The process of sifting grain is quite an amazing process to watch.  A pile of grain is poured into a wide flattened bowl.  Then it is tossed into the air repeatedly, the sifter employing both gravity and air to separated the light chaff from the heavy grain.  In the end, the floor is covered in dry bits of grass and husks that were easily blown away by the shear movement of the air, while the bowl itself holds only the weighty grains that will be transformed into food and nourishment. 

This image offered by Matthew in today’s gospel reminds us that in our faith, we are also not meant to be lightweights, people whose faith is superficial and without substance.  Superficial faith, the faith of chaff, is easily manipulated by popular opinion, mere emotion or fatigue, or even by prejudice, hatred, and false or incomplete concepts of God and ourselves.  It can make us believe that the relationship of faith is merely the relationship between ourselves and God, and that there is nothing to be done on our part except to make a personal internal ascent to Him, or that we have to do everything to please Him. 

Instead, God wants us to be full with Himself, to be heavily rooted in His mystery, because God Himself is not superficial, but deep and abiding.  He is not swayed to falsehood, because He himself is truth and love.  And he is not exclusive, but all encompassing, and all embracing.  He asks us to be the same way, to be his image and likeness in the world.  We are invited to not merely be aware of Him, or to treat Him as a divine gift bearer who is apart from us, but to allow Him to dwell within us and truly transform us so that we might also be more loving and more truth-filled with others around us.

We experience this reality sacramentally each time we celebrate the Eucharist together.  We become full with Christ who fills us with his Word, with His Body and Blood, and with his presence in our sisters and brothers with whom we share this Holy Sacrifice. And we do this as the Body of Christ.

As we continue to celebrate this great season of Advent, may we allow God to make our daily lives be the liturgy that we celebrate, that every aspect of our lives may be filled by Him.

Fr. Emiel Abalahin, O.Carm.

I once visited Paris, the large, bustling capital of France, on holiday.  It was exciting to be in this famous city, and I spent each day walking around nonstop and taking in the incredible beauty that surrounded me.  By the end of the day, I was so tired that when I returned to my hotel room, as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was asleep. 

            So imagine my surprise when one night at around midnight, I heard screaming from outside.  I opened my window and saw a man on the other side of the street with a huge bouquet in his hands shouting at the top of his lungs toward the balcony just above him.  “I love you!  I love you with all my heart, and I want the whole world to hear this!” he shouted over and over.  Windows opened up all around me, and people popped out their weary but surprised heads, looking toward the balcony in anticipation of the response from the woman within.

            God himself is like the man in the story.  At times unexpected throughout our human history, God broke in and unsettled us, but with the same message, “I love you.”  And at a certain time in our history, he entered our world in a way and at a time that no one expected through his Incarnation, but with the very same message, “I love you.”  The Jewish people certainly expected a messiah, but who knew it would be God himself made flesh?  Matthew reminds us in our Gospel that God will do the same in our own lives.  He will one day break into our routines, our lives, to say “I love you” and to call us home.  Will we be ready to receive his love?

Advent is time where we are reminded once again of these truths, that God came and will come again at the end of time to interrupt the mundanity of human existence, and invites us to be ready to receive it wholeheartedly.

            But we also know from our faith that we have the opportunity to encounter God every day in the faces of our sisters and brothers, the other members of the Body of Christ.  How often are we engaged in our activities when we are suddenly interrupted by a request for help, a need for a shoulder to cry on, or simply the desire to spend some time together?  Sometimes when this happens, we feel like it is a great inconvenience and we find ourselves getting upset, especially with the person who has come to us.  But how often do we realize that perhaps it is Christ himself breaking into our lives simply to say, “I love you”? 

Fr. Emiel Abalahin, O.Carm.

Forty-one Carmelite educators from the four O.Carm. schools in the Philippines (Mount Carmel College of Escalante, Negros Occidental; Mount Carmel College of San Francisco, Mount Carmel High School of Rosario and Father Urios High School of Prosperidad) gathered on November 17-20, 2010 for their triennial colloquium at Mount Carmel College in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur in southern Philippines. In a spirit of fellowship and communion the delegates celebrated together as they discerned and listened to the different presentations of the resource speakers and co-delegates. Fr. Artemio Jusayan, the Commissary General who also serves as the Chair of the National Board of Trustees of the Carmelite School System in the Philippines exhorted the educators in their vocation and role as Carmelite educators. Other resource persons were Frs. Gabriel Dolotina, Alaindelon Balasabas and Christian Buenafe who also shared their experiences, insights and learning from the First International Congress of Carmelite schools in Dublin last April. The lay-consultants Noel Valencia and Lisa Clamor also presented to the school heads and principle stakeholders the results of the 10-year summing-up of the O.Carm. school ministry in the country for its validation and further enrichment. The delegates also met the students during their school visit and strengthened the bond among the Carmelites educators and students.

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On 21st November of this year, the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm., celebrated Pro Orantibus Day with our sisters from the monastery of St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi in Florence, Italy. They were accompanied by Fr. Josef Jancár, O.Carm., General Delegate to the nuns, and Fr. Mario Alfarano, O. Carm., Secretary General. In his homily during the Mass on the solemnity of Christ the King, the Prior General underlined the paradoxical character of the Kingdom of God that was grasped especially by the great mystics, including Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi. During the celebration, Fr. Fernando and the Carmelite community prayed for all of the nuns of our Order.

On 15 and 16 November the Order’s General Commission on Finance met in the Curia house in Rome under the chairmanship of Kevin Alban, the Bursar General. Also present were James Des Lauriers (Aus.), Manuel Bonilla (Cat.), Gian Domenico Meloni (Ita.), Michael Kissane (SEL-NY), Fintan Burke (Hib.), Wilmar Santin (GerS-Para.) Antonio Monteiro (Lus.), Bro. Mark McBride (TOR), Mr. Jeffrey Cull (US marketing), and Mr. Pierluigi Simoncelli (banking). An investment consultancy firm from the US, BMT, made a presentation to the commission of the services that they offer. The main business, however, was the examination of the budget for the Curia and the bodies that depend on it for 2011. This will be finalised by the General Council in its December plenary session.