chicagocatholicman

[chicagocatholicman]

Laziness kills ambition;

Anger kills wisdom;

Fear kills dreams;

Ego kills growth;

Jealousy kills peace;

Doubt kills confidence.

Now read that right to left.

Source: https://substack.com/@onepercent1/note/c-78442189

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Take The Next Step

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What Is A Family

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Families often become focused on worldly goals, forgetting that their most important purpose is to help each other get to heaven.

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Chicago's magnificent and iconic Union Station, adorned for Christmas -Cory Steinberg

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Norwegian bishop partners with EWTN and Exodus 90 for new ‘Desert Fathers’ podcast series

Bishop Erik Varden of Trondheim, Norway, has announced a new collaboration with EWTN and Exodus 90 to produce “The Desert Fathers in a Year,” a podcast series launching Jan. 1, 2025, that aims to bring the wisdom of early Christian monasticism to modern audiences.

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The Bean at Mid-Day by Metal Cowboy https://flic.kr/p/9ff9dM

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Keep Christmas

I love Christmas movies.

One of my favorite Christmas movies is Elf. It’s a fun movie. And heartwarming, in a wonderful, goofy way.

It’s definitely something you want to dig out of the Christmas box to see again next year.

But in a Fourth-of-July-fireworks kind of way. That is, it’s fun while you’re watching it. But it’s not something you’re really going to think about much afterwards. It’s not that kind of a movie.

My other favorite is A Christmas Carol.

It’s a story that’s been done many times – and done well so often – that I have trouble picking a favorite version. Whichever version you pick, it’s heartwarming. Especially the end.

It’s definitely something you want to see again next year as well. But there’s more to it than Elf.

There’s a line at the end of a Christmas Carol, about the reformed Scrooge, that always sticks with me. “…and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”

There’s something about that line, something deeper. Year after year, I come back to it.

And year after year, if I let it sink in, it’s pushed me to do things this time of year. To keep Christmas.

Not just with decorations or presents, though they’re a good start. But keeping Christmas is something more.

Sometimes it’s inspired me to do something charitable for Christmas. Other times, it’s moved me to repair a relationship. Or to reach out to someone who’s hurting or alone. To keep Christmas.

Because there are things in this life that are worth keeping.

There’s a moment at the end of today’s Gospel. I think of it as the Aftermath.

After the whirlwind of all the amazing things that have happened around the birth of her Son – angels, shepherds, heavenly choruses, all of it. In the quiet after everyone has left.

Where it says, “but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

Mary realizes that what’s going on isn’t just another Fourth-of-July-fireworks kind of thing. Something that grabs you while you’re watching it. And that’s about it.

In the first moment she has to catch her breath, it hits her. There’s a lot more to this.

Mary is absolutely right. There is a lot more to this. There’s something deeper here.

Something that brings us back, time and again. Something that calls us home.

Because Christmas calls us to something deeper. Christmas pushes us to do more, to be more. Christmas calls us beyond ourselves.

Because, if we let it sink in, Christmas brings us face to face with the God who truly is with us. In every possible way.

That’s why Christmas is one of those things. One of the things in this life that’s worth keeping.

But not just once a year. When we take it out of the box and dust it off.

My challenge to you is simply this – keep Christmas.

Today and always.

Readings for Christmas Day

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Matthew 2:1–12 - The Visit of the Wise Men

Now hafter Jesus was born in iBethlehem of Judea jin the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from kthe east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born lking of the Jews? For we saw mhis star when it rose2 and have come to nworship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where othe Christ was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who will qshepherd my people Israel.’

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, rthey offered him gifts, sgold and tfrankincense and umyrrh. 12 And vbeing warned win a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

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Christmas Joy?

Thinking up the worst possible outcome.

Maybe even two or three or more ways that it can go wrong. And then getting stuck thinking about them.

It’s one of my least useful skills.

Especially when it comes to imagining how someone is going to respond to something hard. Or how a difficult situation is going to work out.

If you’re like me, then you know how this “skill” can really run you through the wringer. Long before anything has actually happened. Much less anything bad.

One of the worst ways that this plays out? With other people. Especially people we don’t really know. When we have to rely on what someone has told us about them.

Probably the most obvious (and most damaging) example of this is with God.

Here’s why I say that. We live in a culture that’s created a lot of versions of God that are horrible.

And it’s not just people who supposedly hate God. Some of the people who proclaim their faith the loudest proudly show off their petty, vengeful, resentful, hateful versions of God.

So it’s really no surprise that even people who don’t horrible-ize things imagine the worst possible outcomes from any interaction with God. They’ve been given every reason to get stuck thinking about God that way. They’ve been given every reason to stay away.

Except the truth.

Today’s Gospel (Matthew 1:1-25) gives the names of the Son of God – Jesus and Emmanuel.

Jesus means “God saves.” It tells us what God will do through Jesus, and how God works.

Emmanuel means “God with us.” It tells us who Jesus is, and what’s in God’s heart.

That’s the truth about God. How do we know that’s really the truth about God?

Because that’s what plays out in the Incarnation. In the pattern of redemption that runs from Christmas through Good Friday to Easter.

God saves. And He does it by being who He is, by being God with us.

The thing to know is how God does it.

God doesn’t save us begrudgingly. God isn’t the God of “if-I-have-to.”

God doesn’t save us judgmentally (although some of God’s noisiest alleged followers want Him to be). God isn’t the God of condemnation.

So how does God do it?

Isaiah tells us in the first reading (Isaiah 62:1-5), and it has zero to do with anything about what you and I have done. Or how far we’ve wandered. Or how much we don’t fit in someone else’s messed up version God.

Here’s the truth. And it’s the source of the joy of Christmas.

God looks at you and loves you.

God looks at you and gets excited about being with you.

God delights in you.

This Christmas, may God fill your heart with the joy that comes from knowing just how much you mean to Him.

Readings for Christmas Eve

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TRUTH!

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Deep Work and The Internet and Future Technology

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Contemporary Christian radio and Catholic prayer

Being a Catholic and a contemporary Christian music radio fan is a strange thing, but the music has deepened my understanding of adoration and praise.

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