The best news is the world is found by playing a simple scale on the piano – with the pauses on the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th and last notes.
Be sure to play it the “other way” – and don’t forget the pauses.
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wrapped as for Christmas
22 Dec
Imagine that there are before you three gifts, wrapped as for Christmas. One has on it a large tag marked, “Gratitude.” Another is tagged, “Hope.” The other is, “Joy.”
Answer quickly, without analyzing. Ready? Without thinking, answer, “Which of these gifts has God given to you this year: gratitude, hope or joy?”
On the back side of the gratitude tag the words “thank you” are written as many times as is possible. On the back of the joy tag are smile faces, and hands clapping and hands raised in prayer. Backing up hope is more hope and more hope and more hope.
Which gift has God given to you this year: gratitude, joy or hope?
And of those three gifts from God: which one would you like to be able to give to someone else in your life? Gratitude? Joy? Hope?
A young man in our parish responded quickly that God had given him joy this year: a lovely wife and a new baby. And he did not hesitate in the least to say that he would like to give his mother the gift of hope.
Gratitude, Hope, Joy. Which of the gifts has God given to you this year? Which one would you like to give to someone at Christmas?
That he smelled like eternity
22 Dec
What Mary Knew
That he was beautiful,
love’s most holy writ.
That he was the world in small,
and she loved it.
That he had undone death.
That he would be her joy.
That he would grow more beautiful
as he became a boy.
That he was grace in human form
and paradise to hold.
That he smelled like eternity.
That he would not grow old.
That he was heaven’s gift,
dressed in flesh and baby clothes.
That he was wholly beautiful.
What every mother knows.
Angela Alaimo O’Donnell is a professor of English and associate director of the Curran Center for American Studies at Fordham University in New York City. Janet McKenzie, an artist in Vermont, is working on a new project called “African-American Women Celebrated.” © America Magazine
no pickled peppers on “Joy Sunday”
14 DecThe third candle of the wreath is lighted today. It is rose. Most often we say that it is pink. This week’s color: rose, pink – whatever. It is Gaudete – Rejoice – Sunday!
The most recent official writing of Pope Francis, released November 24, the first that comes directly and solely from his mind and heart, has the Latin title, “Evangelii Gaudium,” which translates “The Joy of the Gospel.” With me find it helpful to ponder the fact he calls it “the joy of the Gospel” and not “Gospel joy.”
Here is a much quoted sentence from that apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis: “One of the more serious temptations which stifles boldness and zeal is a defeatism which turns us into querulous and disillusioned pessimists, ‘sourpusses.’”
At his morning Mass on May 10 Pope Francis talked about the joy that Christians have deep within them from knowing that Jesus is with them and that they are loved by God: “Sometimes these melancholy Christians’ faces have more in common with pickled peppers than the joy of having a beautiful life.” Sad Christians hinder the witness and mission of the Church.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near.”
it’s (not) looking a lot like …
13 Dec
It may snow a lot at Christmas where you and I live, but snow in Bethlehem is rare, anytime of the year.
But this Christmas ….
… is not like the rest.
It is not looking a lot like Bethlehem, but it is looking a lot like Christmas!
when we hear snow is coming
7 Dec
What effect might it have, if we were to prepare for the coming of Jesus into our lives, as we do when we hear that snow is coming?
Issa, Mary and Joseph in Beit Jala
24 Dec
In accord with a “sleep in heavenly peace” tradition of mine, I fell asleep last night and will fall asleep tonight (Christmas Eve) and tomorrow night (Christmas Day) listening to some of favorite Christmas songs, in the glow of a laser cut photo of “my kids from Beit Jala” on the dresser across the room.
My iPod’s strange bed fellows include Bruce Cockburn, Celtic Woman, Cincinnati Pops, Hayley Westenra, Josh Groban, Kathy Mattea, Roisin Dempsey, Sissel, Tine Thing Helseth, The Roches and Becky Kelley.
Eventually the music stops, but the kids light up my entire night, as they light up my every Christmas, as they have lighted up my whole life. Nine years ago, Issa, Mary, Ranim, Tamara and Tamer came as 8th graders from Beit Jala (Bethlehem) to visit us here in Milford. They have returned home and have already graduated from college. But they remain forever in my heart, and will always be “my children” to me.
These children, okay, these young adults, still have their homes in “the little town of Bethlehem.”
With the seven hour time difference, and with all of us being Christians, and being at Mass and with family, it is difficult to make connections by phone. But I will try. I might have to leave a message for Mary. I hope to make contact with Joseph, who is Ranim’s father. I must … I have to talk with … or at least a message for … Issa. “Issa” is “Jesus” in Arabic.
How can I let Christmas pass, without being in contact with Issa, Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem?
‘Tis the Season for Big Surprises
21 DecRight before leaving for a few days away, one of my friends told me that she couldn’t figure out what they (she and her husband) could get me for Christmas. I said, “Nothing. Don’t get me anything. I don’t need anything.” She said, “I knew you’d say that.”
My being away took me up toward Deerfield Village in Michigan and to what I call Arab-Dearborn. There was a huge mall a mile and a half away from the Drury Inn where I was staying. It would be a nice place to walk on a cold day. It might give me an answer to Susan’s question.
The mall was three floors high, with a skywalk that connected to another building of two floors. There had to be an idea in there somewhere.
In the main gathering area was a castle
in honor of you know who.
Watching all the parents hugging, kissing and primping the children, getting them ready for a photo with Santa, I saw them as an image of God and us, and I wondered what the God-version of “slobber kisses” and “mom spit” might be. I noticed, too, that each mom or granddad protected, pranced about and played with their own offspring as if their child was the only one that existed or mattered in the whole wide world. There seems to be an image of the divine in there, too.
The sound was “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” The smell, at first I couldn’t identify it but it seemed to be pumped into the air, was caramel popcorn, I think. The food court had a marquis that boasted of “more than 12 kinds of Mac n’ Cheez!”
My favorites of all the stores, the only two that I actually entered, were Brookstone, filled with fun things like a hand-held digital luggage scale and a bunch of other things that I did not need, and Sur la Table, with gadgets of all kinds, but not the cheap, plastic orange peeler that I thought I might find.
The name of one of the stores startled me. How in the world could this name make any sense?
A store named “True Religion.” Really?
This window message made better sense.
“Tis the Season for Big Surprises.” Yes, what surprise does God have in store (pun intended) for each of us this season?
Of all the windows, in which were showcased models and mannequins (more or less clothed), this store most caught my attention.
The woman in this poster was the most beautiful.
In her I saw the face and the form of all the young women in the parish carrying children. I whispered a prayer for all those women who long to arrive at maternity (“destination maternity” was the name of teh staore) but have not yet been so blessed. It was an Advent poster and prayer, of sorts.
After walking the entire mall on two different days, and looking at the windows of all the stores, I came up with an answer to my friend’s question. I didn’t see anything I needed for Christmas.
She knew I’d say that.
With Open Doors 