Christmas Music: Inspirational or Secularized?

I was listening to our local Christian radio station and a woman called in.  She was lamenting that the station was playing Christmas music. Her argument went like this: I listen to your station as my time to get away from the world, my time to worship, my time to just get away from it all and focus on the Lord.  She said she could listen to Christmas music on any other station and wished the Christian station remained faithful to inspirational Christian tunes.  To which the disc jockey (if they're even called that anymore) replied, what better Christian music than Christmas music? It's kind of the ultimate - is it not? Also, if people are scanning the dial for Christmas music and find this station, they might stay for a while and like "the other stuff" - thus being evangelized.

My response? Is this really where we are? Christians can't even recognize inspiration in Christmas music?  Christmas has become so secularized that even Christians can't recognize the meaning behind the music and use it as a time to worship the birth of our Saviour???  Granted, if we're talking about Jingle Bells, it may be more difficult. Aaaaaand, this Christian station does tend to play many Christmas songs that sound like they belong at a rock concert.  Perhaps the radio station would do better to play more Christmas songs that are reverent to Christ's birth and help those of us out there driving around in our cars to experience inspiration in the "ultimate" Christian music.  But even in those songs that are more kitschy, can we not find the meaning behind the words too? Music is such an amazing route to recall a memory, sight, sound, smell, or emotion.  Shouldn't Christmas music recall a memory of Christmases past, a special family memory, attending mass, visiting a live nativity, and celebrating the birth of God's son born to a Virgin who said YES to God?

This Advent season, let all of the secular decorations you see and music you hear remind you of that. You will catch yourself going throughout your day with a smile on your face because in the end, all we need is our Lord. This is a joyous time - a time to celebrate - just keep the true meaning behind it all on the forefront of your mind and in your heart.  Of course, make sure your children do too.  If you are a parent, it is your job to hand your faith on to your children. They will not learn it through osmosis. Talk to your children about this joyous time, and I bet even they will begin to think about the toys a little less and want to pray and worship our Lord a little more.  Don't let yourself or anyone in your family be like the woman caller who has trouble seeing the true meaning of Christmas and the beauty in all of the ways we celebrate.

May you have a wonderful start to your Advent season.  Don't forget it begins this weekend and don't forget to teach that to your children.  Point out to them the new decorations that will be adorning your church as you attend mass this weekend....and play some Christmas music!  Here's a start...one of my favorite songs...and it is reverent...and it recalls the TRUE meaning of Christmas:

Is Infant Baptism Biblical?

Why do Catholics baptize infants when so many other Christians baptize later in life - when there is an "understanding"?  That was one of the questions that arose after one of my Scripture study courses.  Several people in the class complained that friends or relatives of theirs attend various protestant churches and question this Catholic practice.  One person even challenged our notion of infant baptism by stating he wanted biblical proof of "one baby being baptized".  Here was my response:

The Church teaches that baptism is a sacrament that removes sin - both original and actual.  In the case of an infant or young child it only removes original sin.  If it is an older person, it would remove both original and actual sin.  

It is also written in Scripture.

For example, in Acts 2:38, Peter states "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."  If you notice,  Peter does not restrict this teaching to adults.  He added in v39, "For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to him."

In Acts 16:14-15, Scripture tells us that, "One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.  After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, 'If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,' and she prevailed on us."  The "household" was baptized.  It doesn't say only the adults and older children were baptized.

In Acts 16:33, it goes on to state, "He took them in that hour of the night and bathed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized at once."

None of the above verses excludes infants, nor does it state that specifically only adults are to be baptized.

In Luke 18:15-16, Luke states, "Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.  But Jesus called them to him, saying, 'Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God'."   Many fundamentalists will say that this does  not apply to infants as infants would not be able to approach him on their own.  However, the passage states they were bringing "even infants to him".  And notice what Jesus says, "to such (referring to infants and children that were brought to him) belongs the kingdom of God".  So, if Jesus himself said, "let them come to me", who are we to say, "no" and withhold baptism from them?

There is also MUCH writing about the topic by the early Church Fathers.  I will only quote two here:

St. Irenaeus of Lyons:  "For he came to save all through himself - all, I say, who through him are born again to God - infants, and children, and boys, and youth, and old men."   AD 189

St. Hippolytus of Rome:  "The children shall be baptized first.  All the children who can answer for themselves, let them answer.  If there are any children who cannot answer for themselves, let their parents answer for them, or someone else from their family."   AD 215

I hope this brings some clarity for anyone reading who always wondered about infant baptism.  God bless!

How Do I Forgive?

How many times in your life have you felt wronged?  What did that person or persons do to you?  Was it as simple as someone cutting in front of you in line, or was it someone stole an idea of yours and then received the credit?  Has anyone ever lied about something you did or said and convinced others to believe their version of the story?  Were you abandoned by a parent or both parents?  Have you ever been mistreated by a boyfriend or spouse, and it seems they walk away unscathed while you are the one left alone on the battlefield with the wounds?  Have you ever been abused - emotionally or physically or both?  Has someone close to you been killed at the hands of another?  Anyone who has experienced any of these scenarios knows that the pain involved is very real, very scarring, and very lasting.  Even though as Christians we know we are supposed to forgive, it's the getting to that point - I mean truly getting to a point of freeing yourself from feelings of hurt, anger, or revenge - that is the toughest part.

How do we forgive to the point where we don't have any ill feelings towards the assailant?  I am not ashamed to say that I personally find this very difficult.  I can say the words, "I forgive," but to actually feel it to the depths of my soul is difficult to attain.  I do know it takes time, and I know the amount of time is different for everyone and every scenario.  The first and most important thing one must do is to take time praying for your heart to open up and hear what Jesus is telling you.  We all know God's time is not our time, so praying will become a habit if it's not already.  It will take time sitting before our Lord in adoration.  Perhaps it will take a trip (or two or three or more) to a confessional - ahhhhh horrors a confessional...but sometimes we think someone wronged us and we have no part in the blame.  That is where sitting and examining your conscience while meditating on all aspects of each Commandment will help us to see more clearly.  Yes, forgiving takes time, prayer, meditation, and confession...which I think means it will take WORK.  Darnit!  It's not easy to forgive.  It will take more than a simple passing thought of forgiveness when you have a scar on your soul.  I think it might be human nature to want to retaliate - even if it's a short-lived thought.  Don't kid yourself.  You've wanted to get back at someone for something at sometime.  How did the thought of retaliation make you feel?  Glorious?  Exalted? A winner?  Like a gladiator who just conquered the lion???  After you realized you wouldn't be retaliating, how did you really feel?  Worse than you did before your grandiose battle plan?  You felt worse because you felt defeated.  You realized the perpetrator was going to most likely get to go on with his/her life seemingly unscathed.  You realized you were right back at square one.  You would have to do some WORK.  You would have to work on yourself and your ability to forgive.

Anger can be the tie that binds a person to a non-forgiving heart.  There is such a thing as "just anger", but we would do well to look to the saints for their wisdom on this topic.  In Saint Alphonsus Liguori's "On the Vice of Anger", he points to Saint Bonaventure who states that an angry man is incapable of distinguishing between what is just and unjust ("Iratus non potest videre quod justum est, vel injustum").  He also quotes Saint Jerome saying that anger is the door by which all vices enter the soul ("Omnium vitiorum janua est iracundia").  Saint Alphonsus himself says that "to be angry against sin is not anger, but zeal; and therefore it is not only lawful, but it is sometimes a duty. But our anger must be accompanied with prudence, and must appear to be directed against sin, but not against the sinner; for if the person whom we correct, perceive that we speak through passion and hatred towards him, the correction will be unprofitable and even mischievous. To be angry, then, against a brother's sin, is certainly lawful."

So when is it just or unjust?  Do we have a right to feel anger for sinful actions of another?  We can lawfully feel anger towards the sin, but never the sinner.   It is then, as David said, we may be angry without sin. "Be ye angry, and sin not" - Psalm 4:5.  But to be angry against another on account of the sin which he has committed is not lawful.   In Psalm 140 and 141, David has so much beautiful wisdom for us.  Psalm 140 says, "Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men; preserve me from violent men, from those who devise evil in their hearts, and stir up wars every day.  They make their tongues sharp as those of serpents; the venom of asps is under their lips."  Psalm 141 goes on to say, "O Lord, set a watch before my mouth, a guard at the door of my lips.  Let not my heart incline to the evil of engaging in deeds of wickedness with men who are evildoers; and let me not partake of their dainties.  Let the just man strike me; that is kindness; let him reprove me; it is oil for the head, which my head shall not refuse, but I will still pray under these afflictions...For toward you, O God, my Lord, my eyes are turned; in you I take refuge; strip me not of life.  Keep me from the trap they have set for me, and from the snares of evildoers.  Let all the wicked fall, each into his own net, while I escape."  So it seems David is calling out for help when feeling the trappings of sin when one sins against him.  He emphatically states he will continue to do one important thing..."pray under these afflictions".  He gives us that as the key to escaping sin while "the wicked fall".

St. Thomas points out that "anger, when fully voluntary, is  accompanied with a desire of revenge. (Ira est appetitus vindictoe)".   Anger is like trying to tame a bucking bronco and revenge may end up like you flailing wildly to the ground.  For, St. Alphonsus asks, "Who, I ask, has told you, that you have just grounds for seeking revenge? It is you, whose understanding is clouded by passions, that say so. I have already said, that anger obscures the mind, and takes away our reason and understanding."  It is the anger one must move past in order to forgive as so many saints point out that anger clouds and "obscures" our reasoning.  And as David wisely instructs us, we must pray through our injustices and completely trust in God.  You cannot walk through your anger, resentment, feelings of revenge, and pride without the unending aid and comfort of our Lord.  How would you or could you do this alone?  It may feel like you are alone and abandoned in your time of despair, but you are not.

Ultimately, all we need to do is to look to the cross.  Think how alone Jesus felt in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion.  Did he feel abandoned?  By his apostles?  His followers?  His own Father in Heaven???  He knew what his sentence was, but He also knew the truth - God's truth - which so many refused to believe at the time.  Jesus is the ultimate example of abandoning your will to God's will.  We do not always know why we are in the situations we are in, or why we experience the pain we sometimes feel, but God has an ultimate plan for us all.  As believers we turn our sights to God and His will at ALL times - not just when it's convenient for us.  Forgiving is just that - it is turning our sights to God, not to the evil or wrongdoers in our lives.  Surely if we do not turn our sights to God, evil will take a stranglehold on our hearts and minds as we pursue an avenue of anger, hatred, and revenge.   Look to Jesus crucified and our injustices will pale in comparison.

"Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy, be put away from you, with all malice." - Ephesians 4:31


p.s.  On a lighter note, my delay in writing can be directly attributed to two rounds of sicknesses going through the house, teaching a Bible study course on the Virgin Mary, preparing for a storm that never really hit us, and ALL of the Halloween festivities (costume buying, candy buying and buying and buying, parades, classroom volunteering, baking cupcakes and cookies, trunk or treating, and neighborhood trick or treating).  Lord have mercy, let me get through Thanksgiving and Christmas in a calm and patient manner and let me easily forgive anyone who cuts me off on the road (presumably on their way to some awesome sale) or cuts in front of me in long holiday lines!