Tonight was my first Advent Mass and I really enjoyed it. The words were different, but the core felt the same. I learned a lot today listening... it was as if I was experiencing the message of the mass for the first time again. In the reading and the homily, three key ideas of Christianity were discussed: faith, charity, and hope.
It became clear to me that these are three links that create relationships for us. We use faith to create a relationship with God, charity to create a relationship with others, and hope to create a relationship with our selves. It was amazing to look closer at all of the things that connect us - we are all actually children of God. When God sent His only son down to save us, we all became sons and daughters of the Lord. God's love for us knows no bounds, no matter when we accept the invitation to be one of his children. Just as a parent will love both their biological and adopted children equally, God will love us all the same.
The most interesting point of these three forms of relationship is that no one can exist with out the other. To have faith in God, we must have hope in our selves and in our vocation. To be charitable to others, we must have faith that God made us all in His image and we must respect each other. Finally, to have hope in our selves, we must trust in the love and charity others offer our way.
I beleive faith is something that we can invite each other to - but one needs to make the conscious decision to join in themselves. There is nothing else in the world like it. Can you name a single place that accepts you no matter what you've done, or who you are? I can think of only one, and it is the church!
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