Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas turtles! I wish you all the best this holiday season!

Two quick things...

The Holy Father extended Christmas greetings in 65 different languages today. In English, he gave the following blessing: "May the birth of the Prince of Peace remind the world where its true happiness lies; and may your hearts be filled with hope and joy, for the Savior has been born for us." Great words to meditate upon today!

Finally, one of my favorite Christmas/Advent prayer activities is to meditate upon the many ways that the birth of Jesus is portrayed in diverse cultures. Simply do a Google image search for "nativity" and see all of the wonderful pieces that are pulled up. Here is one from Africa:

Peace turtles!

Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve turtles! I hope that everyone is able to be with family and friends this holiday season. Know that I will be praying for all of you and am relying on you to pray for me as well!

Let's take a moment to talk about Christmas Eve, a very Holy Day that is easy to miss as we prepare for Christmas Day.

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First, we have a lot to pray for:

According to the Infancy Traditions about Jesus, Mary and Joseph were traveling far from home to participate in the census... please pray today for all travelers.

Upon entering Bethlehem there was no place for them to stay, so they had to stay in a manger (or a cave)... please pray today for the homeless and also for immigrants.

Mary goes into labor and gives birth to our savior (I spoke about the Incarnation a few weeks ago, please see that post)... please pray today for all mothers, especially teenage mothers and mothers who will give birth this coming year.

Shepherds hear Angels proclaiming the coming of the Lord and they come to the manger to see Jesus... please pray today for all laborers, especially those without work this Christmas Season.

There is so much to remember and pray for on this very holy day!

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In popular Catholicism it is often believed that the Virgin Mother petitions the release of many souls from purgatory on Christmas Eve. Of course, this is a popular belief, we don't think that Purgatory is a length of time with a release date, but if you know of anyone who has died this year, Christmas Eve is still a wonderful time to remember them!

For those interested in learning more... I believe this belief has been re-popularized by the revelations of the Virgin Mother to the Medjugorje Visionaries. You'll have to do some research on your own!

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For the last seven years I have been part of a group who gathers to pray at noon on Christmas Eve. During our prayer time together we hold all of these intentions, as well as those who could not be with us, up to the Virgin Mother through the Rosary. I encourage all of you to pray the Joyful Mysteries tonight alone or with your families as a way to celebrate this holy feast.

When I was little I liked Christmas Eve (conveniently also my mother's birthday) because we could use it to go to Mass early and have more time to open presents on Christmas Day... I now know that it is so much more.

Peace turtles!

Avatar

I recently went to see the movie Avatar. I had no idea what it was going to be about but I ended up really enjoying it! Behind all of the 3D effects and stunning graphics is a great movie. However, hit a little too close to home for me...

(The following will not give away the ending, I promise!)

Avatar chronicles the story of Jake Sully, a paralyzed ex-marine who is recruited to be an "avatar-driver" for a mining colony on a distant planet. An avatar is a human-indigenous hybrid that the driver has full control over through a remote connection at the mining colony. Sully's mission is to infiltrate an indigenous community, learn their ways and ultimately convince them to leave their homeland so that the mining company can remove precious minerals from beneath their colony.

The miners don't understand the deep interconnection of all the life forms on the planet. They don't believe that the indigenous community has any dignity- and don't even try to appreciate their rich traditions.

In the end, Sully becomes one of the indigenous people and leads them in a fight for their survival. I'll let you see the movie and fill in the rest of the details for yourself.

Here is why this movie hit a little too close to home for me...

When I was in El Salvador I had the opportunity to visit a community that had been ravaged by the Coca Cola Company. Coke had: built a factory in their community; pumped all of the ground water out of the region; and then closed the factory leaving behind- what had once been a lush forest- an uninhabitable wasteland.

Avatar isn't a completely fictional movie. Multinational Companies are committing the same crimes against indigenous communities here on planet Earth, and they are destroying our planet to make a profit.

In Avatar, Sully stands up to the mining company and helps to organize the indigenous communities in their struggle. Who is going to stand up in the REAL world and do the same thing? Maybe you? Do you have the courage to put your life and reputation on the line for the oppressed?

I hope that everyone gets a chance to see this movie. My prayer is that you can see past the amazing special effects and let the struggle portrayed in the film inspire you to make a difference in THIS world.

Peace turtles!

Pope Encourages Turtles!

The following is an article I found on Zenit. It summarizes a statement made by Pope Benedict XVI that states, "loving is a person's only task." The Holy Father continues, "to learn to love requires a long and demanding journey."

As turtles, we understand how long and demanding the journey toward holiness can be. But eternal life... and in this case, Love... are only experienced by those who embrace the journey.

We will struggle in our attempt to love others. We will, without a doubt, fall over and be pinned to the ground by the shells of division, anger, frusteration and sin... but forgiveness, patience, understanding and humility will aid us in our effort to get back up and keep trying!

Thank you Holy Father. Peace turtles!

You can read the article here.

Advent

Wars are being fought... families are being torn apart... immigrants are dying in the desert... the sick lack people to care for them... children are hungry... natural disasters destroy whole cities... mothers are being encouraged to kill their unborn babies... the media spreads misinformation 24-hours a day...

There are times- and I hear this from other Christians often- that I want to stand up and shout, "THIS IS NOT HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE!" But would anyone really listen? Could they hear me over the noise and chaos that permeates our world? Probably not.

The world was, for the most part, just as screwed up that first Christmas as it is now. But despite the chaos and confusion, God still entered the world...

Advent is a time to remember how God came into our world.

Crashing down into the violence... the fear... the chaos and confusion... the despair... God comes in the form of a small child. He is born on a silent night in the most humble of dwellings. He is not born into a royal family nor bring with him a conquering army... He simply comes... simply.

Imagine that small child- his lungs breathing their first breaths... his tiny heart beating as his mother holds him close... his eyes struggling to open for the first time.

The silence of that night, more than anything in history, has changed the world forever. We now have hope... God has not given up on us.

That Holy Silence from the first Christmas still echoes in our world. I am taking this advent to reflect upon this and open my heart to experience it. I wish you all a blessed Advent... live simply... listen for the deafening silence.

Peace turtles!