Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men

Hello dear friends,

I wanted to share with you my main meditation this Advent season.  As you probably know, my family and I don't celebrate Christmas festivities during the advent season.  Instead, we meditate on and wait for the coming of Christ, both at Christmas and at the end of time.

This week, we celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Conception.  At Mass, the priest talked about how the miracle of the Immaculate Conception teaches us to acknowledge the sanctity of EVERY human life starting from conception to natural death. 

The Immaculate Conception teaches us that life indeed does begin at conception.  If it didn't, then Mary wouldn't have been Immaculately conceived.  The Immaculate Conception is the dogma that Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, without the stain of Original Sin.  That means sin never touched her soul.

And now, John Horvat, from the TFP, has written this absolutely beautiful article which also ties in with my meditations for Advent:

Christ Still Finds Room in White House Inn – Even in ‘Post-Christian’ America

"Christmas is a reminder that all things are possible with God. Indeed, on that ineffable night when a Savior was born to Mary ever Virgin, an immense impossibility became possible: the God-man was born.
In these days so much like those of Christ’s time when everything seemed impossible, similar wonders can happen. "

All of this brings me to my own thoughts.  Especially at Christmastime, we think of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I want peace among all people.  The peace that only the Good God can give.  This Advent, I am praying for the conversion of hearts.  Especially for those of poor sinners and those in my country.   My soul aches for those in sin.  The miracle of the Immaculate Conception gives us an image of what God really intends for our souls.  He wants us to be perfectly happy with Him, free from sin, our wills in perfect accord with His Holy Will.

You are a child of God.  He made you in His image.  And as such, I love you immensely.   But I do not condone sin.  As it is commonly said, "Hate the sin, not the sinner."  In the charity that comes from recognizing the dignity of a human person and seeing the image of God in them, I pray for and love these people.  I pray that one day, they may come to realize their sin, to repent, to turn to the most loving and merciful Jesus, and follow Him.

This is the same Jesus, who came into the world, just like you and me.  A tiny human.  He came to share in our humanity.  This is the same Jesus who ate with sinners and called them out of the darkness of sin.

"And Jesus said: Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more." ~John 8:11 (DRB)

This is the same Jesus who suffered every humiliation in His agony.  The scourging, the crowning of thorns, the long hard road, the huge and heavy cross on His back, the stripping of His garments, the nailing of His hands and feet to the cross, the mockery of the people, and even death.  He endured all of this, for you.

This Advent and Christmas season, let us never forget why Jesus came into the world and did all of this.  He wanted to bring souls to Himself.  He wants everyone to be happy with Him forever in Heaven.  Come to the child in the manger.  Thank Him for all He has done for you.  Then, go as the shepherds,

"...glorifying and praising God, for all the things they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them." ~Luke 2:20

Bring your family, your friends, and even the hardest sinners in prayer to the Christ Child in the manger.   Together, let us give Him one of the greatest gifts we could give.  Our complete trust in His Divine Will.