St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

Today is Guadete Sunday! We adorn our Church in Rose colors, the third advent candle is lit and we realize our preparation is half way done. We have much joy and we rejoice (Gaudete). We will bless our Baby Jesus for our nativity scenes at home today as well.

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Sometimes our expectations are off-kilter because we lack confidence in God's ability to bring good out of evil. But if He can bring the Resurrection out of the Crucifixion, victory out of the Cross, surely He is worthy of our total confidence.

There is a powerful image of this on a hill in Lithuania, near the small industrial city of Siauliai.  It is known as the Hill of Crosses, because it is adorned with literally hundreds of thousands of crosses. The city of Siauliai was founded in 1236, and soon thereafter it was taken over by the Teutonic Knights. That's when the tradition of putting crosses on the hill began - each cross was a prayer to God for freedom. In 1795 it was absorbed and occupied by Russia, and the number of crosses increased over the next hundred years. Captured by Germany at the start of World War II, the city was then taken again by Russia, and forcibly absorbed into the Soviet Union.

During those difficult decades a steady flow of Catholic pilgrims made their way to the Hill of Crosses, to pray and to plant more crosses. Three times, during 1961, 1973 and 1975, the atheistic communist authorities bulldozed the hill. The thousands of crosses were burned or turned into scrap metal, and the area was covered with waste and sewage. But every time, pilgrims kept coming back and raising more crosses. In 1985, the Hill of Crosses was finally left in peace.

When we feel oppressed and hemmed in by life's trials, and our expectations of what God's grace can do in our lives are low, we need to be like the Lithuanian pilgrims, exercising our confidence in God by planting cross after cross on the inner hill of our hearts.

This year provides us with an excellent opportunity to purify our expectations, instead of focusing too much on the passing joys of material things; it almost forces us to focus more on the deeper, longer-lasting joys of spiritual things. We can do that in three ways:

First, we can make sure that the gifts we plan to give to other people this Christmas are meaningful.  Meaningful doesn't necessarily mean expensive. It means helpful for living a meaningful life, helpful because it reminds the other person that they are loved, that in God's eyes, and in ours, they matter.

Second, we can make sure that among all the hopes of this Advent season, our biggest hope comes from knowing that on Christmas, here in this church, during the sacred liturgy, which is always so beautiful on Christmas, Jesus Himself will come once again into our souls in a special way, bringing us the priceless gift of His grace. That is the gift we should most look forward to receiving.

Third, we can make sure that on Christmas we don't come to Christ empty-handed. He is our King and our Lord, our Creator and our Savior, and Christmas is His birthday. What gift would please him most? A new commitment to prayer or service? Having broken, with His help, a selfish, sinful habit? Having reconciled a relationship? Having shared the faith with someone new? Saying yes to that thing He has been asking me for so long that I keep saying no to? In the remaining days of Advent, let's talk to Jesus and Mary about what Christ wants this year for His birthday.

Focusing on Him more than us will help make sure that wrong expectations don't cut us off from the flow of His grace.