The Family and the Transistor

In the 1950's Bell Labs developed the transistor. What has this got to do with the family? It was instrumental in bringing more individualism to children within the American family. It sounds strange, doesn't it, that a tiny transistor could separate kids from parents. It led to the development of the cheap transistor radio. Now, each teenager could have his own personal radio. It used to be that, after work, dinner and homework, the family would gather around a big radio in the living room or kitchen to listen to news, music or stories. When the TV set entered the seen, families still would get together to watch as well as to listen to programming. With progress in the electronics field, kids could go off to their rooms or anywhere with their battery powered entertainment centers.

Was this bad? Not at all. Certainly, transistors and microchips have brought innumerable advances and improvements in society, the health field being just one of them. However, in the pre-transistor era, there was motivation for parents and children to live, work and be entertained together. Now, it takes greater effort -- a conscientious effort -- for them to spend time with each other. Members of families need each other. We are created this way by God. The Holy Family is the model for every family. The Son of God wanted his saving work to begin within an ordinary family. St. Joseph was the legal father and provided for Mary and Jesus. Mary with him took care of her Son. The three lived in service of each other, doing God’s will always. Would that each family lived so today!

Yes, we've come from the tube radios and TVs to computers, tablets and smart phones. More and more time is spent (sometimes wasted) by individual family members being entertained and "socializing" alone. This is in addition to the necessity of parents and kids going off to their own jobs and other activities in the school and in the community.

As we close 2013 and begin 2014, may the members of each family make time for each other and grow in their appreciation of one another. May they forgive and forget past injuries and begin anew always looking forward to being together.  

Father Stanley

 

The Christmas Season

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo - "The Adoration of the Shepherds" - 1668

We are in the very last preparations for Christmas. The secularists have been preparing for this "holiday" for a couple of months now. They see it in terms of dollars and cents. That's why the Christmas season is over for them in a few days. For us who commemorated the real reason for Christmas, the season will begin with the holy Mass of Midnight on Christmas Eve. There was a time when the Christmas tree was decorated after dinner on Christmas Eve? Then, it was not taken down before January 6 which, at that time, was the Feast of the Epiphany (Three Kings). This is the spirit of Christmas; we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God in our midst. Hence, we have the twelve days of Christmas.

Hopefully, we don't want to celebrate Christmas as if it were about money, presents and parties. It's about Christ. Because of Him, we have potential for true love, true peace and true joy. This is something for which to be happy. The best way to celebrate is to pray the perfect prayer which is the holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Then, we can continue this by going to Mass each day of the Christmas season. In our current liturgical calendar, this season lasts from Christmas day until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord which this time (2014) is on Sunday January 12. So, instead of twelve days, we will have nineteen days of prayerful celebration.

May each of us at this time be fully open to Jesus. Let Him come into your heart. Know his Love.  

I wish you a most happy Christmas, filled with the Love of Christ, our Lord.  

Father Stanley

 

Our Need for Confession

Advent is the time of our spiritual preparation to celebrate the birth of our Savior. The best way to make spiritual progress is through continued conversion. This simply means a turning around. Turning away from sin to God. Without this there is no spiritual life. We need Confession, also called Reconciliation. In fact, we need frequent Confession. What person, say an athlete, does not continually examine his performance? Isn't our journey to Heaven immeasurably more important than achieving a victory in a stadium or any other kind of worldly success?

I would like to quote from a book of spiritual reflections, Conversations with God:

Sins involve a double disorder. First of all they are an offense against God. They make the soul his enemy. In the case of mortal sin the soul makes a radical choice contrary to its final end. Mortal sin merits eternal separation from God. For the forgiveness of mortal sins committed after Baptism we must have recourse to the sacrament of Confession.

In addition to the loss of friendship with God, sin also damages the sinner himself. It hampers ones personal growth and that of the community of the faithful. "For sin has diminished man, blocking his path to fulfillment."¹ "A soul that lowers itself through sin drags down with itself the Church and, in some way, the whole world."² The soul suffers from the consequences if sin even after receiving sacramental absolution. Besides his particular penance, the sinner needs to make reparation in his life through good works and indulgences.

Fernandez, Francis, Conversations with God vol. V. p. 405. Scepter Publishers, London, 1991

^{1 Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, 13. 2 Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 2 Dec 1984, 16}

Ordinarily, it is essential to receive sacramental absolution of mortal sins in order to have the Divine life within us. We need to confess all mortal sins. Moreover, a person who has mortal sins and has not gone to Confession, may not receive Holy Communion. Doing so, would incur another mortal sin, that of sacrilege.
 
Venial sins are slight offenses against God. Although they are not serious, we should not tolerate them because they still offend God Whom we love. An enormous number of venial sins cannot equal nor amount to one mortal sin. These sins can be forgiven through prayer, the Holy Mass especially, and through good works. Nevertheless, going to Confession with only these sins is an excellent practice because we receive the grace of this sacrament.

If we are not already frequenters of this great sacrament of mercy, hopefully we will begin to be so during this Advent.

Father Stanley

The Immaculate Conception and Advent

Each Sunday throughout the year is considered the Day of the Lord. Special solemnities may at times be celebrated on Sundays but never during the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter. These Sundays are restricted to the observance of the particular spiritual character of the season. So, for instance, when August 15 falls on a Sunday, the Church commemorates the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But when December 8 is on a Sunday, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is not observed on that day. Yet, this feast is of great importance. We recognize God's intervention in granting that our Lady be spared the inheritance of original sin at her conception in the womb of her mother St. Ann. So, this year, the commemoration of her Immaculate Conception is moved to tomorrow, December 9. The U. S. bishops have removed the obligation to attend Mass for this feast only this year.

 

The sin of the first parents of the human race is inherited by each person at the beginning of life in the womb. Baptism takes away this original sin. Because of his omniscience, God knew that Mary would say "yes" to his request that she be the mother of his Son. That is why he spared her having original sin at conception. She would remain sinless throughout her life. This doctrine was held by the Church over the centuries and was formally defined in 1854. 

It is believed that St. John the Baptist was cleansed of original sin at the Visitation. Mary had just conceived our Lord in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. She went to help her cousin Elizabeth who was six months pregnant with John. As we continue our spiritual reflection in preparation for Christmas, it is worth meditating on St. John the Baptist. He is a good example for us. St. John’s whole life was determined by his vocation, that is, to prepare the people to receive Jesus. He carried out this task without holding back; he gave up his life for this purpose.

One most worthy way of imitating the zeal of St. John the Baptist is to invite someone to Church. We should not be hesitant to ask a friend, relative or coworker to come with us to Confession and to Mass. Sometimes such an invitation is much appreciated. This is something that we can always think about doing, not just now as we approach Christmas, but always throughout the year.

Father Stanley

Advent

Although we are just under one month away from a new calendar year, the Church begins a new liturgical year today with the first Sunday of Advent. We have entered our preparation period for the commemoration of our Lord's nativity. It is well worth it if we recall the events of two millennia ago. The world was largely pagan, without the one true God. People, usually the ones in power, dictated the definition of god. The ones who believed in the true God were faithful Jews. They were in a period of waiting -- waiting in patience for the promised Messiah. They had to endure oppression and other hardships. They were not respected as persons as they should have been. People had to live by the ethics concocted by the state and not by the gift of good moral teaching from God. 

Our modern world is becoming sadly similar to that time of the birth of Christ. The ethics of the state dictate what is right and what is wrong. More and more freedoms are taken away through a plethora of new laws. Rights of conscience are violated. Marriage, as we know it and as God has instituted, is redefined. Individual rights to ownership are whittled away through unjust taxes, through eminent domain and through exorbitant lawsuits. Because of political favors, we are at the mercy of special interest groups. Worst of all, the human person has become a commodity to be exploited. Only for the simple reason that a person is not born, he or she can be put to death through dismemberment. All this is the "ethics" of man.

God always triumphs. Even if our world becomes more corrupt and more vile, the holy will of God will be accomplished. The question is where will each of us stand: with Him or with an ethical system doomed to implode on itself?  

God helps us and asks us to be a part of His work to sanctify the world. We can be like the faithful Jews of the Old Testament, praying, keeping the Commandments, living upright lives according to His will. The best of those models are our Lady and St. Joseph. Just think about it: Mary's "yes" (her fiat) radically changed the world. God and man were united in the two natures of Jesus Christ. St. Joseph's perfect obedience prevented interference in God's plan of salvation. Let's rely on them. They are our champions; they are our intercessors.
 

Our witness will be a leaven for society. We should pray that each of us shows that Christ is the center of our lives. We judge by His Standards and not by the world's.  

Father Stanley