This weekend, we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany – the day the Wise Men arrived and each gave baby Jesus a gift. In his homily, Fr. Carlson shared a recap of a story called “The Other Wise Man”, which was also made into a movie called “The Fourth Wise Man”. The story really asks the question of what can we each give Jesus? We may not have been able to bring a physical gift for His birthday, but what does Jesus really want from each of us as a gift?

This weekend we celebrated the Feast of the Holy Family and we are reminded that Jesus has invited us to be a part of His family. We are one family as the Church and we are called to keep Jesus at the center of our lives just as Mary and Joseph kept Jesus at the center of their lives.

Many of us give and receive gifts for Christmas. Some gifts may take a bit more effort to acquire for family/friends than others, but, out of love, we work hard and often go above and beyond to find the gift we know someone else wants. The reward is seeing the joy it brings them.

We can get lost in how busy Christmas has become, but it's important to remember the biggest and best gift we receive at Christmas – Jesus Christ. God saw what we most needed and freely gave us His own son to save us. This amazing gift is what we celebrate every year at Christmas.

This past weekend, we heard in the Gospel of Luke the story of Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth. Even though Mary had just conceived Jesus in her womb and probably had a lot on her mind, her first thought was to serve. She didn't think of herself, she thought first of her cousin Elizabeth and hastened to go help her in anyway she could.

 

Everyone has likely experienced coming to the end of their rope, or at least close to it, at some point in life. When we think we have nothing left to give, that is when we can especially turn to Jesus and trust He will provide the grace we need to keep giving.

What if we all had child-like excitement when going to Confession? What if we trusted God, trusted in His love and mercy, so greatly that we joyfully and frequently went to Confession? Some do regularly frequent the Sacrament of Confession, but there are also many who do not. As we prepare for Jesus' birth, we are reminded how much we need God. We all needed Jesus to come to Earth to redeem us from our sins. Out of His great love for us, Jesus came to Earth, died on the cross, and rose again from the dead. Sometimes we forget how much God loves us and that the Sacrament of Confession is a gift from God given out of love. We all turn away from God at times and Confession allows us to turn back to God and experience the love, mercy and peace He offers.

We are now in the second week of Advent and continuing to prepare for Christ's birth. But how do we do this? Well, one important way is to clear a path in our lives for the Lord. We need to invite Him in and make room - make God a priority. How can we invite God into our lives daily?

Advent is a time of preparing for Christ’s birth and this weekend’s Gospel also calls us to be prepared for Christ’s second coming. Would we be ready if Christ came today? It's a good question to ask ourselves, especially during this time of Advent.

This weekend was the solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. Father Carlson shared a bit about the history of this great solemnity which was added to the Church calendar in just the last 100 years. The day is especially a good reminder that no matter what may be going on in the world or in our lives, Christ is King and we can place our trust in Him.

This week, the Gospel talks about the end times. It's a good reminder that we need to be ready to meet God at all times - we don't know the hour of the second coming or how long we have on this earth for that matter. So how are we living our lives? Are we putting God at the center or is He just something we try to fit in when we have time? Do we give God our first fruits or just whatever we have leftover?

How hard is it to give from our livelihood versus from our excess? Do we give generously and trust God will provide or do we only give when we know we won't really even notice that the money is gone? The woman in the Gospel today gave all she could in her poverty - it was hardly anything monetarily, but it was of far greater value than what others gave from their excess. How can we be generous with the gifts God has given us?