Monday, November 28, 2016

Advent resources

Just wanted to share a couple of wonderful resources for Advent.

1. "Best Advent Ever" from Dynamic Catholic. Sign up to get daily emails with brief spiritual reflections, videos, etc. Only takes a few minutes, but really helps get into the spirit of Advent preparation.

2. Professor Carol's Advent Calendar. Music, poetry, art, and historical reflections. Sign up for delivery by email or read online at her blog. Carol often has great insights into the traditions associated with Advent.

3. The Pray More Advent Retreat from PrayMoreNovenas.com. I haven't tried this one before.

Oh, and there's a second 54 day rosary Novena for Our Nation beginning today.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

On Election Day: What comes next?

This recent article from the National Catholic Register explains very well how I've been feeling about politics lately.

Have you ever done the Great Adventure Bible Study with Jeff Cavins? As he says, the Israelites repeatedly go through this cycle in their relationship with God: Things are good, then they don't emphasize their relationship with God (drifting away), fall into sin, which leads to servitude and suffering, and finally leads them to beg the Lord to save them. This happens repeatedly over the decades and centuries -- 7 times in the book of Judges alone! But the lesson to me is not so much about the Israelites as it is about any nation -- prosperity / peace / health depends on a nation's relationship with God.

So I guess what I'm thinking about politics is not that it is pointless, but that we are past the point of political solutions. Politics is downstream of culture, and our culture is rotten. What we need is to restore and heal our culture and society -- which is a work not of politics but of prayer, fasting, catechesis, evangelization, and ongoing conversion to God. And that work will be the same regardless of the election results.