Stranger Safety

So lately I've been thinking about the body and its significance in relation to our soul.

(That was a hint...this post is a theological/philosophical meditation on the dignity of the human body, so if you're pressed for time please come back and read it later. I'll be throwing a few Theology of the Body quotes at you, so you need time to stop and think those through for yourself.)

Anyway, lately I have been seeing some (mostly unintentional) disrespect for the human body. Now when I say something like that I'm sure most people will think "sexual assault" but that's not really what I'm talking about. I want to focus on more of the day-to-day "manhandling" that can take place between individuals of the same or opposite genders. If you're not sure what manhandling is, a specific example would be goosing (the person you're friends with is walking behind you without your knowledge, and to alert you to their presence, they make a grab at your kidney-region, causing you to erupt in a sound similar to that of a goose). I am certain that I am not the only person on the earth not overly-fond of manhandling, and in fact, after reflecting on TOB and the teachings of St. Paul, I can see why it (although seemingly innocent) is actually very disrespectful.

Before I begin, I would like to give you the link to the specific Wednesday audience I'm taking quotes from: http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/jp2tb55.htm It's not very long, and I strongly encourage you to go read the whole thing.

That being said, my initial argument for why the body must be treated with respect was twofold: first, because it was created "in the divine image" (Gn. 1:27) and because it is the dwelling place of the individual, unrepeatable human soul. Although these are good arguments, I am far outdone by St. Paul and JPII. Taken from his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?" (1 Cor. 6:19). Now I'm sure many of us have heard this verse from our parents when we asked them if we could get a tattoo/piercing/body modification, but JPII explains it for us (thank goodness):

"In Paul's eyes, it is not only the human spirit, thanks to which man is constituted as a personal subject, that decides the dignity of the human body. But even more so it is the supernatural reality constituted by the indwelling and the continual presence of the Holy Spirit in man—in his soul and in his body—as fruit of the redemption carried out by Christ."

 Whoa, what? Is JPII telling us that dignity is given to our bodies by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit?

"It follows that man's body is no longer just his own. It deserves that respect whose manifestation in the mutual conduct of man, male and female, constitutes the virtue of purity. This is not only because it is the body of the person. When the Apostle writes: 'Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God' (1 Cor 6:19), he intends to indicate yet another source of the dignity of the body, precisely the Holy Spirit, who is also the source of the moral duty deriving from this dignity."

Yes, yes he is. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! In the very next verse (v. 20) St. Paul says, "For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body." You might have heard once or twice that we were purchased by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, who God sent "so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life" (Jn. 3:16). But did you know Jesus Christ came not only to redeem our souls, but our bodies as well? Oh, yes. Blessed John Paul II writes:

"Through redemption, every man has received from God again, as it were, himself and his own body. Christ has imprinted on the human body—on the body of every man and every woman—new dignity, since, in himself, the human body has been admitted, together with the soul, to union with the Person of the Son-Word . . . The fruit of redemption is the Holy Spirit, who dwells in man and in his body as in a temple. In this Gift, which sanctifies every man, the Christian receives himself again as a gift from God. This new, double gift is binding. The Apostle refers to this binding dimension when he writes to believers, aware of the Gift, to convince them that one must not commit unchastity."

 So to sum it up: Christ bought you with his blood and sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in you. If those aren't good enough reasons to convince you to respect your body, I don't know what is. And by "respect your body" I mean to put a stop to anyone that tries to manhandle you. Treat yourself and others with the respect you deserve. And although it sounds like a cliché from some safety video, you really do have the right to ask someone to stop touching you in a certain way that makes you feel uncomfortable or disrespected.

Until next time, my friends.

My Catholic Friend

Recently, I was blessed to spend a part of my weekend with one of my good Catholic friends. I drove an hour and forty minutes to where he lives, and we hung out for approximately fifteen hours, just long enough for me to feel totally moved to write about this individual.
Friday night, I rode with him and a couple of his friends to a high school basketball game in a town about thirty minutes away, and during this car ride, and throughout the events following, I was completely surprised and humbled by the inspiring way in which my friend chooses to live his life. Allow me to paint a picture of my Catholic friend...

The first thing that caught my attention happened as we were leaving his house to head to the game. While getting into the car, I tuned into the conversation between the other two guys to hear my friend insist, "...yea, but we're listening to my music." So, as we made our way to the basketball game, discussing various topics ranging from soccer to college, The City Harmonic's "Mountain Top" and Chris Tomlin's "Amazing Grace" rang out in the background from the car stereo. What struck me from the whole experience was the casualness with which my friend inserted his faith into his world, never coming across as forceful or abrasive, but instead functioning as a gentle and quiet witness to what he knows to be truth. Sure, he could have put on 106.1 and we could have been jamming to "Wrecking Ball" and "Blurred Lines," but instead he allowed praise and worship to our God to flow through the car, navigating us towards the path of holiness.

The second situation in which I found myself in awe of my friend occurred after we arrived at the basketball gym. Upon entering the arena, I realized that I had left my wallet in my car back at his house. However, before I even had the chance to tell my friend that I didn't have any money, he turned to me and said he had me covered. Then later, he paid for my stack of pancakes and a glass of chocolate milk at IHOP. I suppose any nice person would have offered to do the same, especially after knowing that I had left my wallet, but my friend's natural tendency towards kindness and hospitality astounds me and leaves me wishing for the development of the same good habits in my own life.

The rest of the night proceeded ordinarily, and before we knew it, we were walking outside to my jeep, preparing for my drive back home. We exchanged words of goodbye, and then I got in my car and headed home, panged with the familiar sadness which often accompanies the departure of friends. About twenty minutes out, I mentally replayed the moment that I left and thought back on what my friend's last words to me had been before I got into my jeep and drove away. Instead of just saying "goodbye" or "see ya soon," my friend said this to me, "Hey, text me when you get home," to which I sarcastically replied, "Ok mom," and before I closed the door to the jeep he said, "yea, yea, I just want to make sure you get home safe."
Twenty minutes later, while pondering on what would happen if one of us were to die before we saw each other again, these were the words that came to my mind.
To me, these words epitomize exactly what it means to be a Catholic friend: to truly, unashamedly, love someone so much, that you take care to make sure they arrive home safely.
In this world, we spend most of our time either sleeping or interacting with other humans, loving, helping, playing, serving, praying, talking, but in the end, a friend is the one who desires that you make it home to heaven, and will do whatever it takes to get you there.

Dear friend, I know that you are not perfect and that sometimes you doubt your uniqueness and beautiful worth, but I write to let you know that God has put you in my life as a blessing, and I write so others may see the beauty of God in the same way it has been revealed to me this weekend. Tonight I pray that I may grow as witness in the ways I have seen you witness to your friends, that I may grow in hospitality and generosity as you have shown me in the simplest of gestures, and that I may grow as a friend and brother to those around me, that I may share the love of God, the very same love which you have shown me. Brother, I look forward with great excitement to the day I will be with you and all our brothers and sisters in Heaven, praising God for all eternity.

"For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you."
Philemon 1

Crying isn't just for Babies

When tragedy comes into your life, what do a lot of people say? Well, a lot of things, I guess, but I always seem to pick up on the whole "stay strong" thing. While nice to hear someone cares and is supporting you, it's never seemed beneficial to me. I mean, what if you cant be strong? What if you are falling apart into little pieces, but you feel expected to stay strong, so in addition to grief from the tragedy you also feel like a failure and lonely.

Well I am here to tell you, its okay to be weak. You cannot "stay strong" all by yourself. The pressure of carrying that kind of load, all by your lonesome, is crippling. Like grief is such a heavy emotion, the feeling alone weighs your body down. And if you hold it in long enough, your body begins to ache uncontrolably.

Recently experiencing my first major tragedy(a death of a friend), I felt constantly like i had to hold the emotions in. I would fake a smile and go to school acting like I was okay, but I was breaking inside. I felt like I had to be strong for my friends and my family. I didnt want people to worry about me. So everytime tears would begin to come and my throat started closing the way it does when your about to cry, I would fight them back, in hopes no one would notice and worry. 

But then I went to confession, and truly poured everything my heart was carrying out to the priest. I sat waiting for my penitence(hoping i spelled that right) and he told me to go sit with God in silence for 10 minutes and just be there. As I was getting up to go carry this out, he said "Hey, just so you know, its okay to cry." 

And so thats what I did. I waited until adoration(my favorite thing EVER) and i just cried. I cried for the death of a friend, gone way to soon. I cried for her family and their broken hearts. I cried for the memories we shared, good and bad. I cried for the seperation our friendship experienced the last few years of her life. I cried for the pain and fear she felt in the last moments of her life. I cried for the beuaty and love she now knew. I cried because she was with God, and finally happy. I cried for myself, and I let The Lord hold me. I listened to him tell me he was taking good care of my friend, and that she was beautiful, happy, and healthy as ever. 

I wouldnt have opened up my heart to hear what The Lord had to tell me if I had never allowed myself to be weak and cry. Through my weakness, God made me strong, but without Him in my life, "strong" had no meaning. So next time your faced with a challenge, remember its okay to be weak. Seek your strength through God, you dont have to do it on your own, because he says "Fear not,  for I am with you." Isaiah 43: 5. God is with you, what else could be better?!?

MC Halphen

                                                         Rest in Peace Emily

(If you haven't read Isaiah 43 in its entirety DO IT NOW)

Love in an Age of Loneliness

     A while back, I realized/decided that the dogmas and doctrines and traditions professed by the Catholic Church indeed held the fullness of truth they’ve claimed to have for the past two thousand years, and, imbued with what could be nothing less than the grace of God, I took a leap of faith into the metaphorical darkness beyond the light of reason*. Fast forward to now, where all the evidence would say, would scream, that this was the stupidest decision I ever could have made (although it’s not like there were, other, equally valid choices), because on top of all the confusion and uncertainty and hormones of the life of an 18 year old, I don’t think I have ever been more lonely. 

I am lonely.

     Which isn’t to say that I’m alone, because I’m not. I think I’m just beginning to appreciate the irreplaceable value of true, authentic friendship; over the last six months I’ve had the thrilling experience of forging friendships that will stand the test of time, for no other reason than they find root in Christ, the everlasting man himself. I know I am not alone because faith by its very nature is plural; I can only say “I believe” at Mass because I am part of a we; and because I am part of this Body, I can never be alone. We are one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. And yet...

I am lonely. 

     And this isn’t to accuse and slander a situation that comes as a natural part in the cycle of having faith. As many of our greatest saints have shown us, spiritual desolation is a part, sometimes seemingly, in Blessed Mother Theresa’s case, the only part, of our journey towards God. As C. S. Lewis points out, these are the fires that forge us into Satan’s most fearsome opponents. “Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” Yet I do not feel as though God has abandoned me, so my loneliness must stem from some other source.

I am lonely.

     It’s because I have faith that I am lonely, because to have faith means to believe, it means that I “substituted ‘credo’ for ‘cogito’ in the time honored Cartesian maxim (cogito ergo sum/I think therefore I am).” I believe therefore I am. It isn’t the act of thinking alone anymore that can satiate the proof of my existence, it is only through belief that I can continue to exist. I think the converse makes what I am trying to say more clear; without belief I would cease to exist. I am, in a very literal sense, a man of faith. And as a man of faith,

I am lonely

      A man whose faith defines his very being “looks upon himself as a stranger in modern society which is technically minded, self-centered, and self-loving, almost in a sickly narcissistic fashion, scoring honor upon honor, piling up victory upon victory, reaching for the distant galaxies, and seeing in the here-and-now sensible world the only manifestation of being.” I am lonely because suddenly it seems as though I can find no home in the communities that I live in and am a part of. My faith presents to me a complete history of the universe and a comprehensive portrait of the human person, the work he produces, the relationships he builds, and yet in academia I am banished, forbidden from offering my claims as a valid form of systematic knowledge. It places upon my shoulders a beautifully intricate and threefold mission of worship, service, and evangelization, and yet on the square I am chained to rigid ideologies that reduce complexity of my beliefs to labels that long ago lost any semblance of substantive meaning. The lenses it provides show me an enchanted world where the beauty of the divine becomes visibly tangible in all things and yet the scope of my questions is circumscribed to one much narrower than my Catholic range of wonder. 

     It would be so easy, given the situation, to climb to the top of my ivory pillar and join the ranks of the many others who proclaim to the uncaring masses that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. As if that would do anything to cure the loneliness, because it won’t. And here I’ve gotten to the point where I admit that there is most likely no cure. Because if faith causes loneliness and to relinquish my faith is nothing short of suicidal, then indeed there is no escaping it. So the question then becomes do I have the character and the stamina to continue like this for the rest of my life?

I certainly hope so, and I plan to hold on to that hope with all I have. 

     In becoming a man of faith, I changed. I became acutely aware of my own loneliness, but at the same time, I became, I had to become, in the words of Pope Francis “radically open to a love that precedes [me], a love that transforms [me] from within, acting in [me] and through [me]." God is many things, He is beauty and truth, goodness and reason, and perhaps above all (in an all encompassing way, I think) God is love. 

     “Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair,” and once one accepts Catholicism, they have no choice but to fall in love, because that is the very core of Catholicism. It's the centrality of what God has revealed to from the beginning of humanity to the point that he sent his only son so that we might not perish but have eternal life. That was John 3:16, arguably the most important verse of the entire Bible, for reasons that are enormous enough to turn my loathsome weight existential angst into nought but a single hair on the back of a lion. 

     This verse can be said in another way, in a quote from St. Athanasius: "The Son of God became man so that we might become God" (or like God, to avoid sounding heretical, but that's unimportant). So what does that mean? First one must acknowledge that humanity is wracked by sin and in desperate need of saving, which, given the readership of this blog, I don’t think I need to convince you of. We need saving, and that has happened through Christ becoming man and dying on the cross, and it is this “option” that God used that makes His love so perfect. God is all powerful, omnipotent, and He could have very easily just willed humanity to be saved. 

     But He didn’t, the fortunate fall, the necessary sin of Adam, merited not a single willing from God, but a glorious Redeemer, and this is why the implications of John 3:16 are so, in a word, awesome.

     “If God, the great ‘I AM’; he who is love, reason, beauty, Truth, and goodness himself, became human, then what it means to be human has been transformed forever. God has entered into what it means to be human, and thus transfigures humanity itself into divinity; his radical action effects a radical transfiguration that can have no parallel.

     If God suffered, then it means that suffering is not meaningless. If God himself died, then he transforms what death is. Christ's passion means that love itself has entered into the innermost sphere of our humanity, and that thus when we suffer, when we cry, when we are victimized, and when we are alone, it is not in vain; God is with us in the depth and profundity of our suffering and in the senselessness of death, and by entering into the innermost sphere of our human condition transfigures the human experience into something divine.

     Christ's death expresses nothing less than the following sentiment: ‘I am with you, I am here for you, and I love you.’ There could have been no better way for God to express his love to us than entering into solidarity with the great miseries of the human condition and thus rendering our lives, even at their most senseless moments, intelligible and meaningful. God could have saved us another way, but by saving us in the way he did demonstrated the totality of his love and revealed to us his very nature.”

Love; it will not betray you
Dismay or enslave you, it will set you free
Be more like the man you were made to be

There is a design, an alignment to cry
Of my heart to see,
The beauty of love as it was made to be

     Perhaps I am lonely, but who the hell cares because I’m at the receiving end of the greatest force in the all of existence itself! God loves me so what does anything else matter! Rejoice and be glad, sing all ye choirs of angels and go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere because today, a greater Christmas present than you could even think of has been delivered to the world! I can’t think of any other way to express how happy I am right now other than singing every single song I know at once, so instead, I’ll just wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Now why don’t we go change the world.

P.S. I didn’t write the stuff in quotes

*The interplay between faith and reason is one that I don't fell fully qualified to talk about. I think the simultaneous ability to know God through reason and to never be able to understand Him is one of the great paradoxes of Catholicism, so I just want to establish the delicacy and strangeness of this situation.

Christmas: A Call to Action

There is a clear and constant theme that has been touched on through the Mass readings leading up to Christmas. I think the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, is reminding us to stay awake, because something big is about to happen... cough, cough, Jesus is coming, not just in Christmas as the baby who will grow up to save the entire human race, but also as a king on a white horse who will come again to see that this evil world is destroyed and the faithful adopted into the kingdom of God. 

We see in scripture, not only are we asked to stay awake, but also to be prepared for the coming of The Lord. The first that comes to mind is the Parable of the Ten Virgins from Matthew 25. Ten virgins, preparing for a wedding, fall asleep as the bridegroom is delayed. At midnight, the bridegroom arrives and the ten virgins awake, but only five have enough oil for their lamps, and the other five have to run and buy some more. The five with enough oil go into the wedding and are welcomed by the bridegroom and the door is shut to the marriage feast. Then straight from Matthew,

"Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.'

But he replied, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.'

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour." 

Then in Matthew 26, Jesus asks his disciples to stay awake as he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane; this is that very emotional and powerful moment where we see Jesus sweat blood, the pressure of death taking it's physical toll. Jesus says to his disciples, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." 

We all know how it ends; they fall asleep. 

"And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour?Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Matthew 26:40

Therefore, as Christmas approaches and we prepare for the coming of The Lord, then and now, we are reminded further to keep watch.

The first reading acts as a warning of what is to come. In these verses from Malachi, the Lord tells us that He is sending a messenger to prepare the way for His coming. Here Malachi is prophesying of John the Baptist, but he may also be referring to the second coming. We are warned by Malachi that when the Lord comes, it won't be with rainbows and buckets of Love. No, he says it will be a great and terrible day, where only the strong will endure the fires of purification that The Lord will bring to cleanse us for the kingdom. Sounds fun, right? I'm no expert, but I would say that two things happen to things placed under a really hot fire: they are either strengthened and refined, or they melt and burn into ash. 

"But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears?" Malachi 3:2

Is it clear enough yet? Maybe not, here's more scripture...

Now look at what God shows us in today's Gospel of Luke. Zechariah and Elizabeth are having a baby, which never should of happened because Elizabeth was way past due for a child, but it did, and when it comes time to name the child, there's a big problem: Elizabeth wants to name the child John, but "they", whoever they are, stop her because none of her relatives have had that name. Instead of arguing with Elizabeth, they make signs to ask Zechariah, who astonishingly agrees that the child should be named John, although he has had now communication with his wife since the conception of his child because he did not believe what the angel Gabriel had told him. At this moment, where he announces the name of the child, his voice is restored and he immediately praises The Lord. 

I think we can relate to Zechariah and the "they" in this passage. We have a hard time understanding the Lord's plan for our lives, and when forced to look straight at it in the face, we can be overcome with fear and disbelief that any faith or courage we had before is squandered, and we are rendered immobile. In my own life, with college decisions staring me in the face, following God's will for me is something I struggle with a great deal of confusion and fear. I've know for some time that He is calling me to the priesthood, but what does that mean now that I have to act on that calling? How will my life change? What must I sacrifice? 

Surely Zechariah was asking similar questions as the birth of his child was fast approaching. And what about the "they"? All they are trying to do is circumspect the kid and name him, but they have no clue that The Lord has deemed this child for greatness. And so when they finally understand, scripture tells us,

"Then fear came upon all their neighbors,
and all these matters were discussed
throughout the hill country of Judea.
All who heard these things took them to heart, saying,
“What, then, will this child be?
For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.”"

Luke 1:65

What does this mean for Christians as we prepare for the birth of Christ, and his second coming?

Several things...

1. While contemplating the first coming of Christ, we are reminded constantly to be prepared for the day He will come again, and stay awake! No one but the Father knows when He is coming again. So as we look in our lives and at the future ahead of us, we have to always keep in mind the ultimate end: Heaven. If we're lucky, the second coming will happen while we're still here and we will get to skip the whole death part, but no matter what, we have to be purified before ever stepping foot into the kingdom. By staying awake and preparing for that day we are strengthening ourselves for the final cleanse. So, make it as easy as possible for yourself to get clean. 

2. We are reminded that our future is unknown except to the Father. So in our own lives, as we look to the future, we have to listen to the Father to know where the next step is, or we'll fall. The future is like a staircase in the dark, and each step is a different height. In this same way, we can't be afraid to take the next step. If we believe that God guides our path, then we must trust Him and persevere, always keeping in mind where we are headed. 

3. Finally, The Lord erasures us that He is leading us to a future better than we can ever imagine. Just as the "they" were clueless as to what the Father wanted to call his son until the asked him, and when they did they were blown away by his answer. They never could have expected it. In this same way, we must constantly turn to the Father with open hearts and minds, not allowing our logic and reasoning to blind us from the will of the Father, even when it seems unknowable, incomprehensible, or just totally insane. 

With total surrender to the will of the Father, we will no longer be unhappy, anxious, discouraged, disappointed, or unfulfilled, because everything he does for us, he does so to give us the best possible future, a life eternal with Him in heaven. 

Christmas is two days away. Until then, I will be praying for my eyes to be opened to the Lord's will for me, for my heart to softened and opened to whatever He calls me to, and for my soul to be strengthened in preparation for His coming. I'll be praying the same for all of you. 

Christmas, undoubtedly is a call to us for action, for mobility. Look into your life and try to see where the Spirit is moving, and what form of action He is calling you to take. Perhaps it is an increase in your devotion to Mary, or maybe it is a call back to confession, to his mercy and love. Whatever it is, know that the result of that action will be good and full of happiness, just as the first Christmas was for Mary and Joseph, both called to accept an unknowable future with the promise that it will bring light to the world... That promise was fulfilled in a way they could have never expected. Can we take this same leap of faith?

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” 

Jer. 29:11

Well if you made it all the way down to here, I thank you immensely for hearing what the Spirit has spoken through me today.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

Alex

The Next Step

To my Pines brothers and sisters,

Wow. What a weekend...right?

We were reunited and things just picked up where they left off. (That's the sign of true friendship... it's like we never left.)

We shared in the Body and Blood of our Lord, Emmanuel, and we praised Him together and fell on our knees together. How beautiful of a bond that we share; we've been brothers and sisters longer than you may realize, brought together by a single desire for an experience, an encounter with the One we love. 

Over the last six months, we've craved and thirsted together, and watched each other struggle and search and satisfy our cravings with other things besides God, and we did the same in our own lives. As this weekend approached we prepared to be strengthened again, refreshed in our training, and replenished at the table of The Lord. 

Being back together, we realized that much of our strength comes from God through our brothers and sisters. We need each other; we don't have to walk alone any longer. 

Now it's time to go home, back to our other friends, back to people who did not share in our experience, back to our homework, and practice, and routine. In a worldy reality, we all go back to normal, revert back to our comfort zone, let this weekend become a memory, and the encounter we had just a story...

No. Not again, not ever again. We are worth more than that. We have seen the inside of the honey comb, we took the red pill, and we have seen a reality contrary to everything we thought we knew. In this reality, the weak are strong and the poor are happy, and there is a happy ending! Hold on to it. Don't let go.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:14

We are in this together, so together let's hold on to this experience, and every encounter preceding it, and together let's live our lives recklessly devoted to our God, the source of our happiness, the One who brought us together. 

I believe in God.

I believe He created us.

I believe that He alone can satisfy our earthly yearnings.

I believe in us, because we have Him.

Brothers and Sisters, as we take this next step, we take it together, all the way to heaven. 

“I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may promote the knowledge of all the good that is ours in Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother[s and sisters], because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.” Philemon 1:4-7

All of you have given me so much joy. Thank you.

Alex, "Galilee" 

We, the Miserable

Let me just start off by apologizing for a depressing post at Christmas time, but I do think this fitting somehow. I have been reading the unabridged version of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables (which I cannot recommend enough) and reflecting on the themes he deals with that are present in my life, as well as the rest of the world. Also I just watched The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and that might have had something to do with this post as well.
I won't go into detail about what's going on in my life right now (you might be reading for hours) but suffice it to say that it is not hard for anyone to reflect upon their lives and find some amount of miserableness in it. The amazing thing that I am realizing is, you can go deeper. If you look further into your life or the lives of those around you, you will probably be able to pick out chains of misery that have passed down from generation to generation. You can find the wretchedness in everyone's life. Seeing this led me to another reflection.
Human beings are constantly crying out for God. This is not a choice; we are built for it. You are a human being, therefore, you ache for the love of God. There is no choice, and even if you think you aren't, I assure you, any passion that you may have, anything in your life that you try to fill the hole in your heart with, is indirectly a call out to God. We are all miserable, mainly because we know perfection exists, and we cannot obtain it in this world, no matter how hard we try. We may get close, but ultimate perfection is only found in heaven, in the presence of our Lord.
So, the solution I have found for dealing with misery in the world, and the reason I find this post appropriate to the Christmas season, is that we should love others. It seems pretty straightforward, even though it is easier said than done. This is, after all, the thing that Jesus stressed the most in his life and ministry. But how to go about it? Pray for others; give unexpected acts of kindness toward those you don't favor; and separate yourself from any negative feelings. Even if you find that there is no capacity for love, you can still fight complete misery by denouncing feelings of hate or envy that arise in you. You may not be able to help those feelings, but you can separate yourself from them, saying "I will not identify myself with these negative feelings," and even then you are taking a small step in the right direction. Snuffing out the vices in your life will give room for the virtues to grow.

I wish patience, love, and kindness towards all you, brothers and sisters, in this Advent/Christmas season, and for the rest of your lives.