Merry Christmas!
A few years ago I got to spend nearly two weeks during Lent in Arizona on retreat. I arrived in Phoenix in the late morning on a Wednesday. I rented a Dodge Neon and drove to Scottsdale and bought a ticket for Sunday's Cubs' Spring Training game against the A's. I then drove north to the Grand Canyon. As a 15 year old I'd been there before. The first visit was so impressive that I can still close my eyes and see the muddy Colorado River "ess"ing through the bottom 2 miles below, the far rim several miles north, the canyon mesas, pinnacles, and walls, and the vibrant hues of orange, red, yellow, tan, brown, and a few tufts of green. I got there in time to catch the last glimpses of sunlight fade across the massive gorge. Then I got a good idea. I would go to the lodge, get a room, dinner, and drink. Then I'd set my alarm for well before sunrise and go to the the first lookout to the east, watch the sunrise on the canyon, hike the rim for fifteen miles or so, and end my day at a lookout point to the west of the lodge, and then take a shuttle bus back to my car and then drive to Sedona the next night.
All those things occurred except the getting a room part. The lodge was booked. In other words, "there was no room in the inn." I didn't have to spend the night with the canyon mules though. I spent a few short hours sleeping in a cold rented Dodge Neon's reclining front seat. My research told me that it was going to be hot in Arizona in early April. And it was (during the daytime and at lower elevations). But night time in the higher elevations at the Grand Canyon was freezing or below. I did not have the clothes that it took to stay warm that evening. I ran the car heater for 45 minute periods, woke up to turn the car off so I wouldn't get asphyxiated, slept for 45 minutes w/out heat, and repeated the cycle until it was time to go watch the daylight come to the Canyon.
Also part of the reason I couldn't sleep was the anticipation of watching sunrise come over the Canyon. Have you ever stayed up all night just to experience the dawn – the gradual dimming of the stars as light gently pushes back the darkness revealing the now? Somehow all is refreshed, brilliant – light has come. My experience was just that. When I walked to the rim, it was completely dark. No moon, just cold, black, and stars. I could tell that I was at the Grand Canyon, but I could not tell how grand it was. Then the eastern sky s began to lighten, and silhouettes of the canyons forms started to make themselves known. The colors started to appear. Light made everything new and vivid. Light sanctified the Grand Canyon, making it new.
Christmas is just this – Light blessing the now. Christmas is not the end of the Advent waiting and journeying. It is the dawn of Advent. It is Light blessing and sanctifying the journey, the waiting itself.
Who waits for whom? Who blesses whom? Parents, siblings, buddies and lovers pensively wait for those who are engaged in ministry, mission and service to come home. Parents eager with anticipation wait for the infant soon to be born. Parents, friends and strangers compassionately journey with the lost and forsaken. Longingly families and friends wait for the estranged. The outcast in yearning wait for welcome. The hungry in trust wait for the cook. The homeless in hope wait for the host. The jobless in faith wait for the employers. The imprisoned desiring freedom wait for the visitor. And children everywhere joyfully wait for the anticipated delight.
May God give you the gift of hunger for the Light of the World.
paz,
Fr. Chuck
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Short People Got No Reason....
Hey Guys and Gals,
I have spent the last three of Monday afternoons at the Towne Mall working at the Helping Hand “Heart to Hand” Christmas tree. On one of those Mondays I counted the Christmas Carols being played over the intercom for the 2 ½ hours I was there. In that time there were 48 carols played. Of those only six were songs about Jesus. One was the “Our Father” by Elvis. Two were musical medleys (no words) of religious Christmas Carols. So actually, in the 2 ½ hours I was in the mall I only heard songs mentioning the birth of Christ four times. But I heard plenty about winter, snow, reindeer, Santa, and even chestnuts. I promise you that I’m not putting down the Towne Mall or their choice of Christmas music that they broadcast through their intercom. They are very generous for letting Helping Hand use an entrance to their Mall to let us help needy children in our part of Hardin County.
My point is that the voice of the faithful meaning of Christmas is still a very small voice in 2009. A person has to listen for God’s voice (or be bored enough to count Christmas songs at the Mall) in order to hear God at all, even during the season of the year when it should be most likely to hear something about Him. But there is nothing new in that.
In the readings today the prophet Micah and the evangelist Luke write to us about little towns and little women becoming the instruments of God. Micah writes about the little town of Bethlehem being the birthplace of the Messiah. St. Luke tells us the story of the too young Virgin meeting with her too old cousin Elizabeth to rejoice about their Good News. The message to me seems clear. The insignificant and the small are the ones that God chooses to bring in His Son, His Kingdom, and His plan.
That also means that that tiny little voice in the Mall proclaiming the birth of Jesus may just have a chance of becoming pregnant in me, or you, or some unsuspecting shopper who might just happen to have their ears open at the right time. Today’s readings are about pregnancy in the style of God’s design. Although Bethlehem, Mary, and Elizabeth are the featured small things in today’s readings who find themselves being the earthen vessels for God’s work, the message today is about NOW (and YOU, and ME, and HERE) and not only about long ago and faraway. Just like our microscopic beginnings in the wombs of our own moms, God has a wonderful and awesome plan that He wants each of us to play an important part. May we have hearts, minds, lives, and ears that can hear that tiny voice and be the fertile ground that God has made.
Paz,
Fr. Chuck
I have spent the last three of Monday afternoons at the Towne Mall working at the Helping Hand “Heart to Hand” Christmas tree. On one of those Mondays I counted the Christmas Carols being played over the intercom for the 2 ½ hours I was there. In that time there were 48 carols played. Of those only six were songs about Jesus. One was the “Our Father” by Elvis. Two were musical medleys (no words) of religious Christmas Carols. So actually, in the 2 ½ hours I was in the mall I only heard songs mentioning the birth of Christ four times. But I heard plenty about winter, snow, reindeer, Santa, and even chestnuts. I promise you that I’m not putting down the Towne Mall or their choice of Christmas music that they broadcast through their intercom. They are very generous for letting Helping Hand use an entrance to their Mall to let us help needy children in our part of Hardin County.
My point is that the voice of the faithful meaning of Christmas is still a very small voice in 2009. A person has to listen for God’s voice (or be bored enough to count Christmas songs at the Mall) in order to hear God at all, even during the season of the year when it should be most likely to hear something about Him. But there is nothing new in that.
In the readings today the prophet Micah and the evangelist Luke write to us about little towns and little women becoming the instruments of God. Micah writes about the little town of Bethlehem being the birthplace of the Messiah. St. Luke tells us the story of the too young Virgin meeting with her too old cousin Elizabeth to rejoice about their Good News. The message to me seems clear. The insignificant and the small are the ones that God chooses to bring in His Son, His Kingdom, and His plan.
That also means that that tiny little voice in the Mall proclaiming the birth of Jesus may just have a chance of becoming pregnant in me, or you, or some unsuspecting shopper who might just happen to have their ears open at the right time. Today’s readings are about pregnancy in the style of God’s design. Although Bethlehem, Mary, and Elizabeth are the featured small things in today’s readings who find themselves being the earthen vessels for God’s work, the message today is about NOW (and YOU, and ME, and HERE) and not only about long ago and faraway. Just like our microscopic beginnings in the wombs of our own moms, God has a wonderful and awesome plan that He wants each of us to play an important part. May we have hearts, minds, lives, and ears that can hear that tiny voice and be the fertile ground that God has made.
Paz,
Fr. Chuck
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
All I Want for Christmas!!!!!!!
More John the Baptist?!?!?! When do we get to the good stuff?
My problem is that I’m tired of John the Baptist and those prophesies of change of heart, change of attitude, and especially changes of my behavior. But this weekend we get one more installment of St. John the Baptist telling the folks that are coming to him what to do about their lives.(Luke 3:10-18)
I remember in grade school going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation every other Saturday with my parents. Fr. Spalding would always prescribe just about the same penance every time. No matter what the sin(s) Fr. John T. would give me one to five Our Fathers, Hail Mary’s, and Glory Be’s. St. John the Baptist was different. When folks came to him asking, “What ought we to do about our sins?” his penances were more “sin” specific. He told the folks who confessed selfishness to share better. He told the tax collectors to quit stealing. He told the soldiers to quit lording their power over folks and be fair.
Saying a couple of prayers is easy. Actually changing is tough. But in order to really make Christmas what Christmas is, the “easy” way is not enough. If I want Christ to be reborn in me; if I want Christ to mean something more to me this year than he ever has before, then I have to be willing to change. I have to reprioritize my values, my attitude, my habits, and my behaviors.
The popular bumper sticker says, “Put Christ Back into Christmas!” That is easy to say we want to do. Are we each willing to make the changes in our lives that make this a reality? Or do we just want everyone else to change, and we remain the same dormant selves?
St. John the Baptist you are just what we need to make this the best Christmas ever!!!!
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck
My problem is that I’m tired of John the Baptist and those prophesies of change of heart, change of attitude, and especially changes of my behavior. But this weekend we get one more installment of St. John the Baptist telling the folks that are coming to him what to do about their lives.(Luke 3:10-18)
I remember in grade school going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation every other Saturday with my parents. Fr. Spalding would always prescribe just about the same penance every time. No matter what the sin(s) Fr. John T. would give me one to five Our Fathers, Hail Mary’s, and Glory Be’s. St. John the Baptist was different. When folks came to him asking, “What ought we to do about our sins?” his penances were more “sin” specific. He told the folks who confessed selfishness to share better. He told the tax collectors to quit stealing. He told the soldiers to quit lording their power over folks and be fair.
Saying a couple of prayers is easy. Actually changing is tough. But in order to really make Christmas what Christmas is, the “easy” way is not enough. If I want Christ to be reborn in me; if I want Christ to mean something more to me this year than he ever has before, then I have to be willing to change. I have to reprioritize my values, my attitude, my habits, and my behaviors.
The popular bumper sticker says, “Put Christ Back into Christmas!” That is easy to say we want to do. Are we each willing to make the changes in our lives that make this a reality? Or do we just want everyone else to change, and we remain the same dormant selves?
St. John the Baptist you are just what we need to make this the best Christmas ever!!!!
Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck
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