I think a lot of Catholics have this rosy picture of the Holy Family. The mother was without sin. The son happened to be THE SON OF GOD. And the third member, St. Joseph, wasn’t exactly a slacker. (see: SAINT Joseph)

What problems could a trio like that actually have? Let’s come back to this thought.

This is the time of the year when many of us find ourselves wondering why our families don’t look anything like those Hallmark Christmas movies. A husband who participated in the purchase of every card and gift. A mother who finds all her husband’s idiosyncrasies as charming as the day they met. Children thrilled to spend hours laughing with each other. Their spouses relaxed by the roaring fireplace. Grandchildren grateful for every gift and perfectly behaved. The turkey a glossy golden brown.

Advent should’ve been more.

More than a search for the perfect gift for a loved one. More than favoring everything with peppermint and pumpkin. More than Hallmark movies with predictable plots where everyone looks like they were created in a central casting laboratory.

Advent should’ve been more.

More than a time for family. More than a time to make a yearly pilgrimage to the confessional. Even more than getting ready for the arrival of the infant Jesus.

It should’ve been a time where we renew our commitment to be ready for when Jesus comes again. It might be the second coming. Or it might only be Jesus coming for us individually.

You have got to reread Mathew 11:2-11! John the Baptist is back!

He gets word of Jesus and sends his people to ask this question, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?” It’s almost like he is saying, “Check to see if he knows the secret handshake.”

When they arrive and ask Jesus, he chooses the Golden Rule for writers: show, don’t tell.

As members of my R.C.I.A. class know by now, Biblical typology refers to things (as Catholic author Scott Hahn likes to say) “concealed in the Old (Testament) and revealed in the New (Testament).” In this weekend’s Gospel, we have one such example.

John the Baptist is described as slightly unfashionable. He is wearing “a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle around his waist.” He is dressed exactly like the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings 1:8!

A few months ago, I made all kinds of plans for late November and early December. A day trip to the pine trees. Thanksgiving plans bouncing between my mother’s house and my mother-in-law’s house. Selling my novels at the Our Lady’s Guild Christmas Bazaar next Friday and Saturday.

Oops. I ended up having invasive back surgery on Nov 15.

I had to scrap the pine trees. I had to let the grandparents know that I’ll be spending Thanksgiving recovering in bed. And I had to get other people to sell my books at the Bazaar if I haven’t recovered in time. (Please pick up a copy!) In fact – I wrote quite a few of these articles in advance of the surgery, so I hope I’m still around…

Being an adoptive parent is a strange and wonderful rollercoaster.

Few people know that in the state of Arizona, the birthmother is required by law to wait three days after giving birth to sign the paperwork. Let me tell you, those three days are incredibly emotional. Every time the phone rings, you fear that it will be someone notifying you the birthmother has changed her mind and wants the child back. Meanwhile, you are trying to protect your heart, but holding your new baby makes that an impossible task.

This Tuesday, I’m expected to be going under the knife. It will be my first surgery since my tonsils were removed in childhood. This time around, a neurosurgeon will be drilling a hole into my spinal column. In preparation, I had to watch a video that described the procedure in detail along with the odds of every possible thing that could go wrong.

It ended by saying something to the effect of – “…and while incredibly rare, death has occurred in less than 1% of patients during the procedure or resulting from the procedure.”

This weekend’s first reading is both one of the most heroic and one of the most tragic passages in all of the Old Testament. It tells the tale of seven brothers who were all willing to die, rather than forsake their faith.

They weren’t killed at the same time. No. It was worse than that. It happened one by one. Each seeing the torture of those proceeding them. Still, they refused.

For what would you willingly die? For your spouse? Your children? Parents? What about your Faith?

In this weekend’s Gospel, we read the story of Zaccheaus, the man who was willing to be a fool to see the Lord. He was a grown man willing to climb a tree to get as close to the Lord as possible. When I think of such bold curiosity to know the Lord more completely, I am inspired. I pray you are, as well.

This is our worthy reflection: what in our lives stands too frightening to be overcome in our pursuit of the Lord?

So many of us struggle with a syndrome that seems to afflict every church, and perhaps the Catholic Church most of all.

The “holier” people become, the more they seem to become holier-than-thou. They morph into self-appointed dress code monitors, solemnity enforcers, and masters of the dirty look.

I have to be honest. I struggled with them as a child more than you can imagine.

I recently received feedback that said a previous column was “offensive.” I treat feedback like this very seriously by going back and scouring the article in question. If I inadvertently wrote something mean-spirited because I didn’t pray and/or have my morning coffee first, I will write a correction or apology—as I have in the past. But if it is offensive because it is firmly grounded in Church teaching and the Gospel, so be it. It means I did something worthwhile.

Dear Family of God,

I want to share with you all “The History of the Holy Face Devotion” and add this devotion to our weekly prayers, that is every Tuesday after the Daily Mass and Rosary.

In Tours, France during the 1840's a young Carmelite nun named, Sr. Mary of St Peter, received a series of revelations from Our Lord about a powerful devotion He wished to be established worldwide...the devotion to His Holy Face. The express purpose of this devotion was to make reparation for the blasphemies and outrages of "Revolutionary men" [the Communists] ...through whom God is allowing the world to be chastised for its unbelief, as well as for the blasphemies of atheists and freethinkers and others, plus, for blasphemy and the profanation of Sundays by Christians. Specifically, this devotion is the Divine tool given by God to defeat Communism, but it is also an instrument given to the individual devotee as a seemingly unfailing method of appealing to God in prayer...through adoration of His Holy Face and Name.

You won the lottery. And because you are a kind and generous soul, you’ve decided to throw a party for family and friends. You finally have the opportunity to make dreams come true!

There is couple from your parish who have always wanted to visit the Vatican, but couldn’t afford it. You aren’t particularly close, but you decide to bless their lives anyway. You bought them tickets, a week in a hotel, and included enough money for food, ground transportation, and entry to anywhere they want to go.

Eight days ago (as I write this), our parish’s Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults began another year, and will culminate at the Easter Vigil before concluding a few weeks later.

It meets almost every Wednesday in the Parish Library from 6:30PM-8:00PM and is for any adult who is unbaptized, baptized in another faith and interested in Catholicism, adult Catholic who never completed the sacraments of initiation, AND any “cradle Catholic” who wants to audit the class in order to learn more about the Faith.