RBWords - Volume 35 - Number 11: November 2022
Something to Think About
R.B.WORDS - VOL. 35 - NO. 11 - NOV. 2023
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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT -
I seem to live on more than one calendar. There is the calendar I carry on my cell phone which tells me what to do or who to meet on a given day. Then there are the calendars of the liturgical year, which usually begins in early December, the academic calendar (which usually begins at universities in late August, not long before Labor Day), and the fiscal calendar (July-June, although there is a government form that begins in October). There is also the physical calendar of aging which reminds me everyday that I’m not in May, but probably in late November/early December. Each of these calendars has its “seasons” which can shape the way I do things at a given point. The liturgical “seasons” of Advent/Christmas/Epiphany correspond roughly to the “holiday season” of secular life in the USA. It is a clash of calendars!
The Advent “season” is an effort in our Catholic tradition to help us remember the miracle of Christmas - the incarnation of Jesus Christ. But Advent has to compete with the economic calendar that emphasizes shopping instead of prayer. The anticipation of Advent must compete with the anticipation of gift-opening under the tree. The Christmas creche must compete with Santa and the reindeer. “The stockings are hung by the chimney with care…..etc.”
Advent wreaths and “Jesse Trees” are physical ways of participating in the liturgical season. There are probably others I don’t know well in other cultures. As we begin a new liturgical “year,” perhaps we can resolve to give more attention to this calendar that emphasizes God’s love for us in becoming one like us. IT’S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.
It Has Been Said
IT HAS BEEN SAID:
In the beginning was God,
Today is God,
Tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
He has no body.
He is the word which comes out of your mouth.
That word! It is no more,
It is past, and still it lives!
So is God. - A PYGMY PRAYER
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