December Decision

We face a choice. We have to make a decision.

In the malls, the “holiday” music has already been tinkling through the speakers for a week or two. Pretty soon we will be called upon to clink our glasses with Andre. Or to sit on Santa’s lap. Or to swipe Visa and MasterCard 24/7, until the stores close at midnight on December 24.

I do not claim to understand how “Black Friday” got it’s name. But something dark and terrible and menacing has indeed overtaken the month before Christmas. For many Americans, December has become a month of stress and futility.

We can, dear brothers and sisters, find an amazing irony in all this. We have to find it, because if we don’t, the sad pointlessness of ‘holidays’ without religion will give us the blues, big time.

Peace of Christ, Delivered

Jesus said to His Apostles, “When you enter a house, wish it peace.”
(Matthew 10:12)

Why did Pope Benedict declare a Year of the Priest?

When you are expecting a delivery, you look for the UPS man or the FedEx man. When he arrives, he hands the package to you. You might ignore the UPS man and focus on the package.

Of course, the UPS man or the FedEx man is just doing his job. But the fact that there is a UPS and a FedEx to get our deliveries to us is pretty amazing. These companies deliver all over the world.

There is one delivery that is uniquely wonderful, uniquely important: the peace of Christ. This is a delivery that comes to us from some place other than earth.

The Lord came down from heaven to give us His peace. And He established a company that delivers divine peace to every city, town, and village, through generation after generation, until the end of time.

The priest is the like the FedEx man—just doing his job.

But maybe Pope Benedict is asking us all to step back and appreciate the marvel of this delivery system. The system is so solid and reliable, we easily take it for granted. But where would we be without it?