I love the season of Lent. It is the perfect time to get one’s life in order. It is the perfect season to reflect upon our relationship with God in an even deeper way than usual. We have many disciplines to help us, especially the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. To be clear, it is important that we pray at all times and in all seasons, not just in Lent. Likewise, it is good for us to fast and habitually practice small mortifications, small penances, small acts of loving reparation, throughout our lives even outside of Lent (and outside of Fridays throughout the year). And, it’s never a bad time to give alms; “now” is always the perfect time. But in Lent, the Church lays a special emphasis on these practices to help us through our desert journey. In Lent, we travel with Jesus (and with all of the saints who have gone before us) into the wilderness, toward the joy which Easter brings.

And so, we begin our Lenten pilgrimage. My prayer is that we exit Lent changed people; that when Easter comes, we will be more closely united to Christ than ever before. If you haven’t read it yet, I would highly recommend prayerfully reading over Pope Benedict XVI’s Message for Lent this 2011. It is a moving letter, with many insights so beautifully written. The text may be accessed online at the Vatican website, here: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/lent/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20101104_lent-2011_en.html.

Three other things I would like to emphasize for your consideration this Lent:

(1) Go on a retreat. I think it is a good practice to go on a retreat once a year, and Lent is a perfect season for a retreat.

(2) Meditate deeply on Scripture. If Scripture reading is not a regular practice in your life, then there is no better time to start than now. Why don’t you make a Lenten resolution to spend just 5 minutes a day prayerfully immersing yourself in Scripture. I’d recommend taking up one of the Gospels. I have always been fond of the method recommended by St. Josemaría Escrivá: “If you wish to get close to our Lord through the pages of the Gospels, I always recommend that you try to enter in on the scene, taking part as just one more person there.”¹

(3) read a book for spiritual reading, perhaps only a few minutes (5 or 10) a day. A great one, if you haven’t already read it, is Scott Hahn’s Signs of Life: 40 Catholic Customs and their Biblical Roots, available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Signs-Life-Catholic-Customs-Biblical/dp/0385519494/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1299642080&sr=1-1.

1. St. Josemaría Escrivá, “The Strength of Love” (homily given 8 June 1968), in Friends of God, 227-241 (Princeton: Scepter, 2002 [1977]), 227.

Mysterious Hunger

“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it.”

Pope John Paul II wrote those words almost 31 years ago, yet they still resonate with us today.  But why?  Why does love make the world go ‘round?  Why do we sacrifice so much for even a glimmer of it?  Why do we sell everything once we have found it? Why are we hard-wired for love?

Wonder

It is not fear or lack of meaning that opens us out toward these ‘why’ questions.  Love itself brings us to these questions, to this wonderment over our existence, what we are here for.  It is only where “love is missing…[that] the question of meaning lacks the air it needs to catch fire.”  Indeed, “the experience of love is the birthplace of wonder, the first step along a new journey toward the fullness of meaning…Wonder can be born only in the matrix of love.  Even the amazement that fills us when we behold the marvels of creation makes sense only in light of the experience of love” (Called to Love).

The Great Awakening

If love awakens one to the experience of wonder and the question of meaning, it is in our response to that love that “puts in our hands a compass to guide our quest for meaning to the goal of true happiness” (Called to Love).   Though the danger of turning toward self-love always remains, “love is a guide that leads us beyond ourselves and toward transcendence…takes us out of ourselves and ushers us into a fullness of life that is bigger than our tiny selves.  The heart of experience, then, is the wonder awakened by the revelation of love.  Love opens the very roots of the human person to the encounter with the other, to transcendence, and to newness of life” (Called to Love).

Faith as Response to Love

When we experience love we are called to love, called to respond and return love for love.  Yet, love cannot be demanded or measured, cannot be prodded or proven.  This foundation of human experience calls for a response of faith/trust in the act of receiving love and faith/trust in the act of giving love in return.  In the response of faith/trust to love, we are moved beyond ourselves, beyond what we can construct, create, conjure, or prove.

This wonderment and call to respond to love moves us from our initial experience of love to our experience of our existence as a gift of love.  We experience our very existence as a gift of love and this too calls us to respond…but to Whom?  Who is responsible?  This love calls us out in faith to the One who made us.  Indeed, the natural “human experience of love points toward a fullness that comes to light only in the encounter with Christ.  Wonder culminates in faith’s response to Christ’s revelation of the fullness of love” on the Cross (Called to Love).

Why?

Why are we built this way?  Because we were created in the image and likeness of the Triune God, Who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Lover, Beloved, and Love.  The Holy Trinity is an eternal exchange of love.  We were created in God’s image and likeness, and so we are created in love and called to love.  Praise the Holy Trinity!

May is the month where we celebrate Mary and her ‘yes’ in the life of Jesus. We celebrate the Annunciation to Mary by the Angel Gabriel on March 25th, so it is that in May the life of Jesus was beginning to flower in her womb. Why is it though that Catholic and Orthodox Christians accord her such a high place in the life of faith?

We can of course, never understand Mary without reference to Jesus. When the Father sent His Son into the world with a plan, it was a plan formed long ago. It was a plan that developed from covenants with Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David. God was building a family from a holy couple, to a family, to a tribe, to a nation, and lastly to a kingdom with David. And it was from this final expansion of the family with David that we pick up with Jesus, who was the Son of David. So it was that the kingdom that Jesus preached was made concrete in its fulfillment of the kingdom given to David.

In David’s kingdom there were two people especially important: the prime minister and the queen. Jesus made St. Peter his prime minister (Mt 16:13-19; Is 22:22). Yet who was Jesus’ queen? After all, Jesus wasn’t married (cont. Dan Brown). Yet, in David’s kingdom it was not his wife who was the queen. Rather, it was the Queen Mother who sat upon the throne at David’s right hand (e.g. 1 Kgs 1:19). In fact, every Davidic King is listed, not with the name of his wife, but with the name of the Queen Mother (cf. 1 & 2 Kings). It is noteworthy that Jeremiah addresses them both: “Say to the king and to the queen mother: Come down from your throne” (Jer 13:18). In Hebrew her political title in the kingdom was Gebirah, or “Mighty Woman.” The Queen Mother “literally served as the flesh and blood link between the father and the son” (Crucified Rabbi, 41).

Mary’s ‘yes’ to the Father constitutes the link between father and son: “When the fullness of time came God sent His Son, born of a woman” (Gal. 4:4). Orthodox Christians speak of her as the Divine Directress who helped to initiate Jesus’ first miracle (John 2:1-11). She stands by His side as he reigns from the Cross (cf. Jn 19:25-7). It makes perfect sense that when James and John ask to sit on Jesus’ right and left in His kingdom, Jesus answers that it is “not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared” (Mt 20:23). The seat at Jesus’ right hand is reserved, as it was in David’s kingdom, for the Gebirah, the Queen Mother.

In this month of May, let us call on Mary who sits at Jesus’ right hand and ask her to obtain for us through her Son the grace to say ‘yes’ and be faithful to God’s personal plans for us. Hail Mary…

For Catholics, Christmas doesn’t end on December 25^th, rather, that is the day the Christmas season begins. You may have heard before a Catholic song that has become generally popular called “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” It is a lightly veiled catechetical song, written by a subjugated Catholic minority group living in a hostile English culture that was predominately Protestant, to count the days between December 25^th and the end of Christmastide, which concludes on January 6^th. Each day of the twelve days one sings about a symbol reminiscent of the Christian faith. The four calling birds refer to the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; five golden rings remind us of the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and so forth. The twelfth day ends on January 6^th, which is the feast of the Epiphany. This is when the magi from the East visited the Christ-child (see Matt 2:1-18). January 6th was also a celebration of the Baptism of the Lord.  In recent years, the Baptism of the Lord was split from the Epiphany given its own Sunday, and the Christmas season was extended. The liturgical season of Christmas actually continues in the Church until the Baptism of Jesus (the Sunday after the Epiphany) around January 13^th.

Before December 25^th, the Catholic Church celebrates Advent. The word “advent,” comes from the Latin adventus (Greek parousia), means “coming” or “arrival.” The season of Advent is focused on the “coming” of Jesus as Messiah (or Christ). Catholic worship, scripture readings, and prayers prepare us spiritually for celebrating Christmas (his first coming), and also for his eventual second coming. This is why the Scripture readings during Advent include both Old Testament passages related to the expected Messiah, and New Testament passages concerning Jesus’ return. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains¹:

When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: “He must increase, but I must decrease”

Since Advent looks forward to Christ’s birth and Incarnation, it is an appropriate way to begin the liturgical year. However, Advent is not part of the Christmas season itself, but a solemn preparation for it. Thus, many Catholics do not put up Christmas decorations, sing Christmas hymns, or use Christmas readings in Mass until December 25th, the first day of the Christmas season. Generally speaking the liturgical color for Advent is violet.  The use of violet reflects the general themes of Advent: penitence and royalty. The season is somewhat penitential, similar to Lent. The character of worship during Advent is more solemn, quiet, and less festive than during other times of the year. In the Catholic Church, for example, the Gloria in Excelsis is not used.

Often secular culture and many non-Catholic denominations celebrate the day of Christmas, but they take it outside of the ecclesial context of Advent and Christmastide. This is reductionism leading to a loss of meaning. Christmas is not meant to be an isolated day, but a festival of the Incarnation in the midst of the liturgical Church year. Christmas can only be properly experienced and understood after having the preparation provided by Advent. In contrast to the secular commercial excesses leading up to Christmas, the Catholic practice of Advent provides a welcome opportunity to continually re-orient ourselves as Christians to God’s will as we expectantly wait with patriarchs, prophets, and kings for the true meaning of Christmas: the God incarnated in a manger in Bethlehem.

The New Testament identifies Jesus as the expected Jewish Messiah (although Jesus was not the Messiah most Jews at the time expected, a warrior who would forcibly overthrow the Romans). The gospel writers explain that Jesus did not come to establish an earthly kingdom by force, or to simply deliver the Jewish people from the Romans. Rather Jesus proclaimed a heavenly kingdom available to Jew and Gentile alike that would deliver man from slavery to sin. In the first few centuries Christians held untitled remembrances and fasts resembling our current Advent season. St. Hilary of Poitiers (AD 300-367) and the Spanish Council of Saragossa (AD 380) spoke of a three-week fast before Epiphany. Pope St. Leo the Great preached many homilies about “the fast of the tenth month (i.e. December)” prior to Christmas. The first explicit reference to a celebration of Advent occurs in the sixth century. The Gelasian Sacramentary (AD 750) provided liturgical material for the five Sundays before Christmas as well as Wednesdays and Fridays. The Church eventually settled on four Sundays of Advent. Until the twelfth century, in many geographical areas, Advent had a more festive tone, and white vestments were occasionally used. However, the practices and mindset of Advent became more closely related to Lent as Christ’s second coming became more and more a prominent Advent theme, as especially seen in the seventh century Bobbio Missal. During the Reformation, most Protestant groups attacked or de-emphasized many Christian holy days (holidays) and seasons, disconnecting Protestantism from the rhythms of the liturgical calendar and the spiritual understanding of the Church year. Christmas, when tolerated, was treated as a standalone event.

I would venture to guess that not many American Evangelicals (or American Catholics for that matter) are familiar with the Christmas Witch, the traditions of setting dolls on the windowsill or searching for La Befana’s broom. To the ears of my Evangelical friends such practices smack of paganism and the notion of a Christmas Witch is downright blasphemous. Many Protestants in the last few years have also expressed concern over the “war on Christmas” called for by the now dominant secular culture in America, ironically initiated in the name of political correctness and tolerance. Today most people regard Christmas as a Christian holiday celebrated by all the various Christian denominations spanning the breach of Protestants and Catholic. In America even people of other faiths, or no faith have assimilated Christmas into their cycle of yearly holidays. The latest polls place the celebration of Christmas, in some form, in the United States at nearly 96% of the population. Part of the contributing fuel on the fire in the contemporary war on Christmas is the notion among Evangelicals that Christmas is somehow theirs. Sure, others may participate or share in the seasonal festivities but as every Christian knows, Jesus is the reason for the season. Evangelicals, who therefore have a strong public relationship with Jesus, assume special ownership of the celebration of his birth. It is in this close identification between Jesus and the Evangelical that these American Christians sense personal attack when the celebration of Jesus’ birth, Christmas, is altered, commercialized, or banned. Yet historically in America Protestants were the ones who originally banned Christmas because they saw it as a Catholic holiday. After all, Christmas, as the word’s origin reveals, is a celebration of Christ’s-Mass.

Why do Italian children adore an ugly witch with a big nose and nasty red mole who traveled in rags upon a broom? Despite her looks her story is what the holiday is all about. Italy is such a special country that children receive gifts from not one, but two enchanted figures during the Christmas season. Most Italian families get a visit from Babbo Natale (Saint Nicholas) on Dec. 25, but in Italy, as in most Catholic countries, the liturgical season lasts through Jan. 6, which is the Feast of the Epiphany. On that day La Befana, known to some as the Christmas witch, brings snacks and presents to all of the faithful.

Legend has it that La Befana is an old woman who lives in a house in the hills of Italy. When three foreigners knocked on her door, interrupting her cleaning, they told her that they were very wise and had been following the star which would lead them to a newborn king who would rule the world in peace. No fool, she was skeptical. How wise could these men be if they had gotten lost? She gave them directions to Bethlehem but when they invited her to join them on their quest for the baby Jesus—the Christ-Child, she shoed them away and broke down crying. You see La Befana was a mother of a newborn boy. But King Herod had also heard of this Christ-Child who would be king, and not knowing to which parents Jesus had been born, Herod had ordered all the infant sons of the land be put to death. La Befana was so traumatized when her son was murdered she could only occupy herself by doing chores and cleaning her house. She had quickly aged from despair. Her face became wrinkled, her hair turned gray and she grew to look like an old, haggard lady.

After a little while, she had second thoughts. Perhaps, the men were honest and telling the truth. If so, she missed her chance to help them reach this new king who would be holy and just. She decided she should try to catch up with them. So she threw some baked goods along with her son’s belongings in a sack, took her broom for a walking stick and raced out after the caravan in search of the wise men and the baby Jesus.  But they were long gone and La Befana soon got lost herself. Just as she tired to the point of quitting, angels appeared in the sky blessed her broom and gave it the power of flight; this was after all a night of miracles.

She finally found the wise men kneeling before a baby in a manger. It was the Christ-Child, the baby Jesus. La Befana approached Mary and showed her the contents of the sack. Immediately Mary understood what had happened and together they laid the belongings of the child at before the feet of Jesus Christ. He blessed La Befana with eternal life, appointing her to be a giver of gifts. After that, every year on Jan. 5, the eve of the Epiphany, she becomes a mother to all of the world’s children, caring for them and bringing the children gifts and treats. While at first concerned or offended by the Christmas witch, after having the legend explained to them, my Evangelical friends felt comfortable with this Italian legend which highlights how an encounter with Jesus Christ can be a transformative experience.

1. Catechism of the Catholic Church 524