How do we understand Jesus when he says, "pick up your cross and follow me"? This is a hard saying to understand, but in our Catholic faith, we understand that Jesus refers to the hardships that we face every day. These days, it seems uncertainty is something that we will face all the days of our life. That things are going to get worse and harder for us. Yet, the scriptures today tell us that we should be vigilant! So let us understand what this word means. The webster dictionary defines it as "the careful watch for possible danger, or difficulties". In an ever increasing violent world this is so very true and it requires that we are ready and truly living rightly for the Lord. This means that when we say that Jesus is "the Way" that we are not just talking about it in terms of what we believe is the way, but rather we must understand it as the way that will lead us to heaven. The surest route to this is to follow the Fathers of the Church, how they worshipped, how they acted. For they have already gained the eternal reward. It seems that mean people wish to introduce new ideas, new forms of worship or modern "techniques" for finding salvation, but none of these save. That is the purpose of the Christian life, to save us from sin, to re-unite us with God. 

Over the many years, I have read many books ​on ​theology and all of them are great in their own ​way, but very few of them ​talking about salvation. They don't talk about what ​to do when your beat ​down, tired and in need of help. They don't talk about what ​to do when you lost your place to stay, your car broke down and your living on the streets. They don't talk about how to find peace in a world that is filled with ​chaos and anxiety. ​All this talk of theology pales in comparison to the love of God. ​For he loves you, for you are ​His child and he made you for a purpose that only you can fulfill. ​Most of us will never be famous, or big celebrities, or have lots of money, but we can be those things to our families. Our family is the place where the love of God is grown and is nurtured and it is where we must find our ultimate means of understanding ourselves, for we are apart of a community. Many of us are preparing for Christmas, and this is appropriate, but do not forget that this is a penitential season. In our abbey, we celebrate the 40 days before Christmas and we have been living this life for many a day now. As we come now to this greater mystery, the Advent of the Season, we must also prepare ourselves spiritually. Let us be vigilant in our prayers and participate in Mass. Let us not falter, or turn from the way. Let us be alert for the devil is prowling, seeking to lead us away from our practices. In all, let us be joyful that Christ is ​coming amongst us and remember that the second coming of Christ will wipe away all our sorrows. He is coming friends, let us be prepared for him when he does. For ​no one knows the day or the hour, but we ​know the goodness of God and we must be ready when he arrives. Do not be caught unready, do not get caught up in the anxieties of this world, but remember the goodness of our ​Lord and make a place for him in our hearts, in our homes and in our family activities this Advent. ​