December 19
Company’s Coming!
Next week our Church will be gloriously filled to celebrate the coming of our Savior. There will be visitors from out of town visiting relatives as well as people who may live just down the street from us who haven’t been with us for a while. I was brought up to always put company first. I was to take their coats, smile warmly and offer them the best seat in the house. The goal being to make them feel as if they were in their own home. Our Church is very much like a home. We come together to worship, share a meal, and socialize before and after Mass. We are family.
Think back to last Christmas… Did you put on your “company best”? Did you welcome a newcomer to our family? Or… did you think to yourself, “that stranger took my pew!” Or ask… “whose car is in my usual parking space?” And then go grumbling and finding a new space to sit or park in. At Christmas-time we all have to shift from our usual seats at the dining room table to accommodate our guests. We also often those who are lonely and in search of love and companionship to our table. We open our hearts and pocketbooks to those in need. This is the spirit of Christmas. Should it be any different in our Church home?
This Christmas let us put on our “company best.” Today, before leaving, let us pick up any stray bulletins, gum wrappers and Cheerios to prepare for our guests. Let us at Mass give up our usual seats and let our company have the best seats in the house. Let us park further away so that those who are visiting will feel welcomed.
Let us welcome our company with open arms and warm hearts. You may never know the impact of a smile or a simple Merry Christmas will have on someone. Who knows? Perhaps instead of feeling like “company” they will begin to feel like family and a part of our home.
God Bless, Holly Clark
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Roses in December
December 12, 2010
Roses in December
The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song.- Is 35:1-2
How like the desert is a New England winter! Gone are the colorful autumn leaves, the skies become grayer, the nights longer, and a chill settles over the land. This seems very much like the parched land Isaiah speaks of in today’s first reading. We know the greenery will return and our “desert” will bloom again in the Spring but today we are impatient… we expect roses in December.
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. According to tradition, the Blessed Mother sent a simple farmer, Juan Diego, to ask the bishop to build a church on the site of her appearance. The doubting bishop asked Juan for a sign to confirm the vision. Mary then provided fresh roses from the cold, frozen ground as well as a beautiful image of herself on Juan Diego’s cloak. This is the faith of Advent, a belief that God can work miracles, producing water in the desert, light in the darkness, and roses in December.
Where can you find “roses in December”? Little miracles, or roses, surround us daily if only we open our eyes and heart. We need to look past the dreariness of our New England winter desert and find the beauty within. Picture in your mind a single red rose, or perhaps go to a florist and buy one or more… Take your rose and go outside and drop a petal in the winter snow and offer, for each petal dropped, a personal prayer and a prayer for the world:
Almighty God, we believe in your power to bring order out of chaos, life out of death, and roses out of December snow. Work your miracles of life among us in this season of hope. (Jerry Welte)
After you have dropped your petals, pause for a moment and gaze at the beauty the bright red color against the whiteness of the snow. And think of Christ’s blood, spilled for us against the desert sand. Christ’s blood brings life to our wilderness and Christ’s love brings us “roses in December.”
God Bless, Holly Clark
Roses in December
The desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song.- Is 35:1-2
How like the desert is a New England winter! Gone are the colorful autumn leaves, the skies become grayer, the nights longer, and a chill settles over the land. This seems very much like the parched land Isaiah speaks of in today’s first reading. We know the greenery will return and our “desert” will bloom again in the Spring but today we are impatient… we expect roses in December.
Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. According to tradition, the Blessed Mother sent a simple farmer, Juan Diego, to ask the bishop to build a church on the site of her appearance. The doubting bishop asked Juan for a sign to confirm the vision. Mary then provided fresh roses from the cold, frozen ground as well as a beautiful image of herself on Juan Diego’s cloak. This is the faith of Advent, a belief that God can work miracles, producing water in the desert, light in the darkness, and roses in December.
Where can you find “roses in December”? Little miracles, or roses, surround us daily if only we open our eyes and heart. We need to look past the dreariness of our New England winter desert and find the beauty within. Picture in your mind a single red rose, or perhaps go to a florist and buy one or more… Take your rose and go outside and drop a petal in the winter snow and offer, for each petal dropped, a personal prayer and a prayer for the world:
Almighty God, we believe in your power to bring order out of chaos, life out of death, and roses out of December snow. Work your miracles of life among us in this season of hope. (Jerry Welte)
After you have dropped your petals, pause for a moment and gaze at the beauty the bright red color against the whiteness of the snow. And think of Christ’s blood, spilled for us against the desert sand. Christ’s blood brings life to our wilderness and Christ’s love brings us “roses in December.”
God Bless, Holly Clark
Befriend Your Enemies
December 5, 2010
Befriend Your Enemies
Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.- Is 11:6
Advent is a time of preparation… a time to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord. How do we prepare ourselves? We need to clean out all those cobwebs that may be holding our hearts back from truly uniting with our Lord’s heart and spirit.
Please take a moment now and think about all the people you know and think about how many you have had quarrels with or feel they have done you an injustice. Are there unresolved feelings? Do you hold grudges? OR…Do you befriend your enemies and pray for them? Preparing the way for the Lord to enter your heart means you also have to clean out your hearts and minds of things that could put up a road block to receiving the Lord.
In today’s reading from Isaiah, the wolf lies down in peace with the lamb. Are you the wolf or the lamb? It truly does not matter whether you are a wolf or a lamb… you have the chance TODAY to be friends with all you have had disagreements with. TODAY pray for patience to deal with those who trouble you and tomorrow reach out to someone in your past or present with whom you wish to forgive or ask for forgiveness. Hate, holding grudges, animosity saps the energy you could be using for love. This Advent make it a point to reach out to someone before Christmas… Clear out your hearts from all who trouble you and make room for the love of the Lord.
God Bless, Holly Clark
Befriend Your Enemies
Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them.- Is 11:6
Advent is a time of preparation… a time to prepare ourselves for the coming of our Lord. How do we prepare ourselves? We need to clean out all those cobwebs that may be holding our hearts back from truly uniting with our Lord’s heart and spirit.
Please take a moment now and think about all the people you know and think about how many you have had quarrels with or feel they have done you an injustice. Are there unresolved feelings? Do you hold grudges? OR…Do you befriend your enemies and pray for them? Preparing the way for the Lord to enter your heart means you also have to clean out your hearts and minds of things that could put up a road block to receiving the Lord.
In today’s reading from Isaiah, the wolf lies down in peace with the lamb. Are you the wolf or the lamb? It truly does not matter whether you are a wolf or a lamb… you have the chance TODAY to be friends with all you have had disagreements with. TODAY pray for patience to deal with those who trouble you and tomorrow reach out to someone in your past or present with whom you wish to forgive or ask for forgiveness. Hate, holding grudges, animosity saps the energy you could be using for love. This Advent make it a point to reach out to someone before Christmas… Clear out your hearts from all who trouble you and make room for the love of the Lord.
God Bless, Holly Clark
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