Christmas: A Time for Hope

The Fr. Mike Schmitz Catholic Podcast

Ascension

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Society & Culture

4.9 • 7.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2017

⏱️ 6 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

While many of us may become stressed out before Christmas and depressed afterwards—working hard to make the holiday perfect and burning out once it’s all “over”—the Light of the season can still shine through if we remember one thing. In this episode, Fr. Mike Schmitz explains what it means for Christmas to be a season of hope, and reminds us that strengthening our relationship with Jesus while learning to trust him is the one thing that matters this season.

Fr. Mike is also a presenter in these faith formation programs from Ascension:

Belonging: Baptism in the Family of God (http://bit.ly/2rdOFy7)
Chosen: This is Your Catholic Faith (http://bit.ly/2r32vUK)
Altaration: The Mystery of the Mass Revealed (http://bit.ly/2rIYjfE)
YOU: Life, Love and the Theology of the Body (http://bit.ly/2nKLug5)

Get 18 of Fr. Mike’s best Ascension Presents videos in this exclusive DVD from Ascension:
Ascension Presents … Fr. Mike Schmitz (http://bit.ly/2sKUnJN)

Fr. Mike spoke at the Ascension Cafe during the World Meeting of Families. Watch him and other speakers get fired up over the gospel in the Ascension Cafe DVD (http://bit.ly/2sYtQaW).

Transcript

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0:00.0	Merry Christmas, everybody.
0:05.6	Hi, my name's Fr. Mike Schmitz, and this is Ascension Presents.
0:08.0	I was thinking about this a lot.
0:09.2	A couple years ago, I did the wedding of a couple, um, graduates from the universities up here, uh,
0:16.0	at Christmas time. It was basically this little before Christmas.
0:19.0	And so it got me thinking a lot about like, what is it that couples need the most on their wedding day?
0:25.1	Like, is it, is it, they need love? Is it, they need, um, trust?
0:28.8	what do they need? They need a joy in that day? What, what does it they need on the wedding day?
0:33.0	Maybe more than anything. I think what they need more than almost anything is hope.
0:38.1	If you think about this, the last day you need to promise someone that you're going to love them
0:42.0	is the wedding day. Uh, the light, because of course you're going to love them that day.
0:45.3	The last day you're going to promise to be faithful to them is that day, because of course you're
0:48.8	going to be faithful to them that day. But when it comes down to it, they make a promise. Why?
0:52.4	They make a promise because they're saying, okay, I love you today. I want to be faithful today to,
0:57.4	to you today. But I know that the day is coming when I won't feel like loving you.
1:02.8	When that day comes, I promise I will. And they're saying that I know, I love you today. I want to
1:08.0	be faithful to you today. But I know that the day is coming when I won't feel like being faithful.
1:11.4	But when that day comes, I promise you, I will. The virtue of hope, I would say, is most necessary
1:18.6	on a couple's wedding day. That maybe any other time, remember any of the virtue. Hope is not simply
1:24.1	optimism. And I think sometimes we think that hope is just kind of looking forward to a,
1:28.3	looking forward to a better future or thinking that, no, it's going to get better. This kind of idea
1:31.8	that is time rolls on, it only gets better. That's not true. We know if you live for a little while,
	...

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