Just a Girl Who Can't Say No!

I remember when I dove in the swimming pool for the first time. I believe I was six years old, and we were on vacation, heading for Florida. I had jumped in pools and creeks and ponds before. I had learned how to float, then dog paddle and then freestyle. I loved the water. Mom and Dad had taught me to like it and respect it. They were my coaches. They would support me and coax me until I was able to swim and jump into the water on my own. But diving was scary. I had to do this on my own. Dad stood in the water and offered to lift me out if I got in trouble. And Mom cheer led. But I had to dive in by myself. I stood with my toes hanging over the edge of the Holiday Inn pool, knees flexed, body bent in a more than ninety degree angle toward the water, hands together, pointing over my head and toward the pool. And I stood there. For what seemed for hours I stood in that position. Through my mind was racing thoughts of pain. "This is going to sting worse than any belly-flop. It's going to be all of the pain of a belly-flop all on my face. Then I'm going to get all of that water up my nose. This is going to hurt!" So, I stood there. A couple of times I leaned over far enough that I fell in accidentally. But at the last minute "saved" myself by bailing out of the dive, and doing an awkward "jump/ belly-flop" thing. Each of those times I'd get back out of the pool and assume the "scared to dive" position. And, I'd stand some more. Then a reality hit me. I remember thinking that standing, bent in half with arms over my head and facing the pool was stupid. Here I was being scared of something that I knew I was going to like. So, I flexed my knees a little more and sprung off of the side of the pool into the water. It didn't hurt at all! Before the vacation was over I was diving from the diving board, not just the side of the pool, largely because fear was replaced by the reality of a love.

Can you imagine Mary's fear when the Angel Gabriel came to visit her? "I'm too young!" "I'm engaged!" "What are the families and neighbors going to think of an unmarried and pregnant girl?" "You want me to be the mother of "WHO"?" "How is this going to work?" Mary had many reasons to tell God to knock on the door of someone else. Yet, she said "YES!" Mary had a love for God that replaced her fear. Her trust in her God empowered her cooperate with God's plan and God's path for her, even though she could not comprehend it, and even though God's Will for her was not what she originally thought it was. And, although she said "Yes!" to God, it didn't mean that her path was easy from there on out. God helped Joseph trust in His plan. But, I'm sure that other kin, "friends" and neighbors stung Mary with their shuns, remarks and glances. Being the mother of the Messiah couldn't have been an easy task either. Raising any child is a tough chore. Can you imagine trying to raise a boy who was the Son of God? Mary had to wonder if she was doing it correctly, more than often. She also had to watch Him in His adult life and ministry. As the Prime Disciple, Mary got to observe the awe and wonder of those spellbound by His teaching and His miracles. She also had to endure the derision of the doubters and haters. Worse she was one of the very few "there" when He bore the weight of our sins on the Cross. She witnessed His torturous murder.

Because Mary allowed her fear to be replaced by love, we are saved. The birth of the Son that she allowed God to give her, changed the destiny of the World. Her "Yes!" allowed God to say "Yes!" to us. Yes, we are loved beyond all counting. Yes, we are undeservedly forgiven, just for the asking. Yes, we are promised eternal life with Him as a free gift.

As we go through this weekend and the Holy Days of Christmas, let's remember that God has already said "Yes!" to us. How are we being called to say "Yes!" to Him and let His Love replace our fear?

Merry Christmas and very much love!
The Priesty Guy

Tea Towels, Bed Sheets and Tobacco Sticks!

This is probably not a huge surprise to many of you who know me, but I own a few Santa hats. A couple of them are traditional looking. One is a ball cap with a Santa stocking hat attached. And one is a springy looking red thing with a white ball on top. I also own one pair of green and red socks with Christmas trees and snow flakes upon them. Over the next month I'll go through my huge bag of hats and toys and dig them out. And, I'll don them at Christmas parties and perhaps even at Christmas Mass.

The first time that I got to dress up special for Christmas was at Maw Maw and Paw Paw Lee's house. I was three and my sister, Kathy, was just under five months old. The little grade school girl that lived across the road from my grandparents, Phylis Thompson, was chosen to be the the angel in the Christmas scene at St. Charles Church in St. Mary's, Kentucky. So, Maw Maw invited her over to pose for a picture in front of her Christmas tree. Kathy was baby Jesus on Maw Maw's coffee table crib. Phylis was the adorable angel. Mom was Mary and dressed in some sateen bed sheets. Dad was covered in a bed spread and playing the part of Joseph. I had my flannel shirt and blue jeans on, BUT got to hold Paw Paw's cane, in order to be a shepherd.

About three years later I was chosen to be a shepherd again at St. Francis of Assisi School's Christmas pageant. This time I got to wear an over sized bath robe with a tea towel on my head. (There are only two uses for tea towels; to dry dishes and to put them on little would be shepherds' heads.) I also had to trade in my Paw Paw's cane for for a tobacco stick, since all of the other shepherds were going to carry them, and because there were plenty of tobacco sticks in Loretto, Kentucky. A couple of years after that I dressed in custom fitted white sheets for our Christmas production of Frosty the Snowman. I still don't know if I was chosen to be Frosty because I was a good actor, or because the role only required me to remember one line, "Catch me, if you can!" (It very well could have been that the teachers wanted to cover me from head to toe in a snowman costume, and thus hide me and any of my "normal" antics from the view of the Church going patrons of the arts.)

This is all a very long introduction to a hopefully very short reflection on today's readings, especially the first reading from the Prophet Isaiah. This is Gaudete (Rejoice) Sunday. And the readings are very festive and hopeful. But they are also instructions on how to prepare joyfully for the Lord's first coming and for when we meet Him again at the end of time, or at the end of our time.

Isaiah tells us how to dress properly for the Lord. Not with bed sheets or borrowed canes, but with the Spirit of the Lord upon us. Isaiah goes on further to tell us that the justice, salvation, joy and praise are to be what the world and the Lord should see in us.

There is a huge need in our world for justice, mercy, compassion, joy, praise and mercy to be lived by us. These qualities are in short supply and we Christians are meant to en-flesh them. We don't have to do things that may win us the Nobel Peace Prize. But, we can all do one or two little things each day that make the life of someone else a little more pleasant. We can even pray for the right things to be done in our world as well; and that may be the most powerful act we can do to bring justice, mercy and compassion to our world.

I think it all begins with an attitude of thanksgiving to God for all of His blessings to us. With an attitude of gratitude comes an inner joy for life that can't be hidden. Not that cheesy and sappy televangelist joy, but just a hopeful and joyful approach to each day.

I will still wear my Christmas costumes over the next four weeks. BUT, I plan on spending a little more time in prayer thanking God for the life, ministry, family and friends that He has given to me, and asking Him to help me seize the opportunities to live more mercifully, compassionately, justly, and joyfully for God and others who desperately need Him. Care to join me?

Peace,
me

Ready Or Not, Here He Comes!

Johnny Carson had Doc Severensen and Ed McMahon. David Letterman has Paul Schaefer and the fellow who sounds sort of like me. Jimmy Fallon has The Roots and that squeaky voiced guy. At the beginning of each of their shows you know that the host is about to come through the curtain whenever you hear the theme song and the voice saying, "Here's Johnny!" or something similar. The job of the musicians and the announcers are to announce the star.

John the Baptist was that man or that band for Jesus. "A VOICE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD" is the way John is described in the Gospel this weekend.  John the Baptist knew his role. He was to announce the star. John was to set the stage for the Savior who was about to come through the curtain.

John must have been a disarming sort of man. Camel hair clothes and a disgusting diet of bugs and bee poop sounds like a description of someone I'd prefer to stay away from. However, in other parts of the Gospels it is written that people from Jerusalem and all over Israel were traveling the long mountainous and treacherous road to go see and hear him. His attraction had to be his message. Prepare! Repent! The One following me is greater than me! The subjected, terrorized and hungry people of his time and place wanted to hear that relief and rescue were on the way.

As we know some folks didn't like John's message. Herod and his wife are just a couple of many who wanted him to shut the heck up. There were those who were comfortable in the world of John and Jesus who enjoyed life just as it was. They may have been making a good living off of others because of the Roman occupation of their land. St. Matthew and Zaccheus were at least two of those folks. Some may have wanted to silence John because what he was saying about faith, religion and the need for the Messiah conflicted with their faith, religion or messianic hopes. Repenting, waking, preparing, and listening to something new meant change. And the reality is that change is normally resisted.

The reading from Isaiah today begins with the word COMFORT. This Old Testament Prophet reveals that God's Chosen One is coming to His beleaguered  people to bring them COMFORT. That sounds great if you're beleaguered and miserable. If you are already comfortable, though, you will probably not be very welcoming and open to God's introduction of someone and something new and "more" comfortable. Why would you want to wake up if you were enjoying your nap? However, we also know, that if someone doesn't yell "FIRE!" then the sleepy ones will perish in the flames. Being discomforted can save our lives too.

This morning I got to hear Sr. Helen Prejean speak to youth and young adult ministers from all over the U.S. Her topic was how to be ministers for God's justice in the world. She told her story of how she went from being a Catholic sister teaching comfortable Catholic high school girls and living a comfortable life to being a Spiritual director for men an women on death row and ministering to families of folks whose children or parents were murdered at the hand of the folks who are condemned to die. She said that "justice" is actually "just us". God has called her, you, me and every disciple to make something right that is presently wrong. Just she is called to be who she is for the folks she touches. Just you can make a difference in the life of someone else. We are all called uniquely and specifically by God to change, comfort and love those He needs us to love.

She also calls the One who calls her and us to be "just us" is sneaky Jesus. She went from being a classroom English teacher to being a death row Minister because another sister asked her if she would be willing to write a letter to a man on death row in Louisiana. Since she was a good English tea her and a good writer, she said "Yes." That decision is where "sneaky Jesus" intruded into her comfortable life. The prisoner wrote back. They developed  a relationship. He asked her to be his spiritual director. Her life has been changed. And many people have come to see that even the guilty deserve to have their lives valued and redeemable.

Where is "sneaky Jesus" calling you to say "Yes!" to something or someone you find uncomfortable? Are you resisting a Call to listen, wake up, prepare or repent? Where do you need God's comfort? What needs to be awakened in you?

Peace,
Fr. Chuck