Advent Message to My Grandkids (ages 8, 7, 5 and 15 months).
So let’s talk about Advent. That’s the Church season we’re in now, and it’s a special time of year for Christians. We remember that there were many hundreds of years when people wondered what God was really like, and hoped and prayed that one day God would come to us as a human. Then Jesus was born, and he showed us through his life, death and
resurrection who God is and how God relates to us — as Love itself. During Advent, we wait for Christmas day and remember all the many years when people were waiting for Jesus. We let ourselves think about these things each day, and that will make Christmas more special.
A New Set of Eyes: Encountering the Hidden God, by Paula D'Arcy. Crossroad, 2002.
After giving the world “The Gift of the Red
Bird” based on the sudden loss of her husband and 21 month old daughter and at a time when she was pregnant, D’Arcy offers the world a small volume in which one is invited to encounter the hidden God in ordinary events. She gives a series of parables, meditations, and reflections to awaken the heart to God’s presence, free the soul of even its cherished idols, and infuse an abundance of joy into the human heart.
She begins this volume with questions of the heart, such as, “Do I dare start fresh and let God, not my coveted image of God, lead the way? Do I have the courage to ask if all I believe is the fullest knowledge? What might it cost to move from belief to sight? How do we become unafraid to~ see what we already are?”
D’Arcy’s aim is to open our eyes to the knowledge, intuition, and love that is a wellspring in our deepest souls.
(Thanks to Sr. Irene Hartman, O.P. for this review.)
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The absence of the “hard facts” of history is not necessarily an obstacle to the popularity of saints, as the devotion to St. Nicholas shows. Both the Eastern and Western Churches honor him, and it is claimed that after the Blessed Virgin, he is the saint most pictured by Christian artists.
And yet, historically, we can pinpoint only the fact that Nicholas was the fourth-century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor.
As with many of the saints, however, we are able to capture the relationship which Nicholas had
with God through the admiration which Christians have had for him—an admiration expressed in the colorful stories which have been told and retold through the centuries.
Perhaps the best-known story about Nicholas concerns his charity toward a
poor man who was unable to provide dowries for his three daughters of marriageable age. Rather than see them forced into prostitution, Nicholas secretly tossed a bag of gold through the poor man’s window on three separate occasions, thus enabling the daughters to be married. Over the centuries, this particular legend evolved into the custom of gift-giving on the saint’s feast. In the English-speaking countries, St. Nicholas became, by a twist of the tongue, Santa Claus—further expanding the
example of generosity portrayed by this holy bishop.
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A man who smelled like a distillery flopped on a subway seat next to a priest.
The man's tie was stained, his face was plastered with red lipstick, and a half empty bottle of gin was sticking out of his torn coat pocket. He opened his newspaper and began reading.
After a few minutes the disheveled guy turned to the priest and asked, "Say, Father, what causes arthritis?"
"Mister, it's caused by loose living, being with cheap, wicked
women, too much alcohol and a contempt for your fellow man."
"Well, I'll be damned!" the drunk muttered, returning to his paper.
The priest, thinking
about what he had said, nudged the man and apologized. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to come on so strong. How long have you had arthritis?"
"I don't have it, Father. I was just reading here that the Pope does."
