A priest’s solid advice for an Advent in holiness: Be patient with your blessings. I was at a penance service in Brookfield, Missouri (nice church with awesome Stations of the Cross). I took advantage of it and decided to go to Confession myself.
My Penance
The confessor gave me as a penance something to reflect on that he once saw in a parishioner's kitchen, "Lord, help me to be patient with my many blessings."
Believe me, the penance fit my Confession. When I talk about my current assignment, it's not the people or the challenges that wear me down... it is the sheer volume. Four parishes and a school are a lot. There are a lot of great things happening. I would imagine parents with multiple children might feel the same way.
I asked my parishioners to find where their focus and trust is. In other words, what do we need to set aside as a matter of repentance? For me, I think it is laying aside my desire for things to go orderly. By orderly, I mean that things go in the sequence I want, and that people act at the speed that I wish.
Instead of laying such things in God's hands and saying, "As You will, O Lord, and in the way You would have it done." I can be: Damn the torpedoes... full speed ahead! That, my friends, can lead to more than a few messes. Back to the penance.
Father Fix It
In my rush to move forward and be a Father Fix It, I can lose sight of the blessings I have and start growing impatient. I have so much to be thankful for. My youth group in Shelbina, Missouri, is having a Holy Hour. What a blessing! I have four wonderful parishes and a school staffed by great staffs and faculties. I have wonderful parishioners. Heck, my two pups are a handful at times, but are blessings to me as well.
I have book about to be published. I am in better health now after a prolonged bout with Covid-19. That is just the tip of the iceberg of the blessings I have! My focus needs to be on these blessings and not tapping my fingers on my desk because things are not moving at the pace I want.
How to Finish Advent
Maybe all of us could go for a good, "Lord, help me to be patient with my many blessings."
In a season within the Church where we prepare for the two comings of Christ, in a historical time where we live in a society that looks for reasons to be thankless, entitled, and triggered, and a part of the year when all our holiday plans can lead us to the edge of insanity... we just need to STOP.
Reflect on the blessings we have, and have patience that God’s will is going to unfold as it is supposed to... and at the pace He wills.
This post originally appeared on Facebook.
+JMJ+
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Author Copyright © Father Bill Peckman. All Rights Reserved.
Image: © Jason Koltuniak, What Color is Heaven?
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