Faith

Q) With the start of every new thing (new year, new season, new stage in life), I find it difficult to stop and consider the previous year, earlier season or earlier stage in life. I find myself doing the same things over and over. There seems to be no end in sight. What do I do?

Our first reading this Sunday gives us an endearing vignette with little Samuel sleeping in the temple. We are told that the voice of the Lord was uncommon or “rare” in the early days of Samuel’s life. God’s revelation, and particularly his voice, is a gift. While proper discernment is needed, sometimes God’s silence can be a way of disciplining leaders whose hearts have grown cold.

The call to be a deacon comes from God. There is no one way that the call comes to a particular person, so it is important to be on the lookout for signs and then subject the signs to discernment.

The familiar dialogue between the angel Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Gospel of Luke is the centerpiece of the Fourth Sunday of Advent. Even the Mass’s Opening Prayer (aka “collect”) sounds familiar, because it’s prayed at the end of the Angelus.

The Church's liturgical season of Christmas is one of its shortest, but also one of its most unique. Within it is the eight-day celebration of the Lord's Nativity -- known as the Christmas octave -- as well as other feasts pertaining to the manifestation that Jesus is Lord of the nations. And there are feasts of several saints, many of whose stories contain special significance to the season.

A friend -- we'll call her Barbara -- once confided to my husband and me: "I hate to admit this, but, deep in my gut, I'm dreading the holidays. Every year around this time my kids' behavior just disintegrates. Visiting with relatives is always the worst part. The kids are overstimulated at one house, then bored at another.

It's no longer as simple as a sleigh ride through the woods to join the whole family at grandma's for Christmas Day. Nevertheless, many of us make a trek, sometimes several times annually, to celebrate our holidays together. These days, we battle traffic, hectic work schedules, kids' commitments, crowded airports and icy freeways to get there.

Anyone who says evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours regularly recites the Magnificat from the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Named for its first word in Latin, this canticle is one of only four places in the Gospels where the Blessed Virgin’s words are recorded. And the Magnificat contains more words than the other three passages combined.