I have been reading MY ONE WORD by Mike Ashcraft & Rachel Olsen. On Christmas Eve morning I began reading Chapter 3 ~ Pick Your Word.
I found it very fitting that I at Christmas Eve Mass, God gave me MY ONE WORD. At first I thought it was DAUGHTER because the opening reading was from Isaiah 62:3:
You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
As I heard that Scripture being read I clearly heard the word DAUGHTER. However, it must have been the LORD using it to get my attention. Before the Gospel reading, EMMANUEL was on my heart and mind. Father Ed’s homily helped me to know for certain.
Father Ed opened his homily asking “what can we do to grow?” Today is born for us a Savior! Salvation was born 2000 years ago and again today in 2012. Salvation lives within us. Salvation is not a what, it’s a Who. God is with us – Emmanuel.
Mary and Joseph are the first witnesses of the Who of Salvation. Salvation was born through Mary and Joseph. Yet Salvation lives within us now, in this year, Christmas 2012. This Christmas calls us to live lives that proclaim “God is with us!” He is with us through caring, merciful, compassion, generosity, and kindness. We too are giving birth to Salvation through these loving actions. We see them daily and sometimes we take them for granted, such as a parent tending to a small child, showing compassion. God among us, transforming us into God’s very presence for us (being His hands and feet.)
As the Christmas song states “do you see what I see?” All through the centuries people have been compelled to announce this to others. Christ is Born! For us a Savior is Born! We make known that message very clearly by the way we live each day. Our own priceless gift this Christmas Season and everyday is to bring Christ’s presence to others. The greatest gift we will ever give to another person – our parents, a child, our lover, our boss, our employer, our neighbors or our friends – is Christ’s presence. The gift of Christ’s presence also invites us to allow God to live in our lives, to open our hearts to the presence of God within us.
The story of Christmas never grows old. Perhaps because it tells us of God’s great love of us. God loves each and every person, with an everlasting love. Your presence is important to God and everyone! Believe that!!! Every one of us are precious!
Father Ed’s homily hit every point I thought of as I was praying for MY ONE WORD. I want to bring Christ’s presence to others. i want to be kind, merciful, giving, compassionate. I want to be those things not only to my family and friends but my co-workers, my boss, my neighbor and the stranger I meet. I want to be those things not only when I feel good but when I don’t feel like it. I want others to know God’s absolute, everlasting love through me and my actions.
EMMANUEL ~ GOD IS WITH US!
SimplyMe 