The shortest Christmas wish list

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?

Unity with Christ and the Church

When we hear the siren of an ambulance we always pray a Hail Mary and a little prayer for the person that is ill, which goes: "God, please help the sick". This is something we do with the children every time. Their little ears are so trained to the sound of the siren that sometimes we only notice that they are praying even though we did not even notice the ambulance passing by. It is a great way to ask for the necessary graces for the person in need. There was a period in which my daughter used to ask why we had to pray for the sick. We would tell her that we prayed for healing. 

On our way to mass today we saw an ambulance, and my children immediately started to pray. However, after the Hail Mary, my daughter did not say the usual prayer, but instead she said: "Jesus, please help the person to come to the Church". There is something beautiful about this, and it shows how she has a grasp of something fundamentally true and important. The person is first and foremost needs to be reconciled with God and the Church; we all need to be spiritually sound, in communion with the Church. Physical health and healing are only of secondary importance.

Dominic Savio captured it with such eloquence as one of his resolutions made at his First Communion: "Death rather than sin". I will stay united with Christ and his Church rather than commit even a venial sin. In fact, detachment from sin is a minimum requirement for each and every Catholic. I cannot claim to be a Catholic and take delight in what is sinful. Yes, sin is inevitable, but it cannot be wanted for its sake.

The siren or the church bells will once sound for me, and I would like someone to have taught their children to say a little prayer for me. If it be God's will then for my physical healing, but most importantly for my union with Christ.

Can’t drop this

If you juggle with too many balls, sooner or later you are bound to drop some or all of them. It not a big problem to most of the balls, but there are a few key balls you cannot drop. This video captures the idea very well.

We know very well which the balls are that can endanger the ones that must be kept intact. This list could go on and on, but here are a few other examples not mentioned in the clip.

• Just surfing the web
• Hanging out with friends
• Being up-to-date with the latest technology
•  Golf, soccer and other hobbies
• Being up-to-minute with breaking news
• Making sure there is cold beer in the fridge

They are good and necessary too (in fact, someone might argue that it is the No. 1 challenge facing fathers today), they must be used well to keep the right balance in life. 

There is another category not mentioned in the video: it’s the “Must drop this!” They are all the sinful acts we do and habits we have, the most common ones being lazy and selfish. Imagine, if all Catholics had our priorities right and we dropped all our bad balls, made sure that our “God” and “neighbor” balls are always safe, and juggled with all the other balls when there is time and need for it, we would really be like leaven in the dough, and what a difference we could make. This must start at home with me, and it must start today!