WE ARE CHRISTMAS!

We are ANGELS, when our lives offer hymns of praise to God;

We are JOHN THE BAPTIST, when we lead others to God;

We are POOR SHEPHERDS, when we cannot boast of any treasure but God;

We are JOSEPH, when we humbly and quietly listen to the voice of God;

We are MARY, when we offer our all to God;

We are WISE MEN, when we recognize as true king and savior only God;

we are JESUS, when our loving words become loving works for others, when we strive, inspite of our weakness, our sins and shortcomings, to die to ourselves that others may live.

For when we embrace the cross of our daily lives, when we impose with joy upon ourselves the gentle burden of loving one another, when we constantly pave the way for the salvation of others, then we recover the great beauty of who we originally are, the IMAGE AND LIKENESS of our God;

Then we truly become IMMANUEL, LOGOS-INCARNATE, GOD-WITH-US!

WE ARE CHRISTMAS!

Advent Thoughts

If Christmas is just about...
spending lavishly
on toys for the cute little ones,
or banquets dripping
with fat, all syrupy,
and covered with tinsels
and false sparklers,
then Christmas is just not worth it.

Or do we mean...
the season of "peace on earth"
at that time of the year
for families who have much,
couched snuggly 'round burning logs,
overcome with burps,
effectively shielded
from the stench of the 'have not.'

For when Christmas is all these,
and only these,
then Christmas is a fake,
a most foul mistake,
an oppressive invention
of an ungrateful creation;
a slap on the face
of the Holy gift-Giver.

Christmas is a revolution
against the lie of the ages,
for the baby in the manger
is the most powerful of rulers.

He waged war against greed.
He brought down walls and divisions.
He reclaimed what is His.
He unmasked the deceiver.

Christmas is about...
food on the table for the gatherer of scraps,
and joy without price-tags for the urchins of the slums,
and smile on the faces of the harshly oppressed,
and a God who says "ENOUGH"
to His self-destructing children.

Christmas is homecoming...
for me,
for all.
Christmas is the triumph
of the good and the small.
Christmas is the new birth
for the children of the fall.
Christmas is Christ's shoulders
upon which I stand tall!