Weekly message
from Fr. Chris

Dear SPA Family,
Third Sunday of Advent is called – ‘Gaudete – Rejoice,’ is unique during Advent - due to its joyful theme of the liturgy. In particular, the Word of God encourages each of us to rejoice and wants to explain to us what joy should really consist in in the life of a Christian. The word of God teaches us where true happiness comes from and where all our worries should end.

“Let the desert and the parched land rejoice, let the steppe rejoice and flourish.” Isaiah invites each of us to joy today. We, who often through life’s adversities, falls into sin and discouragement in faith, in prayer or relationships, are similar to a dried, sunbaked desert land. Isaiah encourages rejoicing because the time for the coming of the Messiah, who is coming to save each of us, is near. The celebration of Christmas is near, which we will celebrate in two weeks as a reminder of the birth of Jesus, and the day of Christ’s second coming is getting closer, which will end the time of our life’s advent - longing for a meeting with Him who is the source of the deepest joy.

Whoever thinks that Isaiah wants each of us to walk around smiling from ear to ear, no matter what is happening in his life, is wrong. The prophet means something deeper. Namely, that we can derive true joy in our lives from intimate friendship with God and arranging our lives in accordance with God’s Commandments. Only God can transform our hearts and souls ‘dry as steppe’ due to the touch of sin and make each of our lives bloom like a May meadow, teeming with life and joy.
One of the polar explorers once told how moved he was to see a small violet blooming at the foot of a high mountain. After many weeks of wandering through snowy deserts, this little plant seemed to him a herald of paradise. The proximity of the upcoming Christmas is also a forerunner of great joy that can be present in our hearts every day, whenever we allow Jesus to be born not in a poor stable, but in our hearts full of love for Him.

Jesus, answering John the Baptist’s question about whether He is really the one who is to come, whether He is the Messiah, pointed to signs convergent with those spoken of by the prophet Isaiah: they recovered, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the Gospel is preached to the poor. After That He also adds: “And blessed (meaning truly happy!) is he who does not doubt Me”. The same Jesus who performed these great miracles two thousand years ago also wants to perform great things in your life, every day, whenever you allow Him to be born in your heart without doubting His power. May these days of Advent increase in us the desire to prepare our interior well for the coming of the Savior. So, let’s open the doors of our hearts to Jesus, whose full power and grace we can experience right now. Let Him transform our lives into a truly happy one – because it is based on the good and joyful news of the Gospel.
Have a blessed Advent Season. Fr. Chris

Dear SPA Family,
We Christians look forward to Christmas and the Vigil of the Holy Night, although at the same time we know that this Night has come long time ago into existence. It was the Night during which the history of the world changed fundamentally. But as is often the case with us, we need time to understand the significance of this event. It is worth asking the question – who are we waiting for during Advent? Or maybe we don’t want to wait, and we could celebrate Christmas almost immediately? Whoever wants to answer this question must make the conversion to which John the Baptist calls us this weekend.

At the center of the second Sunday of Advent is the figure of St. John the Baptist and his teaching about the Savior. John the Baptist teaches us about the necessity of conversion (metanoia). People need conversion because the kingdom of heaven is near. Conversion must begin with a change of mind. Metanoia means a change in thinking, the way of evaluating and experiencing reality. Conversion creates an opportunity to liberate oneself from one’s patterns of thinking, perceiving and acting, to change the perspective of experiencing oneself and others, to discover new life possibilities, to rebuild one’s way of interacting with the world, with other people, with God.

Conversion is making straight paths for the Lord, as John the Baptist says. It is nothing else than to return in our lives to that moment when we followed the straight path in our discernment of reality, in our moral choices, in our words that were evangelical yes, yes; no, no (Matthew 5:37).
Conversion is a specific process of purifying one’s life from illusions, appearances and hypocrisy. As Bishop Fulton Sheen said, “To be a sinner is our misfortune, but to be aware of it is our hope”. John the Baptist, calling for conversion, evokes the image of threshing, which consisted first of threshing with flails of grain thrown on the threshing floor. Then they were thrown up with a shovel called a fan, as a result of which the grain fell to the ground, and the light chaff was blown away by the wind. Conversion is supposed to lead to a seed of truth about who we are, what we want, what we feel, how we think, and how it can fall into the soil of our lives.

After all, conversion is cutting yourself off from what doesn’t bear fruit in your life. John the Baptist announces an imminent judgment that is supposed to motivate conversion: The ax is already laid to the root of the trees. So every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew 3:10). The process of conversion, sticking to the gardening metaphor, is carried out through a kind of ‘pruning’ of our lives, by cutting off those shoots of our thinking and actions that bear bad fruit.

John the Baptist teaches not only about conversion, but also about the coming of the Savior. John, therefore, does not teach about himself, but announces the Messiah. He is the one who precedes the Messiah. It’s a very beautiful picture for us. We also precede the Lord. We go before Him so that through us He can reach people. From time to time in history, careful witnesses of the times have pointed out that the Church is harmed not by her adversaries, but by ‘lukewarm’ Christians. We should relate to people in such a way as to awaken their longing, so that they wait ‘for the Other’ - for the One who will satisfy their deepest longings. Advent is a time to rediscover the presence of Christ among us.
Have a blessed Advent Season. Fr. Chris