Advent Reflections – December 7, 2015

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Open to Life: Real Life

So, how does being open to life manifest itself in each of our own daily lives?

To start with, it means being open to the people we immediately come in contact with. When we greet one another with a smile, when we stop what we are doing to look someone in the eye and engage in conversation with them, we are being open to their life. We are affirming their human dignity and worth by encountering them, rather than brushing past them.

It means looking beyond our circle, our comfort zone. Consider visiting  a nursing home, even if you don’t know anyone there. Participate in a food drive and actually go to the food bank, rather than just dropping off a few cans in the bin. Serve a meal at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter and don’t just stay behind your ladle – actually engage with the people you are serving.

It means knowing that there are people out in our shared world who do not have the same values as you, do not have the same priorities as you and perhaps do not even see the purpose of your life. Yet, instead of giving into despair, thinking that humanity is lost, or seeking vengeance for suffering others have inflicted upon us,  we choose to hope, and despite it all, to love.

So we can’t allow ourselves to be stopped by the misfortunes of life or the suffering that we’re enduring, as if this had no meaning. Through them, we can discover that God is knocking on our door and wants to call us again to life, and open up to us the ways of life.

        Archbishop Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, France

November 18, 2015

How is God calling me to live a life that is more open and welcoming? 

Advent Reflections – December 6, 2015

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Open to Life: In Church Tradition

A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members; and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying. – John Paul II

The Catholic Church has an actually very simple philosophy on life. Life is to be respected, valued and protected from conception until natural death. Each life, regardless of who that life is, where they live, what they do, is sacred. And yet, often the simplest things in life are also the most complicated and challenging.

It is easy to be open to the life that we desire. It is easy to be open to the planned child, the neighbor who offers to watch our dog while we are out of town, the parent who ages gracefully, the person who holds the door open at the grocery store. Openness to life on our terms is easy.

The Church, however, isn’t calling us to be open to only the easy life. Jesus did not say “Blessed are those who loved the lovely, the gentle, the kind and forgiving.” Instead, he challenged that only those who saw Him hungry, thirsty, naked, in prison and sick, and did something about it, those few will enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 25:31-46).

The Church’s understanding of being open to life is an outward motion. It’s about hands extended, reaching out to those in need to offer comfort, warmth, acceptance and mercy, even when we find it difficult to do so.

Mother Teresa was famous for her “Five Finger Prayer.” Holding up each finger on one hand, slowly say the words “You did it for Me.” How does this prayer, coupled with your understanding of “openness to life” challenge you to be more open to those you encounter today?

Advent Reflections – December 5, 2015

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Open to Life: Mary in Scripture

Mary is the perfect example of what it means to be open to life. She was a young girl, recently engaged, when she is visited by the angel Gabriel. We say that so casually – “she was visited by an angel” – like it was a normal occurrence. “She was visited by a friend, her father, her sister, etc.” To say that the experience would have been shocking is an understatement. Mary was not only visited by a being that lives on an entirely different plane of existence from us, she also interacted with it, talked with it, questioned it. The angel’s opening greeting (if you can call this admonishment a greeting) is “Don’t be afraid.” You don’t say something like that unless there is reason for fear. You don’t tell someone “don’t be afraid” when presenting them an ice cream cone or asking if they would like to sit with you at lunch (at least I hope you don’t have to). No, Mary would have startled at best, perhaps panicked, certainly stopped in her tracks.

Mary’s willing submission to the angel’s proposal is the culmination, rather than the start, of her openness to life. Mary already had a relationship with God, she was a prayerful person, she, who was immaculately conceived, had perfectly aligned her will with God’s throughout her whole life. Mary’s “yes”, her fiat, to carry Jesus within her demonstrates what it means to welcome life wherever and whomever it comes from.

How am I inspired by Mary’s “yes” in my own life? How can I say my yes to God today?

Happy Birthday to my brother Michael!