of the Incarnation.

In the gospel passage tonight Luke shows the birth of Jesus as a historical event by categorically locating it in Bethlehem, Joseph’s ancestral city and the place prophesied for the coming of the Messiah and by situating it within the frame of world history when Emperor Augustus decreed a census for the whole world.

The Nativity account is very simple and brief: while the couple are in Bethlehem for the census, Mary’s time to give birth comes; she delivers her firstborn, warms him in swaddling cloths and lays him in a manger because there is no room in the inn.

The conditions surrounding the birth of Jesus have an aura of simplicity, poverty and danger. These tell us that Jesus, the Son of God, from the moment of birth, experienced precariousness and insecurity not unlike what many people even in our contemporary times experience.

The mention of the Emperor “Augustus” evokes imperial pomp, glory, might and power. And yet, it is to a helpless infant born in misery, simplicity and poverty that true glory belongs, the heavenly glory that the angels proclaim: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Deprived of all worldly comforts, the child in the manger is the only one to whom the titles “Savior,” and “Lord” truly belong. The only true Savior and Lord of heaven and earth has humbled himself by taking our lowly human nature. We find here a stupendous paradox.

Bethlehem used to be a renowned city of David. It was there that the young David was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be king over Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13). By the time of Jesus’ birth, Bethlehem had declined in significance to a small and humble village. Nonetheless, the meaning of the name Bethlehem is “house of bread.” The meaning is very significant because this Jesus Savior of the Lord is the Bread of Life and will become our Eucharistic Lord.

The first to receive the good news of the birth of the Messiah through an angel of the Lord are shepherds of Bethlehem, who are keeping the night watch over their flock. The shepherds are considered simple, dirty, marginal and irreligious because they cannot attend the services in the Temple and the synagogues because of the nature of their work. It is obvious that this announcement to the shepherds prefigures the ministry of Jesus particularly directed to the merest children, the poor and the little ones.

The shepherds also receive a sign that allows them to recognize the Savior. The sign is “an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” Come to think of it – an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes is a very ordinary sign, something that we see everyday. Swaddling cloths are baby-wraps to keep the child warm and snug. Even “lying in a manger” is not surprising for the shepherds. Perhaps, they think that this baby is just one of theirs. The sign is given is very ordinary, nothing spectacular, nothing bombastic, nothing majestic. This is how God accomplishes our salvation. He comes in all meekness, humility and vulnerability. Thus, this ordinary sign of the coming of the Son of God in the form a little babe can only be perceived with faith-filled, simple and uncomplicated eyes and hearts. This little baby is God.

Immanuel – God is with us. This is how God has come to us in the form of a little baby. No wonder St. Francis of Assisi considered Christmas as the feasts of all feasts and the greatest of all solemnities.

The devotion to the crib as the primary symbol of the Nativity of Jesus can be traced back to St. Francis of Assisi. According to St. Bonaventure, three years before the death of the saint on October 3, 1226, he decided to celebrate at the Italian town of Greccio the memory of the birth of Jesus with the greatest possible solemnity. He had a manger prepared, hay carried in and an ox and an ass led to the spot. The brothers were summoned and the people arrived and the forest amplified their prayers and songs. The venerable night of Greccio became very brilliant and solemn by the multitude of bright lights and by the harmonious hymns of praise. Then St. Francis stood before the manger, filled with piety, bathed in tears and overcome with joy. A solemn Mass was celebrated over the manger and St. Francis lovingly preached on the birth of the poor King, the Babe from Bethlehem. By reenacting the birth of Jesus at Greccio, he wanted to make a showcase of God’s love, humility and generosity.

For St. Francis of Assisi, in Jesus God has manifested who God is and God’s love in an absolute manner. Jesus, the Word of the Father, is the language in which God has spoken to us of Himself and of His love.

In the mystery of the Incarnation God has expressed himself in and through our humanity and frailty, through poverty and suffering. Opposites are reconciled. God is weak and yet so strong. God is mortal and yet living and true. God is frail and yet so strong. This is the paradox that we must recognize and follow.

Indeed, for St. Francis, God has shown his limitless love and total self-emptying in the birth of his Son Jesus. In the Incarnation we find the intensity of God’s loving self-giving by becoming one of us.
St. Francis also saw the great humility of God in the Incarnation. He considered humility as the horizon in which God appeared. Jesus’ Incarnation, poverty, the cross and even the Eucharist are forms of God’s humility and contours of the horizon through which God has come and continues to come to us.

At Greccio St. Francis wished to see with his own eyes and feel with his own hands how human, tiny and fragile and lowly God is (1 Cel 84-87). He wanted to realize and help people realize exactly what God had done for his people, and “how poor he chose to be for our sakes.” Francis himself had chosen the bitter poverty of being on the margin of society, with no resources or security. He saw the Son of God placing himself, as it were, on the margin of divinity.

If God has taken the horizon of humility in which God has appeared and continues to appear, for St. Francis, unless we fix our gaze in this direction, we cannot experience God.

Finally, for St. Francis, the Birth of Jesus is about the generosity of God. God’s generosity in the Incarnation is shown in the divine self-giving, in God embracing our human condition and in being solidarity with us and becoming like one of us.

Because God has extended his marvelous generosity to us through the birth of his only begotten Son, St. Francis believed that Christmas must be enjoyed by all people, rich and poor, and even by all creations, not just humans. Side by side with human creatures, all other created beings and things must join in the celebration of Christmas. He wanted to tell the Emperor to ask all the citizens to scatter grain along the roads on Christmas day so that birds and animals would have plenty to eat. He wished that sufficient fodder be provided for brother Ox and brother Ass. But above all, he wanted the rich to take care of the poor and to share with them what they have.

One time, Christmas day fell on a Friday. One of the brothers, Brother Morico remarked that they would not be able to serve meat because it was Friday. St. Francis told Bro. Morico: “You sin, brother, when you call ‘Friday’ the day when unto us a Child is born. I want even the walls to eat on that day, and if they cannot, at least on the outside they be rubbed with grease!”

For St. Francis, the Christmas paradox has serious consequences for us. We who claim to be followers of the Incarnate Son of God must also follow God’s love, humility and generosity. We must show love, humility and generosity to everyone, starting with our families but not limited to them. In a special way, we must show these especially to the little ones and even to other creatures. Indeed, Christmas must not only be celebrated or commemorated. It must be lived.

COMING HOME TO CHRISTMAS (New Christmas Album)

LET LOVE BE THE GIFT
Jose Mari Chan and Liza Chan-Parpan

Each day of the year can be Christmas
If Love is the gift from you
When the Season comes to an end
And the New Year’s just round the bend
Though they’ll take down the Tree as always
And the bright trimming off the hallways

Christmas will linger for all days
(Christmas can linger the whole year through
It is you that can make this true)
Let Love be the gift from you.

CHRISTMAS MOMENTS:
Jose Mari Chan and children Liza, Jojo, Michael and Franco

(Franco)
I remember my Christmas when we went around
My Daddy drove us down to some orphans in town
We gave some goodies away
Happy faces made our day
We learned that giving and sharing
is the real Christmas way

About Fr. Robert and his reflections

The late US President John F. Kennedy is said to be very fond of a particular story. During his 1960 presidential campaign, he often used it to close his speeches. It is the story of Colonel Davenport, Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives back in 1789.

One day, while the House was in session, the sky of Hartford, Connecticut suddenly grew dark and gloomy. Some of the representatives looked out the windows and thought this was a sign that the end of the world had come. An uproar ensued with the representatives calling for immediate adjournment. But Davenport rose and said, “Gentlemen, the Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought.” Candles were brought and the session continued.

Davenport was ready for the coming of the Lord and, for him, the best way to face the Lord that was by being faithful to the mission that He had entrusted to him up to the end.

We begin today another liturgical year with the Season of Advent. The four-week Season of Advent focuses not only on relieving the longing of the people in the past as they joyfully anticipated the coming of God’s Messiah, of how our loving God inserted Himself in history through the birth of Jesus in our midst but also on the Lord’s continuing coming in the present and on his future coming. Jesus’ threefold Advent or coming – yesterday, today and tomorrow are all covered by the Season of Advent and even by our readings today on this First Sunday of Advent.

This spirit of Advent is intended not only to help us prepare for another commemoration of Christmas this year but also to accompany us in our on-going journey through life, which must be characterized by the search for and openness to God until we finally enter into the fullness of God’s presence for all eternity.

The First Reading focuses more on the coming of the Messiah in history. It reminds us of the Prophet Jeremiah’ prophecy of the sure coming of the Messiah from the Davidic royal lineage who would do what was right and just. In fact, this Lord would be called Justice.

The First Letter to the Thessalonians looks forward to the final coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as the very climax of human experience. On our part, it is extremely important that we prepare for this event – by truly embracing the imperative to practice love and seek holiness as we wait for this climax of human history.

Today’s Gospel passage from Luke, which is heavily apocalyptic in imagery depicting cosmic upheavals and disturbances, also anticipates the Second Coming of the Lord and highlights the attitudes and behaviors that must characterize this joyful anticipation. We need to be aware and to be vigilant of the eventual coming of the Lord.

How do we really prepare for the coming of the Lord, whether in commemoration of his historical coming at Christmas, or in openness to his coming through the sacraments, in prayer, in the events of our lives and in the faces of others, especially the poor and the needy, or in joyful and faith-filled anticipation of his definitive coming at the end of the world and of time?

In this task, we find the importance of Advent. Advent is not just a preparatory season of four weeks before Christmas; it is a spirit that must imbue not only our preparations for Christmas but our entire lives. The Advent spirit is the spirit of ardent longing for God and His manifold presence and this longing is something that has been planted by God in the heart of every person. During this Season of Advent, we are asked to especially focus on re-enkindling this thirst in us that deeply longs for God, the Divine, the Ultimate Reality. This Season must make us again realize that all our longings, especially our deepest and most authentic longings, have ultimately something to do with God. St. Augustine beautifully expressed it, “Out hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.”

For us Christians, this ardent longing for God that is present in every restless heart has found its object in the person of Jesus Christ. It is not a search for God that is without any direction, without any object. In fact, this search in the heart of every person has come from God for we cannot even venture to seek God without Him first seeking us. And this journey can only be embarked with God for God Himself is the companion and the object of this search.

Thus, the main message of the Year of Faith is very important for us to remember as we begin this Season of Advent. The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI, in opening the Year of Faiths through the document Porta Fidei, has asked us to return to Jesus, to renew our seeking and reflecting of the face of Jesus.

The Year of Faith is summoning us “to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world” (Porta Fidei 6), to experience conversion to Jesus in a new way, to turn back to Jesus, to enter into a deeper relationship with Him and to truly live our identity and mission as disciples of the Lord.

The Year of Faith and the Season of Advent are asking us “to keep our gaze fixed upon Jesus Christ, the ‘pioneer and perfecter of our faith’ (Heb 12:2)”. The Holy Father writes that in Jesus “all the anguish and all the longing of the human heart finds fulfillment. The joy of love, the answer to the drama of suffering and pain, the power of forgiveness in the face of an offence received and the victory of life over the emptiness of death: all this finds fulfillment in the mystery of his Incarnation, in his becoming man, in his sharing our human weakness so as to transform it by the power of his resurrection” (Porta Fidei).

Thus, the example of Colonel Davenport during this time of Advent is extremely important. We need to get down to work – the work of truly knowing, loving and following Jesus, the work of discipleship, the work of the mission of Christ, the work for personal conversion, ecclesial renewal and social transformation after the values of the Kingdom of God, and the work for authenticity of our lives as Christians.

The Season of Advent enjoins us to be ready and vigilant? And how do we show our readiness and vigilance? Our readings today give us directions. By the practice of love for one another and for all, by being blameless before the Lord, conducting ourselves in way that pleases God, always seeking to be holy as God is holy, by having hearts that are not drowsy because of sinfulness and vices and anxieties of this life, by praying always for strength and courage in facing life’s tribulations. In short, we prepare for the coming of the Lord by being good, holy, faithful, loving and hope-filled servants and followers of Him.

We all know that the experiences of personal, family, world and cosmic disturbances and upheavals can weaken our hearts and kill our spirits. They can crush us down and disorient us. In the face of all these happenings, we need to fix our gaze on Jesus, to stand erect and raise our heads because our Lord is with us and will always be with us no matter what – bringing ultimately His definitive redemption.

The Spanish “Mas” is “more” in English. For me, Christmas is more of Christ. We celebrate Christmas every year so that we can receive more and more Christ in our hearts, in our lives, in our families and in our world and, in the process, we hope to become more like Christ and become truly grounded in Him in all things. But sad to say, people can celebrate Christmas without Christ at the center of the celebrations and commemorations. The Season of Advent reminds us there is no Christmas without Christ.

The Holy Father Pope Benedict has been asking the young people not to be afraid to receive Jesus in their lives. I think the same holds true for everyone. The Holy Father has said:

“If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation… Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life.”

Let me end with a scene in the move “Fireproof”. The movie starts with a married couple of 7 years who are experiencing some marital problems. After a heated argument, the wife named Catherine decides to file for divorce. The Spirit-filled father of Caleb, the husband of Catherine, asks his son to hold for 40 days and follow some day-to-day advice taken from his treasured notebook. During these 40 days, Caleb does not only discover and love Catherine in a new way, despite her resistance. Most important is that he discovers God in his life. As a result, he becomes a changed man capable of truly loving his wife, himself and others in the Lord.

When the two get reconciled towards end of the story, Catherine tells her husband: “Something has changed in you. And I want what happened to you to happen to me.” Caleb tells Catherine, “It can.”

Caleb has found Christ and his life, his person, his marriage have changed. This is what happens when we really allow Christ more in our hearts and in our lives to transform us. The Season of Advent, in a special way, must do this for us. Then, hopefully Christmas really becomes more of Christ.

About Fr. Robert and his reflections