CowPi Journal

Grant me, O Lord my God,
a mind to know you,
a heart to seek you,
wisdom to find you,
conduct pleasing to you,
faithful perseverance in waiting for you,
and a hope of finally embracing you.

— Saint Thomas Aquinas

If a tree falls, it makes a lot of noise;
but if a thousand flowers bloom,
it happens in the greatest of silence.

— Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

Something to ponder this Christmas day…

Wake me up Father so that I won’t miss you. Purify my heart so that I may see You, so that I may see You in others, and others may see You in me.

Ask for repentance in your prayer and nothing else, neither for divine lights, nor miracles, nor prophecies, nor spiritual gifts—nothing but repentance. Repentance will bring you humility, humility will bring you the Grace of God, and God will have in His Grace everything you need for your salvation, or anything you might need to help another soul.

— Elder Paisios from Mt Athos

In Manifesting God, Fr. Keating writes,

The first thing [Jesus] said when he began to preach was, “Repent” (Matthew 4:17). This word does not refer to penitential exercises or external practices but means change the direction in which you are looking for happiness. Jesus’ teaching clearly implies that our present direction does not lead to where happiness can be found, and still less to where God can be found.

Thus, a definition for repent:

Repent = change the direction in which you are looking for happiness

In other words, turn toward God, look toward God. Look at the first two commandments, love God and love your neighbor.

Reread Elder Paisios’s quote above on prayer…

From Br. Joseph —

The young boy asked, “Why Christmas?”

His father replied, “You know, it’s December 25th, the season when everyone puts up Christmas trees and decorates everything in red and green. We hang Christmas lights on the house and…”

“Yes, I know all that Dad. Not when is Christmas. Why Christmas?”

The father tried again. “Well, it is a time for giving gifts to friends and loved ones to show that you care about them. Santa Claus comes and…”

“Not how, why Christmas?” re-asked the son.

“Christmas is,” slowly began the father searching his memory for the true reason, “Christmas is the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus.”

“Yes, Dad.” The son implored one more time, “Not what, why Dad, why is there Christmas?”

Little kids can ask a lot of questions, why, why, why. So why, why Christmas? Why was Jesus born? Why do we celebrate His birth?

You know the answers, at least you know the reasons stated by the church or by your parents and such. They are correct answers, but they are on the surface. Go deeper. Search your heart. Why is there Christmas for you?? Not when, how, or what, but why?

Why was Jesus born for you?

The Incarnation wasn’t just a thoughtful gesture on the part of God.

Was it to save the world, to save you? Do you need saving? Saving from what? If you don’t need saving, then you don’t need Christmas! Perfect people don’t need God.

Was Jesus born to bring peace? To heal? To bring life? To be the Way?

Yes, yes, yes. These are all great and important why’s, but believe it or not, the heart wants more.

Maybe the deepest reason is so simple and so basic to human need that we often forget it. The suffering Job asked a thousand questions and did not receive any answers, except one. It is the same answer we get too, but we often do not see it, or even accept it as enough.

Maybe the most profound reason why there is Christmas is found in Scripture in Matthew 1:23 —

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us.”

God is with us, with you. (If you think about it, what more do we truly need than God?)

Which leaves one more question…where is Christmas?

Thank you Mary for your “yes.” Our Lady of Mercy, pray for us…