There is a story that comes out of India which tells of a beggar
whose great hope was that he would meet the king. Then, he dreamed,
alms would be given him unasked and wealth scattered all around him in
the dust. One day, the king’s golden chariot came into the village and
actually stopped where the beggar stood. The king saw the poor man,
got out of the chariot, and walked with a smile toward him.
The beggar was ecstatic. He felt that good fortune had come his
way at last. But instead of giving him anything, the king held out his
hand and said, “What do you have to give to me?” The beggar was
confused and undecided. Then slowly, he took from his loaded
knapsack a single grain of wheat and gave it to the king. The king made
no move to give him anything in return. Disillusioned and dejected, the
beggar walked to his bare room. At day’s end, he emptied his bag on the
floor and was surprised to find a single grain of gold among all the other
grains of wheat. He wept bitterly and thought: “If only I had the heart to
give the king my all.
The beggar found only a single grain of gold in his bag because he
had given away only a single grain of wheat. If he had given more, he
would have received more.
A few weeks before Christmas – in the midst of money being tight,
and the normal Christmas rush and pressure – we have many things to
give – Let us not be afraid to give them. How about these:
1. Remember an old friend
2. Call or write to someone who has lost someone through death
3. Give peace
4. Forgive an enemy
5. Set differences aside in our families
6. Give of yourself – a small bit of quality time
7. Perform an act of kindness
8. Offer a few sincere thoughtful words of encouragement and
affirmation.
9. Give love
and guess what, Christmas will be forever! Wouldn’t that be great!
A Thought Before Christmas 12-18-2022
December 15th, 2022Remember You Always Walk With God 12-11-2022
December 9th, 2022A few weeks before Christmas, a woman who lived in a New York
apartment building found a greeting card taped to her door. “Merry
Christmas from the custodial staff”, it said.
“How nice”, she said to herself and promptly forgot about it. A
week later she came home to find another card taped to her door. It was
the same message, “Merry Christmas from the custodial staff”. But this
time stamped right in the middle in big red letters, were the words,
“Second Notice”!
Many of us are terribly forgetful. We immerse ourselves in our
daily tasks of life as we must-we can forget almost anything: birthdays,
anniversaries, appointments, our bank balance, our glasses. You name
it, we forget it. We make lists so we won’t forget and then we forget the
list. But our forgetfulness isn’t limited just to the little things. We
forget the big things as well; who our real friends are, what really
matters in life, who loves us, who needs us, what we were made for. We
just forget.
I believe that is why we need to gather here – week after week; to
help each other remember who we are, remember what really matters,
and remember that we aren’t walking this long road alone. We’re
walking it with the Lord who is right at our side.
And what is this Lord like who walks at our side? Does God walk
with us as a critic? A police officer? A judge? Or maybe just an
impartial observer? In fact the Lord is none of the above.
The Lord walks with us as a partner and mentor who wants to see
us succeed and who understands that it’s going to take us a while. Now
what more could we ask? How can we not celebrate and rejoice as
today’s liturgy urges us. How can we not be confident and hopeful and
put all fears behind us. After all, God is with us and for us!
And there’s still more. Having God walking with us as partner and
mentor gives us the opportunity to be in close conversation hourly. With
simple words like, “Well, Lord, what do you think about this?” Or,
“Lord can you help me see this clearly?” Or simply, “Help, Lord, I can’t
do this one alone.” Those are the kinds of words that partners and
friends speak very often.
All of that is what we have to come together here to remember.
First, remember to rejoice and forget all your fears because God is with
us. And second, remember to listen to and talk to God about the real
stuff of our lives because God cares more than anyone else…and God
knows the way home.
I would like to close by sharing with you my idea of what God’s
special Christmas card would say to each one of us;
“Remember what you’ve seen me do”, says Jesus. “…the blind
see, cripples walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, and dead men raised
to life”. If you’ll let me, I’ll do the same for you”, he says. “I’ll heal
what is sick in your spirit, if you’ll let me”.
“I’ll open your eyes and your ears so that you’ll know what really
matters so you’ll know that happiness and peace are available to you
everyday, even on the worst days. I’ll show you that and let you
experience that, if you’ll let me.
“I will not insulate you from adversity, challenge, or pain. But I
will always see you through them, and never let you come to ultimate 4
harm. I’ll take you by the hand, and raise you up; I’ll help you to walk
and I’ll walk with you until your journey is complete, if you’ll let me.
“All that is my promise to you, my solemn pledge. And I will not
take it back”, says the Lord. We have a lot to rejoice about today!
Don’t we!
God Interrupts 12-8-2022
December 7th, 2022Most of us live very well-planned and ordered lives.
In school, we follow a set schedule of classes, sports, projects and
clubs. We set out to find the right school, the right major, the right first
job. We carefully plan out the wedding, the first house, the birth of our
children, the security of our family.
We work hard to cover all the bases, to leave nothing to chance.
Regardless of what happens, we stick to the program.
But more than once along the way, our carefully ordered world is
knocked off kilter. Schedules are delayed; plans are interrupted;
arrangements are changed. Something goes wrong—and we have to
work out a “Plan B”.
Sometimes our well-planned and tightly structured life is
interrupted—by God: God in the form of someone in need, someone in
crisis, someone rejected or forgotten. God breaks into our life and
disrupts our carefully laid-out world. God insinuates himself into our
lives—and we find that it is no longer about us, but about someone else.
That’s what happens to Mary in Luke’s Gospel. Her life is pretty
well set: She has been brought up in the faith of her people, she has been
taught how to manage a home, she is set to marry the carpenter Joseph
and settle into the life of spouse and mother.
And then God interrupts.
God calls her to give birth—now—to his Son. It will be the first of
many times Mary’s life will be interrupted by God.
And Mary always says yes.
Today’s Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception honors Mary for
her yes to God, for her willingness to let God break into her set and safe
world for the sake of the world beyond herself; God appeals to her
selflessness and humility to give birth to his Christ.
God interrupts our lives as well, calling us to put aside our own
needs and wants to give birth to his Son at times we had not planned for.
Gabriel appears in our busy days in the form of the poor, the forgotten,
and the hurting, asking us to put aside that day’s agenda to be the
compassion and peace of God for that messenger at the door.
Let us pray today that, like our sister Mary, we may welcome
God’s “interrupting” our lives to do something good and healing and
holy for others; that, like our mother Mary, we may take on the selfless,
demanding work of giving birth to God in our own Nazareth’s and
Bethlehem’s.
Gracious God, may we possess the faith and trust of your daughter
Mary to say yes to your “interruptions” in our lives, when you call us to
make your presence real in our own time and place. In our welcoming
of your Son into our homes and hearts, may we embrace the Advent
meaning of this gift of time you have given us.
