{"id":7585,"date":"2023-11-25T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-25T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=7585"},"modified":"2023-12-01T17:32:22","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T17:32:22","slug":"holiday-season-2023-here-we-go-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/holiday-season-2023-here-we-go-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Season 2023: Here We Go Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"John<\/a>
“Deck the aisles with panicked shoppers….”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Advent doesn’t start for another week, but my country’s Christmas season is already off to a running start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve mentioned Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Buckster Bunny and “I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas” before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe I will again, but not this week. This is another ‘clip post’: excerpts from stuff I\u2019ve posted before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Macy's<\/a>
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Our Lord’s Family History<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\"Gustave<\/a>…Abram left Ur, changing his name to Abraham. He had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hagar’s son Ishmael was, I gather, legitimate by laws and customs of the day. But that didn’t soothe subsequent Hagar-Sarah tensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, Sarah’s son Isaac inadvertently passed the first son’s blessing to Jacob. (Genesis 15:1<\/a>–16:16<\/a>, 21:1<\/a>–21<\/a>, 25:19<\/a>–27:45<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can I say? The family had issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Deborah was a judge of Israel, she told Barak that his victory against Jabin’s army was a sure thing. (Judges 4:1<\/a>–7<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barak refused to go unless Deborah came with him. Which she did. Barak’s forces won, but God and Deborah got credit for the victory. Sisera, Jabin’s general, fled: but died when Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite nailed his head to the floor.1<\/a><\/sup> (Judges 4:8<\/a>–22<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Judith and Editors<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

\"Artemisia<\/a>Then there’s Judith, who walked into an Assyrian siege camp with her maid, talked her way into the general’s quarters, and removed the general’s head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the two women calmly walked out of the camp. With the general’s head in a bag. (Judith 10:11<\/a>–18:20<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Book of Judith says the Assyrian general’s name was Holofernes, and that he was sent by Nebuchadnezzar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’d be Nebuchadnezzar II, second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire: or the Chaldean Empire, or Assyrians. It depends on who’s talking. That was around 630 BC, give or take a few decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nebuchadnessar II’s territory had been what we call the Neo-Assyrian Empire up to around 610 BC, give or take a few years. I strongly suspect that’s why the book of Judith’s author called his people’s enemy “Assyrians.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Book of Judith is in my Bible. But if you’re an American, odds are that it isn’t in yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m a Catholic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folks like Jonathan Edwards set the religious tone of my homeland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, first and second Maccabees and Wisdom are edited out of most American Bibles.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editors had their reasons for deleting the Book of Judith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Examination of Conscience: Getting Ready for Reconciliation<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Since I’m human, I have within me an ember of the fire that forged the universe. We all do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sounds like the Victorian ‘lords of the universe’ attitude that made a mess we’ll be cleaning up for centuries. But it’s not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being made in the image of God means I have dominion over, and responsibility for, my share of this world. And for how I treat folks around me. That’s scary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s also why my parish’s Advent Companion booklet has an examination of conscience before a DYI Advent wreath blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The booklet’s ‘examination’ is an eight-point list that starts with \u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“For the times when I forget that I need a Savior, and arrogantly conceive of myself as sufficient to myself.”
(“The Magnificat\u00ae<\/sub> Advent Companion”)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Each item ends with “Come, Lord Jesus!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examinations of conscience aren’t just an ‘Advent’ thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are, or should be, how I get ready for the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation: what my culture calls Confession. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1422-1484)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t enjoy reviewing my thoughts and actions, looking for misdeeds. Sins. But it’s like flossing and brushing my teeth. I’m better off if I do it than if I don’t. Happily, there’s a mess of resources out there; including these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n