December 16th, 2008
There is something that happens during Advent every year, and that is an increase in worry and anxiety. There are deadlines of finding and sending just right gifts that fit in our budget, yet we usually go over budget and so there are worries on top of worries. Then there are anxious customers to be pleased in short order, there is inventory to be moved before the year’s end... At this time too I usually hear from those with whom I disagree, and there is a struggle to turn all attention to negative things. It seems to be a time when the evil one becomes especially active and swirls through our lives, pushing these buttons in all of us, attempting to destroy the very memory and birth of Christ by encouraging thoughts of anything and everything but those of Our Little Savior.
Oh dear Jesus! How poorly I am preparing the cradle of my heart for Your Birth, so full of these uncomfortable brambles. What a prickly bed You will find there! Forgive me!
I catch myself knee deep in this mire every year, and unfortunately, I see I am not alone. Somehow, there we are, stuck in the muck, despite our best intentions to keep Christ firmly in Christmas this year. Yes?
But let us not get lost in despair… there is still time for repair! How blessed we are to have such a merciful and loving and understanding Mother! Let us run together and beg for Her warm and loving Heart. So pure, so soft. She will not refuse us, as She loves Her Little Son with all of Her Heart, and only desires His comfort. What better way than for Her to give us Her own Heart? We have only to ask. And with Her Heart within us, we share now in Her desires, of all that is holy and good and true. Ah! The Kingdom of God is truly within us alive and well!
Yes! It is true. The Kingdom of God is within you! That is Our Lord speaking to us in Holy Scripture. So often He tells us this, but it is so hard to fathom such a thing! How can this be?
One day I was watching a movie on television and I understood this mystery better. How? Well, gradually, as I watched the movie, I began to notice the reflection in the glass of the tv, of the room and all of us sitting there watching the movie. I began to think that the real picture was not the make believe movie, but the reflection of us. Both pictures were there simultaneously, and depending on my focus, that was the picture I saw.
To me, this visible life we live in the world, is like a movie on tv, and the reflection is the spiritual life within, mostly hidden from our conscious minds and bodily eyes, but contains the true reality. What is lived within, will come with us into eternity. Our most hidden desires are fulfilled in this spiritual life. Do we desire to hug and kiss the Baby Jesus? We can! Truly! This desire is seen and felt by Him just as with our own child! Yes, it is true. What we fantasize within, is done within! There is no hiding it. No matter how hidden, even those desires which we manage to hide from ourselves, good or bad, they are clearly seen and done there. This is why when Jesus spoke upon one who looked upon another with eyes of adultery, had already committed it in their heart.
Where we spend our time with our thoughts and desires, this is the true reality, and one I am becoming more conscious of. Imagine this! Oh! If you wish to sit down and spend time with the Holy Family, do! Do we wish to speak with our guardian angel? Do! Nothing is stopping us, except us and our lack of faith. Do we wonder why some of the saints, such as Padre Pio, would talk with Jesus, with the angels, with the souls in purgatory as easily as with us? That is because there are no walls between them and us, except for those we put up ourselves. The Kingdom of God is within us, and is easily available to all who truly wish to enter. How? Our Lord said entrance is for those who become as a little child. How easily children believe! How little do they worry about tomorrow! Let us become as little children. Tear down the walls of pride, of doubt, and soon, just like the fabled Alice in Wonderland… when we become small enough, we will walk right through the door. That is no fable.See the Holy Family in the hearts of all your family, and treat them in like fashion. See the Child Jesus in the heart of every person, and embrace Him there! It is no myth. What we do in our heart, we do in truth.
Why do I choose instead to get lost in the brambles outside? How thorny, how cold, my heart is this time of year. Poor Jesus. I give you now the Love of Your own Mother. I kiss Your little cheek with Her lips, and I wait with Her Hope and Prayers for Your Birth into my heart this Christmas morning. I kneel with all of my Heavenly Family, and I pray for your coming. I beg of Our Mother, to share Her Love, Her Longings, Her Joy, Her Trust, with me and all of my brothers and sisters, so that Our Little Savior will find a WARM welcome this Christmas!
Dear Brothers and Sisters, please join in this prayer with me, and pray for me as I do for you, in the Immaculate Heart of our Mother. Amen.