A Vision for Bringing the Gifts of Christmas into the New Year

As we begin this New Year, we are invited to  make room  in our hearts for our Lord and Savior, the Christ Child.  Let us look at the world with new eyes, eyes that see the many blessings God has bestowed on us. It is so easy to  yearn for what we don’t have and wish for our lives to be different., to be better than they are. It is easy to wonder why God has not blessed us as he has others around us? Is it possible that God offers no blessings to His own children, or is it more a matter of how we do (or don’t) see God, or how we see our own lives?  Are we focused on our deficits, the deficits of others, and the pain we have experienced in life? How does our focusing on those perceived deficits interfere with our ability to see and relate to God? Might we sometimes be the cause of our own separation from God? 

I wonder what would happen if we could shift how we see things for even a few minutes a day, so we consider those things in our life God has blessed us with? What blessings has God placed in our lives?  Is this a bit of a which came first, the chicken or the egg situation? If we continue to become closer to God, I wonder if we might see blessings we may never have considered before.  And conversely, if we begin to look more carefully at the blessings in our lives, might this bring us closer to God?

Blessings need not be earth shattering events. A blessing may be a smile from a stranger as we pass them on the street, a friendly person behind a counter at a store, a family member, or a friend who calls us on the phone. And for some of us, it may even be God’s whispering softly in our hearts. Sadly, our complaining, self-pity, and pain can drown out that gentle whisper and cause us to totally miss  God in our lives. All that is not from God overtakes anything that is if we allow ourselves to immerse ourselves in our areas of pain and sorrow. With all of those things taking up residence in our hearts, there is barely any room for God to have even a tiny space.

My prayer is that in 2023, we can male room in our our hearts to experience the Love and Joy that the Christ Child  brings to us. May we all prepare ourselves to see Him in our lives and to hear His loving whisper in our hearts.   —- Martha Corkery

LOVE: The Chalice from which Everything Flows.

Over the past three months, I noticed from my various spiritual activities and practices (divine reading, book circle, online courses, and presentation, making Soul Collage cards, coloring, and Prayer through movements) that a myriad of words, phrases and sentences have being swirling around in my head. Everyday listening to the busyness going on in my head, I got the sense that these unhinged guests namely surrender, trust, hope, mercy, truth, three-centered awareness, stillness, peace, death, silence, grace, freedom, well-being, power, strength, radiance, beauty, guiding light, goodness, joyous times, an undivided heart, prayer and work, a clear conscience, Eucharist, “Constant friend and guide,” “Rest in Me,” “I wish that you will always know within the depths of your being that I am your Rock and Fortress, a very Presence in times of dis-ease,” “I release all rigidity in your life that may hinder the flowering of your gentleness, softness and acceptance, “I am one who paints your life with the vibrant colors of the rainbow,” “Let your life be an expression of the rainbow giving encouragement to one and all,” “On your journey, I am the chalice that strengthens you along the way,” were looking for a resting place to become a cohesive whole that would infuse the ordinariness of my daily life.

In the wee hours of this morning as I lay in bed listening to their fluttering around looking for a resting place, I watched in slow motion as each one formed into one solitary word-LOVE. A word painted in red whilst these words vibrated in every fiber of my being:

Love divine, all loves excelling,

joy of heaven, to earth come down,

fix in us thy humble dwelling,

all thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesu, thou art all compassion,

pure unbounded love thou art;

visit us with thy salvation,

enter every trembling heart (Charles Wesley 1707-1788).

So, as I look forward to the beginning of the Body of Christ’s Liturgical Year my pray is that the chalice of Love may be the seasoning that sprinkles my every thought, word, and action so that I may love God with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul and love my neighbor as myself.

What might be your word that you desire to be your seasoning for this coming Liturgical Year?

—- Celpha Sands

Give Thanks to God, the Divine, the Creator

As the Thanksgiving holiday draws near, memories begin flickering in my mind like old movies: The turkey, pumpkin, and cornucopia stickers of grade school fame that adorned my school papers. The drawings we were given to color, featuring smiling pilgrims holding muskets, Native Americans holding vegetables, lady pilgrims wearing aprons, all surrounding a cooked turkey and other holiday foods filling a long table. My family seated around a table watching with great anticipation while the roasted turkey was being carved. And just before the serving of food started, hands joining and my uncle leading us in thanking God or the Divine for the food, for all of the gifts he had bestowed on us, and, most importantly, for each other.

When I reflect on my personal relationship with God and the evolution of my prayer, it seems that my prayers thanking God are deeply rooted in Thanksgiving and its traditions. In my younger years, that was the time when those around me were outwardly thanking God for our abundances. It was also a time when we would pray together, not a typical activity for the rest of the year in my family.

Being light years beyond grade school, I am not sure if children still see the stickers or color those pictures of the First Thanksgiving that I experienced. When I look around my adult world, I see turkeys, ads for pies, Thanksgiving Dinner dining opportunities in restaurants, advertisements for parades, and football games. I see no ads about new Thanksgiving prayers or prayer books for families in preparation for this holiday. The media seems not to be inviting us to give thanks to God as did our ancestors.

I think there is some irony when I remember my younger brother talking about the widely televised parade as “The Macy Day Parade.” I smile thinking about that perception of Thanksgiving, but then start to wonder if it is not a more appropriate contemporary name for the parade associated with this November holiday. I wonder if the roots of that holiday disintegrated and left a more commercial holiday standing in its place? A time for a big meal, watching a parade, football, bargain shopping for Christmas, and planned family time. Maybe I am missing something? But I am sensing, probably not.

So, this makes me wonder if as a culture we have backed off from setting aside even one day a year to thank God, the Divine, our Creator, for the abundance He has given this country? It reminds me of this section of the letter of St. Paul to the Romans:

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Romans 1:21

Have our foolish hearts become darkened? Has our thinking become futile? When you honestly think about all that is invested in a huge parade, a football game, and even a huge meal, is there truthfully any long-term benefit, or are they all merely fleeting moments of varying durations?

...always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Ephesians 5:20

Do I thank God enough for all the blessings He has placed, and continues to place, in my life? God deserves my gratitude, every moment of my life, but sadly, I do not always remember to share my gratitude with Him?

This Thanksgiving and in future days, I will take to heart the words of St. Paul:

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.   Colossians 3:1

Regardless of your religious leanings and how you address the Divine, may you and your families find ways to give thanks and to open your grateful hearts. May you receive an abundance of blessings.

-       Martha Corkery  -