If you asked some of the contestants for
the Miss Universe title what their deepest desire is, they would probably
answer ‘World peace”. If you asked them to even write it down, it would be
something like “World piece” (sorry Miss Universe, but I know you have a good
sense of humor, and you may not be one of these ladies anyway).
A courageous parish priest’s request to his parishioners to go to confession instead of giving him Christmas presents was
very well received both in his parish (pretty remarkable!) and in the Catholic blogosphere. This is a priest who has his priorities right. Well done, father!
It is soothing for the soul to hear some good news amidst the sea of bad ones
we get every day.
What else could a priest ask for?
Even though this good news broke some days
ago already, it kept coming back to my mind. What else could a priest ask for
Christmas? The mission of a priest is to bring souls to heaven, many of whom
would be lost without him. The priest brings Christ to the faithful by
administering the sacraments. So, it is clear that the only way to Christmas is
repentance and the cleaning of one’s soul. We spend so much time to prepare the
house for Christmas: the house is decorated, the tree is set, gifts are bought
etc. But the real preparation must be inside. To make an appeal similar to that
of our brave priest is the only right wish a parish priest can make. It is not
a vague, utopian wish like world peace, but a concrete one, which resounds in
the heart of each. Priests, be courageous and challenge us!
Not only priests
As Catholics we are all called to work for the salvation of souls, starting with our own. My fellow Catholics, the greatest gift we can give our priests for Christmas is that we go to confession. Any
Catholic taking their faith seriously should prefer the salvation of a single
soul over any material gift however valuable, and should never make compromises or put their salvation in jeopardy because of any material good.
To see if I have my priorities right I need
to answer this simple question: what is my most inner desire for Christmas?
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