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-I will be celebrating mass at 5:30pm 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM on Sunday
What you love is killing you!
My late grandfather of happy memory had an opinion about doctors. He often said that the scheme of the doctor is to find out what you like and then tell you that you're not allowed to have it anymore. While that is a rather cynical assessment of the medical profession's strategy of what we now call preventative care, it really does make some sense. When we really love something and are attached to it we can do too much of it. This can be the case with our diet but also with our quest for happiness.
I have been reflecting throughout this advent season on the call to repentance and the definition of that word repent to mean "change the direction you're looking for happiness". As I have pointed out over the past couple of weeks there are various ways to identify the wrong direction we are looking for happiness. The first indication and pointer to our wrong direction for happiness is the unhappinesses of our lives, why we are so angry, sad, or frightened. When we answer that question we often times stumble upon the in adequacy of our chosen direction for happiness and it can be a pretty easy thing to "change direction".
There is a second and more difficult situation in our call to repentance or change in the way we are looking looking for happiness and that is where we are really happy. The danger of what makes us really happy is that we can often NOT recognize or hear the call to change our direction for happiness.
This advent time is one of examination into what are our values and priorities as we strive for happiness. John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, the blessed virgin Mary and today, Saint Joseph, invite all of us to have the faith and courage to acknowledge the emptiness of our current striving and to be open to God's will. It is in God's will that we find true and lasting happiness.
St. Joseph on this fourth Sunday of advent can be understood to be the model for repentance, changing our mind, changing the direction in which we are striving for happiness. Not only in his openness to changing his mind about "putting Mary away" but in several other features of his faith and choices throughout the infancy narrative of Saint Matthew, Joseph shows himself to be open to changing his mind, meta-noia, changing the direction he is looking for happiness. In all of it, he reveals the true source of happiness which is doing the will of God in love.
Do you have the courage to look into your "plan" and to see the false promise of happiness? Repent!
3 comments:
Thank you so much for posting, Father, for encouraging us to grow, to take a look at our lives from the 'same old-same old' and see it in light of a new direction. Wow, I was at it over an hour and then my Sweetie & I talked nearly an HOUR on it!!! I looked up word etymology of repent (seems there is a lot of disagreement which led to more reading!) then I looked up 'pent'. I was led to dig & examine & question & reflect. All so revealing & intimate & interesting & great conversation & examination & growth with my spouse. Many thanks! 😘 Spending time like this is sooooooo beneficial to our growth in love and sharing with others ... YES, 'God is with us',
I think that the older I get, the more I am in awe of the great faith of St. Joseph. He did a major "about face" (interesting expression) - and did so solely out of faith and obedience to the will of the Father, and I am thinking also out of love for Mary. So clear is it to me that his is a great example of what it looks like to go about life in such a way as to not focus on plans that come about from our own making, but to be constantly listening and watching for the will of our Creator - the ongoing Creator who, to this day and beyond, makes all things good and holy and right.
I am not sure why you would say that Joseph was repentant? I think in some ways he was more receptive of what was to come than Mary. Maybe that's just a guy thing. Joseph did nothing to need to repent. He loved Mary and was trusting that their love was true.
I think that we all have some doubts and unhappiness in our lives, we need to focus on the positive.
I know that I have faults, but I trust that the positives in my life come to the surface more than the negatives. Sometimes it is okay to say "I am OKay".
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