Don't Let This Upcoming Advent Slip Through Your Fingers!

Did you ever notice that the Advent season seems to come and go in the blink of an eye? All of a sudden you find yourself at Christmas Mass wondering how your time to prepare for Christ so easily slipped through your fingers.

Darn! You had promised yourself that this Advent would be different. You wouldn’t be caught by surprise, yet again! You bought Advent prayer books and an Advent wreath kit. You had great intentions to make this Advent season very different from last.

However, that doesn’t have to be the case. You can make the conscious choice—right here, right now—to stop in your busy tracks and embrace the coming season of Advent; and its purpose.

Advent is a season of preparing.

If you have ever entertained guests, or even made the slightest effort to get ready for any company, you will see how those experiences lend themselves well to your own groundwork this Advent to invite Christ to dwell within your heart—and thus truly be ready for His second coming.

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What Angels Are...And Are Not

There isn’t anyone among us who hasn’t enjoyed a Christmas movie wherein an angel earns his or her wings. We love to hear the bell jingle because at that moment we know that heaven’s angel population has increased by one.

Wrong.

As much as those movies endear themselves to us, the fact is, the angel population neither increases nor decreases over time. But it does make those of us interested in angels sit up and take notice—and want to learn more about these heavenly creatures.

What are they?

Who are they?

Why are they?

Angels are spirits created by God (Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:14).

They are the invisible created things that have a hierarchy. These invisible created things are spirits meant to serve those who are to inherit salvation—fallen man who now freely chooses Christ. This establishes our relationship with angels in that they are to help us in ways that we may not fully know or understand; however, we shouldn’t be trying to discover how to boss them around or manipulate them! They are meant to help us usher our souls into an eternity with God.

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Preparing Kids to Become Responsible Citizens

The following copyrighted excerpt is reprinted with permission from All Things Guy: A Guide to Becoming a Man that Matters written for Catholic boys aged 9-14:

"Along with patriotism, there is citizenship. You are a citizen of a country. This is what makes you American, Mexican, or French for example. There are a lot of rights and responsibilities that come with citizenship in a country. In many instances, people have died to help obtain the rights and freedoms everyone enjoys.

"This is why gratitude to those who are in your history—and obviously knowing about them—is important. Just like there are Catholics who have gone before you in your faith history, so there are county-men who have gone before you in your nation’s history.

"However, first and foremost your citizenship is in Heaven. You have a place there because you were baptized. This is your calling—your destiny. Granted, you're not there yet. You have some work to do in order to get there. It began with your baptism and continues each day that you do your best to live for Jesus. Always remember that you have to know, love and serve God before you can become a citizen of Heaven for good! But you can do it if you persevere in this life on earth. 

"Think about it: in order to be a good citizen here on earth you have responsibilities. As you grow up and become a man, it's important that you learn about your country and what goes on in it. That’ll be part history and part current events. You need to know what happened before—so mistakes don’t have to be made over and over again—and what’s happening now."

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