A SURPRISE CHRISTMAS GIFT!

By -
Some special women I pray with every week surprised me with an amazing Christmas gift. Delivered by the ring leader of Santa's little do gooder elves. I have been thinking about their kindness since last Friday evening when the delivery team arrived at my home and the true meaning of Christmas came alive.

The richness of their gift really lies in the ladies themselves...Full of Love and laughter, faith and hope...They are brimming with the kind of humble faith that is infectious...As I sit in our circle of prayer, listening to their comments, watching their faces and feeling their joy-and their pain...I am gratified at being a part of this community of honesty, that is honestly inspiring a sincere devotion to all the things that really matter in this life and in the next.

The spirit of the Christmas season is all about the gift of life that gave us eternal life...The birth of a Savior who saved us from our selfishness by seeing to it that we saw in him the sensational spirit of uncompromising, unconditional giving...The Lord of Love that let us know, there is nothing greater than his kiss from heaven and the eternal blessings that come our way, every time we do something nice for someone else.

My friends reminded me of that-in a big way, with their big hearts and their giving attitudes. They lived the example of God's Love-at this blessed time of the year-when giving and receiving is really as simple as letting someone else know that you honestly care.

In all the chaos that we create at Christmas, that's the one gift that really does keep on giving...And the only one that will ever really matter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OUR LADY OF JOY, HANCEVILLE ALABAMA

By -
Image
High atop a hill in Hanceville Alabama, broken hearts are being healed and hope is being restored. Our Lady of Joyful Hope is a community of young men who are finding new freedom through a life of authentic truth. Once lost in the darkness of addiction they are now living in the light of Christ who is transforming them from the inside out...And their families, if they are open and willing, are being transformed right alongside them. Recently, I spent three days with this community, listening to the young men, their parents and to the foundress, Mother Elvira, who flew in from Italy for the anointing of the new community house and the celebration that followed. Mother Elvira's life story is on par with Mother Teresa. She is an Italian nun who heard the call from God to snatch souls from Satan by delivering young men and women from the demonic grip of addiction. She gave up everything familiar, walked straight into the wilderness and wound up becoming a living legacy for desperate fa
Read more

HRUSHIV UKRAINE: APPARITIONS OF THE BLESSED MOTHER

By -
Image
Twenty four years ago today, April 27, 1987 the Blessed Mother allegedly appeared in Hrushiv Ukraine with a warning and words of consolation. She came on the Feast of the Ascension, exactly one year after the nuclear reactor disaster at Chernobyl saying "Do not forget those who have died...Chernobyl is a reminder and a sign for the whole world." In 1990 while producing a television documentary in Ukraine, I visited Hrushi and interviewed a handful of people who had witnessed the apparition above the church of the Holy Trinity. In all, some five hundred thousand witnesses claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary over a four month period. Mary apparently told them she came to thank the Ukrainian people because they had suffered so much at the hands of a raging lion who had been prowling around seeking whom he could devour. She said their suffering would come to an end and one day Ukraine would become an independent state. She then urged disciplined, Christian fortitude, "
Read more

CONFESSIONS OF FATHER JOE BENSON

By -
As we sat in silence, meditating...I nudged my friend Terri, "What do we have to complain about?!" I whispered. There he hung, pain stricken, vulnerable in his nakedness, sharp thorns cutting into his head, pleading eyes fixed on the heavens. What I thought, on God's green earth, do I have to complain about?! That's probably why they do it...place the life like crucifix dead center-above the altar, just above the Blessed Sacrament, right where you can't miss it...just to remind us-things could be worse, but they're destined to get better-if we keep our eyes focused-on the solution. Another friend-likes to remind me-he's not on the cross anymore...So why do we keep him there? Every one's got an opinion, but to tell you the truth, I need to be reminded of the sacrifice...and every painful moment in between. Puts my problems in perspective...helps me see clearly...gives me strength to proceed. We went to first Friday adoration in the upper ninth ward..
Read more