By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
With the arrival of these days of late Advent, we have already journeyed through the Solemnity of Our Lady’s Immaculate Conception and Gaudete, or joy, Sunday. We have taken the opportunity to deepen our love and devotion for our heavenly Mother in celebrating the singular prevenient grace of God that equipped her unique preparation for divine Motherhood. We have also broken out of the violet mood of early Advent, however briefly, with its overtones of the four last things, into the rose color of Gaudete Sunday.
Our faith in the risen Incarnate Christ causes us to overflow even during this season of penitence and prayerful preparation with abiding joy.
Perhaps your parish marked Gaudete Sunday with the Bambinelli blessing, according to Roman custom, on the Third Sunday of Advent. Children are invited to bring their statues of the Infant Christ to church from the Nativity set or crib at home and to come forward together for a blessing of these images which connects the “liturgy” of prayer at home of the “domestic” Church with the life of the Body of Christ at Mass.
When the Baby Jesus is returned for loving use in the home the family recalls together their necessary connection with the sacramental life Christ provides through the family of the Church, incorporating each family member in the most powerful way with the Body of Christ born as a Child at Bethlehem.
The family prayer of the Advent wreath and other customs which incorporate the symbol of light are reminders of the light of grace that Christ brings through faith. Faith, however, unlike the gifts and things of Christmas, cannot be bought and sold and is not superficial like so many aspects of the season, appealing for a time while new, but perhaps falling into disuse when something else comes along.
The period of “Late Advent” begins on December 17 and marks the countdown to Christmas with the “O” Antiphons of each day, which intensify our focus on the Incarnation of the Lord. These titles conferred by prophecy in the Old Testament reaffirm our conviction of faith in the Savior to be born for us. The liturgy prays the “O” antiphons as the Magnificat antiphon at vespers each day in the countdown to Christmas. They can provide meditation for personal prayer as well.
Families have the lead in handing on the faith by using the many tools at their disposal through the richness of our Catholic faith. This process can be undermined when parents suffer the effects of poor formation and resist the efforts of parish leadership to steer the program in a healthy and effective direction.
The task of handing on the faith in the parish setting can be frustrated by pre-existing templates brought to the process by parents.
For many of our Catholic adults, there is a common inversion, where worldly priorities and values are held in higher esteem than the priorities of the faith itself. Some parents judge by appearances, such as class size or parish size or the number of families when sizing up a parish. When judging from the purpose of a parish, these factors mean very little. The purpose of a parish faith formation program is to hand on the faith. Instruction in small group settings or individually is more effective for handing on the faith. The typical worldly criteria, so often in the forefront of some Catholic minds, then, are informed less by the priorities of God and salvation and more by prevalent peer pressure.
Christ cannot come by grace into hearts which reject truth by trading authentic faith for the commodification of His presence in the sacramental life. In this kind of materialism of the spiritual life, Confirmation and the Eucharist so often become prizes to attain and then forget. The period of time during which the family makes tentative steps into parish life between the child’s First Communion and Confirmation is an opportunity for conversion that should be valued and take full advantage of.
The parish catechetical program should practice an intentional embrace of the entire family, encouraging all to worship together and practice prayer in the home.
As your family illumes the candles of the Advent wreath and witnesses the increasing glow of light through these blessed days, pray for an increase likewise of true faith. Let us seek the grace that guides our lives in Christ with the light of faith that burns within and cannot be snuffed by the false promises of this world which passes away.
Thank you for reading and God bless you and your family.
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(Follow Fr. Cusick on Twitter @MCITLFrAphorism and on Facebook at Reverendo Padre-Kevin Michael Cusick. Father blogs occasionally at mcitl.blogspot.com and APriestLife.blogspot.com. You can email him at mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com.)
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