Advent musings

Today is the Feast of St. Andrew, St. Peter's brother. A great feast of an extraordinary apostle who is said to have brought the Gospel to Asia Minor and in Scythia, along the Black Sea as far as the Volga and Kiev in present day Ukraine. He was martyred by crucifixion. The Patriarchal See of Constantinople (aka Istanbul), which is reverenced as second in order of primacy after the See of Rome, is said to have been founded by St. Andrew. Patriarch Bartholomew I claims the title of the 271st successor of St. Andrew, just as Pope Benedict claims to be the 265th successor of St. Peter. Every year on this day, the Roman Pope sends special greetings to the Patriarch as a "brother in the Lord."

Friday is the feast of St Francis Xavier, a most remarkable and unique member of the communion of saints. Along with St. Patrick, he stands out among Christian missionaries as a master of planting the seeds of the Gospel in a way that allows the Faith to truly grow from within a culture. In his case, that included India, Japan, China and other far east lands. I highly recommend making this documentary of his life part of your sacra media collection. You can preview it in this trailer.

If he were alive today, he would be evangelizing the Digital Continent with unparalleled passion.

Oh, and in the marvelous tradition of edgy Catholic culture, Xavier's body is reverenced in radical rawness.

Advent has also begun. A season of longing, and desire; of anticipation and of waiting. Unlike Lent's preparation for Christ's dying and rising, it is not for Roman Catholics a season of penance and sorrow. Rather, it is a season of preparation for the superabundant joy flowing from God's gentle, hidden birth. It is the season that calls all Christians to become "spiritual Semites" with Hebrew hearts that long for the Messiah's coming. Hence, our spiritual practices during Advent should be geared toward carving out in our lives a capacity to long in hope for the God who is coming to save us.

How do you plan to carve your soul? Carve out time to long. Carve out silence to listen. Carve out busy-ness to watch and wait. Carve out possessions and wealth to sate others' most basic needs.

Of late we also have seen in the news media a frenzy of commentary over Pope Benedict's new book. More specifically, over a brief comment made by the Pope on the role of condoms in stopping the spread of AIDS. They provoked a firestorm of critical chatter, and gave witness to an extra-ordinary fact: the Pope still retains the capacity to stir the global conscience. Much of the debate over his comments on the provisional use of condoms in certain circumstances has actually not manifested real interest in the intricacies of his actual ethical argument, but rather has sought to expose a fissure in the Church's rejection of artificial contraception as a morally permissible means of avoiding pregnancy or spreading STDs. Such headlines read: "Pope's comments: Game Changer."

I won't take time to elaborate the arguments on all sides, but rather I wish to point out a few useful web resources I have found that think faithfully and intelligently.

A bit on the book.

Bits of the conversation itself.

A bit of the background music.

A bit of the tangled web of lesser evils.

A bit of analogy to understand the issue.

A bit of word Smith.

A bit of outsider-speak.

A bit of Times opine.

I think this is enough text for a day. A blessed Advent. O Come, O Come Emmanuel!