Did I Ever Tell You the One . . .

I think I have written before about how much I am inspired by the homilies that my Pastor gives for daily Mass. Not that his Sunday Homilies aren't inspiring as well, but in this day and age when some priest forgo daily mass homilies all together Fr. Bill will encapsulate in just three or four sentences a great deal of wisdom that will stay with me throughout the day.

Often it will be exactly what I need to hear and will help in ways that I would have never imagined. Take for instance this Wednesday's morning mass. The gospel was the feeding of the four thousand from the gospel of Matthew Chapter 15. Fr. Bill's reflection was that the miracle Jesus performed was to take what the disciples had readily at hand and use it to make something miraculous happen. Perhaps when we are next feeling hopeless we should take what we have readily on hand and begin to use it to take care of the problem and then Jesus can use that to make something miraculous happen.

That struck me on Wednesday as being such an inspiring piece of wisdom. If we have the resources to begin to do something about a problem we shouldn't wait for some huge miracle to complete the process, but we should do what we can with what we have to begin and in the process Jesus will take our efforts and bless them, and in the process miracles will happen.

I really needed to hear that this week. I feel so stressed out this holiday season. I am trying to do what I can to manage the stress of the season, take care of mom's needs in the nursing home and her financial needs, (with help from only one sibling) and get her squared away for a future for which she didn't really prepare, and try not to freak out as I wait in neurotic hope for some word about my finals grades from gradual school. Along the way I am trying to really keep the cost of "Santa's Workshop" to a minimum this year as we have had some very unexpected expenses recently (not the least has been more than $800 keeping my car safe and running).

So, I am doing what I can, with what I have available to make a bright cheery Christmas, for my family. And I am going to try to even find the time to send out some Christmas Cards this year; something I haven't done in a while. I am hoping that making other folks Christmas a little brighter will help me to remember that it is the spirit of the holiday not the trappings that are important.

Pax

The Gift of Presence

Today I spent the afternoon helping mrangelmeg's mom with her Christmas Cards. I took my laptop and printer to her house and we made swift work of addressing her Christmas Cards by printing all of her addresses on labels which I put on the envelopes along with return labels and stamps. All she has to do over the next few days is sign each card and place it in the envelope and put them out for the mailman.

She was so happy. She told me that last year her little list of names (I think it added up to about 24 all together) took her nearly until Christmas Eve because she could only do about five a day writing them all out longhand.

What is even better is I saved the list for next year so all we have to do is make any changes and we are good to go.

The best part of all was we got to spend a really nice afternoon together. I sure wish I could spend that much quality time with my own mother. She doesn't even know who I am anymore and when I do go to visit she can only stand to have me around for about 45 minutes to an hour before she wants me to leave.

So, if you know of an elderly person in your family (or neighborhood, or church) who might be in the same predicament as my mother-in-law, why not offer to help out in the way I did. It was so much fun.

Pax