How and why to be like Scrooge this Christmas

I had a grand ol’ time on Morning Air yesterday discussing my thoughts on why really all Christians should emulate Scrooge. After his awakening, that is! Listen to the conversation here.

We discussed giving, mercy, fellowship, and joy. Sounds pretty good, right? And here’s a link to the Merry Beggars rendition of A Christmas Carol that inspired this topic.

The ending of A Christmas Carol really does make me emotional. It’s never too late for any of us! And may it be said of us that we know “to keep Christmas well.”

How to be like Scrooge this Advent and Christmas

It’s a cheeky, thought, eh? Well, we may not want to be like Scrooge before he encounters the ghosts, but afterwards? Absolutely! We can look to his actions for how we can model Christian virtue across a variety of fronts: showing mercy, giving alms, being in fellowship with others, and most importantly, really living the joy of the true meaning of Christmas.

I’ll be on Relevant Radio’s Morning Air program this Thursday at 8:20 am eastern to discuss how we really all ought to be like Scrooge this Christmas. Check out how to listen here.

I hope your Advent is off to a strong, peaceful, and light-filled start!

Praying for seminarians, and do you go to Mass on Thanksgiving?

If your diocese is like mine, you will occasionally receive a printout with pictures and names of all the seminarians in your diocese. I recently received this mailing and it reminded me of a project the Cathedral of St. Matthew in DC does every year: it’s a tree hung with the names of all the seminarians, printed on little pieces of paper. Parishioners are encouraged to, during a holy season like Advent or Lent, take a piece of paper home and pray for that seminarian by name every day during that holy season. It is a wonderful idea, and I first participated a few years back, and it stuck with me ever since.

So now when I receive the graphic with all the seminarians and their names and years in formation, my habit is to pray for them. I also realize that just when I receive that, or during a liturgical season, is not the only time we should pray for seminarians. They are the future of the church, after all. So, take this is as a reminder, if you do not already, to pray for the men who are being formed to lead the church, offer her sacraments, and shepherd her people, and to do so regularly.

Next thought: do you go to Mass on Thanksgiving? I started doing this a couple years ago, and I have to say, it is a delightful tradition. You are really in the mode to “give thanks” when you start your day off with the greatest form of prayer there is. So, if you’re not busy running a turkey trot, check your parish website for Mass times for this Thursday, and see if you can’t fit it in among the cooking, baking, and visiting. It is our job to give back to Him what is His, first - and gratitude is a prayer, after all.

Happy Thanksgiving!