Gratitude

A Message from Fr Daniel in St Benedict’s Bulletin

I pray for you these days. Alongside the joy there is much anxiety- about children, about extra precious, about memories of missing loved ones. Christmas, for many, is a strange time. But at its heart it is a stunning revelation that God is no longer an absentee landlord in heaven; each day he walks the earth with us in the person of our needy neighbour. It takes a lifetime of reflection to begin to understand this mystery.

I want to thank you today for your welcome and for your kindness to me since I arrived here at Saint Benedict’s at the beginning of September, nearly four months ago. I have enjoyed every minute of my fast-flowing time here with you. I have a good feeling that these are special years for all of us, a unique invitation to enrich our lives, to deepen our joy, to cope with our anxieties and to love God and each other more passionately. With the wind of the spirit behind us let us, in God’s name, thoroughly review the shape of our lives- our priorities and our omissions, for instance, as we prepare for Christmas and for 1992.

Being with you has been a real privilege for me. Building the body of Christ together here in the community is so exciting and challenging. So far, your ideas, suggestions and attendance at the liturgies and meetings have been so promising and impressive. We are called, I feel sure, to see the wider picture of our extended Christian family- that family beyond our homes and beyond our shores where Christ body is daily and nightly in serious pain. The revelation of Christmas wakes us up from our comfortable weekly religious routine and points us towards some shocking situations around us. Without our full-hearted co-operation Christ’s merciful healing cannot happen.

May I, ingratitude, offer you some gifts for the home of your heart:

• the gift of your beauty you are carefully designed in the image of God’s own loveliness
• the gift of listening when you listen without judging you mediate God’s mercy
• The gift of tears (mainly for men) may you experience the healing of express sorrow
• the gift of compassion so that you will see all creatures as your sisters and brothers
• the gift of affection – offer many signs of friendship words of praise hugs kisses
• the gift of vision may you believe in the light even before the dawn has yet come
• the gift of your child may you discover your child the one in your home and the one in your heart, the ability to play again, to trust, to let go, to dream
• the gift of yourself so that you will regain your self-confidence, your self-esteem, your true worth and your personal power – (ALL FREE!)

May the joy of god fill your hearts during these days of wonder.

 

(for the Fourth Sunday of Advent 1992)