Mother Mary leading us to the living light of her son Jesus Christ
Today's reading was about the Transfiguration of our Lord. The great foreshadowing for heaven's glories!
The thought of that reminded me of this photo I took a few weeks ago. A nice statue of Mary backlit and a little flash up front...Well illuminated just like she was in life as she fully accepted and lived the life of love Christ called us to lead.
Well here is to praying we all have a good week dreaming of God's glory!
-ehw
This weekend my church celebrated the Holy Family. It is my wife's favorite mass of the year. It is a very personal theme for us, and gives us as a role model family to look up to.
This statue sits outside our church, and on the cold rainy we saw today it reminded me of their challenging life together.
Here we have a man and woman, given the mission of raising Christ. They are displaced from home during the pregnancy, chased into exile by a homicidal king killing every male child from Bethlehem, go into Egypt a country alien to them with nothing but their clothes and talents, and finally they lose their child in the temple together. They fought hunger, exposure, heat and other men to survive. Any way you chalk it up, this family faced hardship, toil and challenges matched by the most unfortunate in this world past and present.
Through all these challenges, and the madness of trying to keep their family alive, they still found time to listen for the direction God sends each of us for these adventures. The most prolific messages came from angels, but I often wonder how many were just whispers in the wind of the desert or the guidance of old proverbs.
Our pastor today at mass reminded us, the last words we hear attributed directly to Mary are at the wedding in Cana. There she instructs the servants to do whatever her son directs them to do. This in a manner was the culmination of the Holy Family's stewardship of the Son of God. The love of Joseph and Mary ensured the people of the world have the word of God no longer confined to angels and prophets. We actually have it now available to us in the first person. The words of Christ in the bible direct our hearts and actions on the way to communion with the Father because of their faith. It is the Holy Family's eternal gift to our past, present and future.
So this year, I challenge myself and anyone else out there to 1) Read the words of Christ and 2) Meditate on those words. Just then maybe out hearts will hear the whispers of wisdom directing you through life's challenges in the fashion Jesus directs.
Who knows...we just may find ourselves following the footsteps of the Holy Family!
-ehw
P.S. The inspiration to write this came from the image of the stature I saw at church, and the many friends and family of mine of know of in crisis. Please pray for them and all those you know of in need as well.
My five year old saved Christmas!
The last few weeks pressed me from every angle. Work, not being able to get my dream moving, the evil at Newtown and in my own town..All felt like a bone crushing weight on me. Even my picture taking, my refuge for sanity, was falling flat. The spirit of Christmas felt as far away as the moon. I could recognize the evil was in a person's choices, not the wonder of creation. I was just overwhelmed by the amount of darts thrown at good people of late. I had closed myself off to the spirit of Christ's power because I was letting things other than keeping God foremost in my thoughts and family's development matter.
All this started to change when as I put my head down, my lovely wife said...make small changes and the change will come. I slept on it, and through the night the weight of everything started to feel workable. I got up and walked into the living room to watch the sun rise on the Christmas tree. It was then that my five year old came down the stairs and plopped himself right on top of me.
His first words were, "Dad we have a wonderful tree. It is magic." God was speaking through the mouth of a babe. For ten minutes we sat still, and quietly talking about favorite ornaments lest we wake up the other four souls in the house to early. Then he said, "Dad we need to take some pictures of our tree." That was all I needed. Out came the tripod, the light for my first light painting attempts, and photographic direction from my five year old. My soul was alive, and responding to the cuing from God to live and enjoy Christmas in the present.
Every year I look at the Christmas tree form a new perspective. This year I took it from my five year old. Christ does bring grace if we let him. I pray that you and yours can do the same.
-ehw
PS These photos are from perspective of my five year old...his height I hope conveying some of the awe we felt as kids before the Christmas tree.
Being born in Hawaii...I should be use to this site...but I was three when I left so I'm not!
Palm trees are fun to look at. To my mind it is like peeling back an onion that is 60 feet tall!
The moral of the story is that anything can help bring out the Christmas spirit!
-ehw
The lights were on in St. Mary's as they prepare for Christmas last week. It was a combination of lights, pine wreaths, and palm trees! After so many Christmas pasts up north, this was a new perspective on the season for me.
Thankfully the symbols of Christmas are all there, and it was those symbols that tied me in with every other season I've enjoyed. The round Christmas wreath of pine symbolizing the eternal God, the celebratory red has many other joyful meanings, and the lights fighting back the darkness as we near the winter solstice all made me feel like I could be anywhere preparing for the Lord's arrival. Those common symbols are so important since they convey a message from one generation to the next. They made me feel right at home in their midst.
It was a lovely night for a walk amidst such splendid sings of the season.
-ehw