20-20 Vision

During this Christmas Season, I have had some thoughts about time. (No, read that again:  I did not say “it’s about time I had some thoughts”.)  Strangely, I thought of Christ’s birth in terms of calendar time. Although the calendar system we now use was created many years later, yet under that system we would say that Christ was born in the year zero.  We always think of years as numbers, and always think that that one is the first number, but at least in time, zero is.  Zero is the starting point when it all began.  It’s like the foundation to a house, only it is the foundation to time: Year Zero.  It begins with the year Jesus Christ was born.

And from that foundation of time, time marches on, never to return.  On that foundation, in some year we ourselves were born, and in some year we will die.  We look back at what Jesus did, from year 0 to 33AD, and say: “That is who He is,” the sum of His Life, the example on which to model our life, during our years.  But we don’t think often enough that our years will also be the sum of our life.  Who we are, who we will be defined forever as, is also who we will have become at the end of our lives. How we use this life, who we become in this life, is eternally important.

Time passes and does not return.  God has assigned to each of us a definite time in which to fulfill His divine plan for our soul; we have only this time and shall have no more.  In eternity, time will be no more; we shall be established forever in the degree of love which we have reached now, in time.  No further progress will be possible when time has ended.  “Therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men. (Gal 6:10)”

O Lord, if I look back on the year just passed, a year given me by Your divine Providence in which to increase my love of You, I can only grieve over myself and say to You: How little I have loved You, my God!  How badly I have spent my time!”  … Well do You know, My God, that in the midst of all my miseries I have never ceased to recognize Your great power and mercy.  May it prove of avail to me that I have not offended You in this.  Restore the time I have lost, my God, by granting me Your grace both in the present and in the future, that I may appear before You wearing the wedding garment.    

                                                --- Divine Intimacy, Meditation 35, December 31^st

We forget the examples Jesus gave us on how to live our lives, use our years.  We are to grow in holiness; our life is a cumulation, like we are sewing a garment --- one he describes as a wedding garment, for us to wear to the eternal marriage feast we are invited to attend, with our eternal King.

But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?”  And he was speechless.  Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”  For many are called, but few are chosen.  (Mt21:11-14)

This is the end of another year, another decade.  What will 2020 bring?  As I look back on my years’ past, I am glad that the sum of my life is not a tally of how may I led to Christ versus how many I led astray.  No, my life is a cumulation to the point I end up; who I am then, that is who I will be for all eternity, and so until my last year, my last day, I want keep sewing my wedding garment, to grow in holiness, grow in love, in my imitation of Him.

Lord, help me to follow You, to be Your messenger to everyone in my life.  You are so gentle with me, Lord.  You always forgive; You always nudge; You always wait with infinite patience.  Thank You.  Make me more like You.  I want to be Your light and Your goodness to everyone around me.  I want to attract them to You, however far away they may be, as the star of Bethlehem attracted the wise men.  Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart more like Yours.     --- The Better Part, Meditation 239, Jn 1:1-18

Happy new year, my friends.  Happy new decade.  May you live it well, and grow in holiness.  Don’t just let time pass; put on your glasses, see with 20-20 vision; this time is eternally important.

Review: It's Good To Be Here

Right from the title, there is an intimacy in this book.  Most people would have titled it: “It is Good to be Here,” a formal statement you’d expect to read, but not as you would say aloud.  Much of this book comes across as if you are hearing Christina Chase say it to you, saying it to you personally.  The subtitle mentions “The Sacred Wonder of Being Human.”  There are no words to adequately explain the meaning of the word “wonder,” oh, but Christina does that so well.  This BOOK, itself, is a wonder.

The subtitle of the book also relates that this book is “A Disabled Woman’s Reflections on God in the Flesh.”  If she didn’t tell you, I’m not sure you would know Christina is disabled --- physically.  I’ve read many thousands of books in my life; it is rare to find one like this which so radiates the love of the author.  Most books relate ideas: “Here’s what I think.”  A few books may express feelings (often without in-depth thought).  It is a rare book that shows the heart of the author, and Christina Chase puts on display her most beautiful heart.

“Every person needs love.”  Christina says it near the end of the book, but conveys that thought, in love, throughout this great read.  “To really love, one must be willing to suffer” is another thing she says, which echoes what I have heard so many wise men say.  It is a truth I have experienced, and firmly believe.  It is a truth Christina, whose body has been deteriorating since birth, knows well.

I began reading this book in the adoration chapel the Saturday before Christmas.  When I got home, I rush ordered a gift copy for a young girl I know who was recently diagnosed with a terrible disease.  And I gifted it to that young girl, named Christina, on Christmas Eve.  Ms. Chase, know that for at least this one person, you are an instrument of His peace.  Thank you.

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Like most of my exceptional reads, I cannot help but also post a few quotes:

-          Life is not defined by being able to do whatever you want without consequences.  Love, the authentic gift of oneself to another that requires sacrifice, is what life is about.

-          What Jesus went through in the wilderness (the temptations by Satan) is what gives us this understanding of what it means to be God.
And what it means to be human.
Human life is not without struggle and hardship.  The perfect human being --- God in the flesh --- did not use divine power to overcome struggle or avoid hardship.  Christ’s very real temptations and struggles are cosmically important because, by going through them, Christ sanctifies the battles within each and every one of us.

By listening with deep sympathy to the cares and concerns of others, even when we ourselves may be suffering from some burden, we are listening as we might  like to have listened to Our Lord when He was under sorrow and strain.  When we do this, when we give a compassionate ear to someone who is upset or sad, we are weeping with Christ, we are letting Him rest His head upon us as we hold His hand.

And THE LIGHT Shines in the Darkness

I did my Tuesday midnight adoration hour, my personal Christmas midnight mass early Christmas morn. It was indeed a holy hour for me, and I felt a great joy.  Later that Christmas morning, I went to attend the 10:30A mass, arriving early to say my Morning Prayers and to light a single small candle at the foot of the statue of Mary.  That action would soon have a renewed significance.

I honestly didn’t notice, as mass began, that the church lights, the many beautiful chandeliers which hang from the church ceiling, were not lit.  I was focused on the beauty of the Christmas morning liturgy.  But come the homily, Fr. Ed focused everyone on the absence of the lights.

“No, we didn’t have a power outage,” he said as he pointed at the lights, “but this morning our light was meant to be there, those six candles surrounding the altar.”  And then he explained further.

In Bethlehem, where we have a sister parish which we support, is the Grotto of the Nativity, the exact spot where it is believed Jesus was born.  Fr. Ed said that he had once visited that site, and “the nativity room is a small, below-ground grotto, lit by a single candle.  It is an awesome experience to be there.  It is the spot The Light came into this world.”

Fr. Ed explained that recently, from that candle at the Grotto of the Nativity, another was lit.  Arrangements were then made to allow that lit flame to be flown on an airliner to this country.  “Actually, when the airlines were told what was being done, they allowed for the exception to their rules and waived the airline fees of the people bringing that light, bringing it here to our church.  That light from the Grotto of the Nativity was the light used to light these six altar candles.”

“And the Light shines in the darkness.”

And Fr. Ed went on to explain how with the Birth of Jesus, the Light came into the darkness and how it was intended to light us, so that we too could shine in the darkness.  His light was just the start; we must continue to transfer that light, to be His light in the darkness of this world.

It was a most moving Christmas homily.  And it gave me a renewed perspective to that single small candle I light each Sunday morning.  I want to be a small light in this world. 

Even as you gave birth to the Light, Mary, strengthen my little flame, and help it to light others.  Amen.

And at the end of the mass they took up a second collection, for our sister parish in Bethlehem.