Been a little busy lately. You'd think I'd have a little more downtime what with losing my job a few months ago. But the "downtime" has been occupied with searching for a new job. So I guess it all balances.
Did I mention that I lost my job? If not... I lost my job. And yes, it does suck.
But I refuse to let that get me down. I got into the Christmas spirit a lot earlier than usual this year. Chalk it up to a virtual obsession with Christmas. The egg nog, the wreathes, the trees, the decorations, the cold weather, it's like a drug for me.
As part of my early observance of Christmas, I created a few playlists in iTunes for Christmas music. I've got a playlist for choirs and classical music type of stuff like the Nutcracker and that type of stuff with a few Latin Christmas Mass chants thrown in for good measure. A second playlist is for the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. The third and final playlist consists of SONGS; Sixpence None the Richer, Randy Travis, Celine Dion, Nat King Cole, Glen Campbell, Bing Crosby and a bunch of others.
In spite of there being three playlists, I was actually rather strict about what I included this year. The piece either had to have traditional association with Christmas, it had to mention Christmas by name or else it had to mention some facet of Our Lord and/or Our Lady.
That cuts down on a lot more songs than you might think.
Anyway, I've always loved Christmas. And I was especially anticipating Advent this year, my first as a full Catholic!
It seems, however, that I might be in the alone on this one here. In fact, the homily from the first day of Advent this year was a bit discouraging. I went to a Novus Ordo parish partly because I'd slept through all the other Masses available, including my FSSP parish's Masses. And partly it's because the pastor of the FSSP parish is amazing in many respects... but he's not exactly the greatest when it comes to offering a solid homily. So I figured the Novus Ordo parish I typically use as a backup might be the better choice.
And how wrong I was!
The Mass started off well enough. The parishioners faced the rear of the nave where the procession had temporarily halted. The pastor made some introductory remarks concerning the beginning of Advent.
From there we recited the Apostles Creed rather than the Nicene Creed. It's an interesting way to change things up but, first, I don't have the Apostles Creed memorized like I do the Nicene so I had to read from the handout. And second, if I'm being honest, I like the Nicene Creed better. I just find it more comprehensive and specific than the Apostles Creed. But that's a small matter in the big scheme of things.
But the pastor joked that everybody prefers Lent to Advent. Well, um, I don't. I'm still bringing myself into discipline when it comes to Lent. It's tougher to get my head and discipline around. But Advent? Not only does it have the obvious Christmas connection, it's a more intellectual exercise than it is disciplinary one. You're to pray more and changing your mode of thinking for Advent. Lent actually requires you to DO something, be pro-active, attend Confession more often, make at least one sacrifice and so forth.
I wouldn't have minded his generalization. After all, it's just one guy's opinion, right? But the other parishioners all chuckled in good natured affirmation of his opinion.
AM I the weirdo here? Do most Catholics prefer Lent to Advent? That seems incomprehensible to me, and yet the preponderance of evidence here (inasmuch as there is any) suggests that I truly am in the minority on this one. It's tough to say.
But anyway, it'll take a lot more than that to ruin Advent and Christmas for me. I've been the oddball in the group tones of times.
What's one more?
