There is something magic about Christmas!

Each year as the season approaches it begins to cast its spell on our hearts. Perhaps it is that first Christmas carol we hear, the smell of fresh-cut pine, or smoke from a neighbor’s chimney. Or maybe it is the sight of holiday lights trimming a tree. Sometimes the aroma of holiday treats cooking in the kitchen, or the crisp air on a December evening brings us into the magic of the season.

A bill has been introduced in the Illinois General Assembly (HB 2354, the Reproductive Health and Access Act) that would remove the right to conscientious objection to abortion and related procedures for all health care workers. For 30 years we have been told by the courts and by legislators that abortion is a rare but necessary tragedy and that abortion providers should not face legal punishment. Now some are proposing that abortion is a human right, and worse, that those who would try to qualify it in any way or who will not provide it should be punished under law.

Lent begins this year on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 25, and ends just before the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, April 9, when the Easter Triduum begins.

I have been busy settling in for my new assignment at Our Lady of Lourdes in Decatur. Last week, the rector of Kenrick Seminary, which I attended, paid me a visit since he had been unable to attend my ordination.

During my sophomore year of high school, my Latin teacher gave our class the assignment to write a Valentine's Day card in Latin. The English translation would then be read aloud and judged by the senior class. As I finished writing the Latin Valentine's Day poem for my card, I knew what I wrote was bound for first place - it was creative and downright hilarious.

p4-or-5-levandoski.jpgIn February 1927, Bishop James A. Griffin raised nearly $1 million to build the proposed Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. He wanted the cathedral dedication to be the highlight of the diocese's diamond jubilee planned for October 1928. That left 18 months to build and decorate the four buildings that comprised the cathedral complex.

Do you want to make the world a better place, to be a peacemaker?

Most people would say “yes,” and indeed many well-intentioned persons give generously of their time in public service and volunteer work, serving causes that they believe in, and trying to make the world a better place. They accomplish much good!

The clock radio on my bedside stand clicked on the morning of Sept. 29, 1978.  Piercing the quiet of my bedroom, the news announcer’s words shocked me out of a very deep sleep. “The pope is dead,” the announcer reported. “Pope John Paul I died in his sleep last night.”

I sprang out of bed, ran into our den where my mother was drinking her first cup of coffee and frantically announced, “Mom, the pope died! The pope is dead!”

Everyone loves to celebrate! We, as Franciscan Brothers of the Holy Cross, are no exception. This year, we have three reasons to celebrate. We celebrate 40 years of living religious life, 80 years of our community's presence in Springfield, and 95 years of life as a child of God. These each were years of the Lord's guidance and protection. Who could have pre-knowledge of the experiences, pitfalls, successes and triumphs that would pack these years?

Our parish Why Catholic? coordinator and parish liturgy team wanted to contribute something this Lent to other parishes. They decided to present a walk through the paschal triduum, the three days the church celebrates Christ’s last supper, death and burial, and resurrection. Called “Glory in the Cross,” it will be held on Saturday, April 4, from 9:30 until 11 a.m. at St. Cabrini Parish Church, 1020 N. Milton Ave. in Springfield. The public is welcome; there is no cost.

In grade school I learned at the final judgment all our deeds would be made known. Everyone would know what we did in life, both bad and good. You might think that knowledge would motivate good actions and deter evil, but think again. When Bernard Madoff admitted his guilt in a multi-billion dollar swindle, he said he always knew the day would come when he would stand before the justice of the law. Clearly that knowledge did not deter him from continuing his scam right up to his arrest.

Not all the parishes will be reading the same Scripture passages at Mass this Sunday and the two following. Catholic Sunday Mass readings are divided into three annual cycles. This year we are in Cycle B. However, in any parish where candidates are being prepared to receive the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil, the readings are taken from Cycle A. So much for the notion that Catholics do the same thing everywhere and always.

There is a man of faith I have been counseling who lost his 19-year-old son through suicide. The boy was his life and more - the redemption of all his father had failed to be. Can you imagine the devastation of a man who now thinks of God as too distant to save his son from death? But Abraham's dilemma (Genesis 22) was that God asked him to sacrifice his son whom he had hoped would be his redemption from passing away into nothingness. What kind of God demands the sacrifice of one's son?

This Lent begins with a rainbow (Genesis 9:8-15). On this first Sunday of Lent, an instrument of violence is the sign of peace and even of joy. How can that be?

But that is what every rainbow does for the heart, it signals peace after the storm. My heart rejoices and I smile every time I see one. Yet this bow is the instrument of violence of the mighty warrior God who fought on the side of the Hebrews and was used to defeat his enemies.

Half a lifetime ago, the Lord taught me a prayer. Although I have lived it for the last three decades, I still have a long way to go to live it fully. Along the way I have taught the prayer to countless others and each time the reaction is the same. The head nods, the eyes fix on the words, and a quick knowing breath sounds a wordless Amen: "Let it be so." It is as if the same spirit in each of us recognizes the prayer's utter challenge.

The Conversion of St. Paul is usually celebrated on Jan. 25, but this year it is only an optional celebration because it lands on a Sunday, the day each week the church remembers the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

That risen Savior appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus where Paul was journeying to arrest Christian Jews and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial as heretics. Jesus, using his Jewish name, asked him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

Having no children has not kept me from having grandchildren, at least the honorary kind. In fact, I have two sets. The Filipino ones live in St. Louis and the Norwegian ones in Denver. So perhaps you will understand when I say my fourth-grade Filipino grandson is a very swift runner. He is so good at racing that he says his real competition is himself. He keeps trying to better his own record - he is sometimes successful and sometimes disappointed. Although once he broke his leg skiing, he recovered to race again.

The Christmas tree is out of the house, the wrappings tossed and the lights put away, but something else is stirring. Those wise enough can see it. It is the Epiphany of the Lord, a revelation of the meaning of Christmas that lingers into January and insinuates itself into the real situations of life as much as Christmas stirs our dreams of a fuller life.

Christmas is a time for worship and so I offer some prayers for those who would like to make Christmas a part of their worship all year long.

A reporter called to ask if our parish was doing something new and different this year to prepare for Christmas, perhaps some musical performance. While he was at it he also asked if there was anything new I had thought of to say in my Christmas homily.