I grew up in the home of my father a fallen away Catholic who today at 78 and a half years of age is still angry at his mother who has since 1972 been in her grave.
I was sent to Catholic School for only kindergarten & first grade & thought this was bizzare because at home I was never allowed to speak the Name of Jesus.
Yet on Easter Sunday we, my brothers and I woke up to Easter baskets filled up high with both Russell Stovers & Elmers chocolate delights....that we had to play "Seek Until you find"
For Mom & Dad it was just extended "Hide & go Seek" no different than my father would on rainy days in summer that he was not gone at work such as weekends or vacation days...he would hide two of us children for the other to look for.
I recal my father placing my younger brother Sean on a high shelf of my mother's bedroom clothes closet and covered him with the blankets that are kept there.
I wanted my father to put me on that shelf...and he refused saying I was too big and would break the shelf....but I could not see that I was really any bigger than Sean...not enough to make a difference any way...My parents remained in denial my entire life that I was physically blind...
I had tunnel vision for real for 49 years and in a few days....Sunday after Christmas we give thanks & praise for my first 3 years of landscapes & full length drapes
At this link you can go and read the extra extras read all about its in regards to the Eucharistic MIRACLE I have before written and told. www.TheEyesEyesHaveIt.blogspot.com
But though we had for me alone spiritual experience of seeking until I found my own Easter baskets and at Christmas not only did we have a Christmas Tree with a manger set ....Baby Jesus, a Mary & a Joseph with 3 wise men or kings and even shepherd boy statues....animals too...all breakable made of porcelain so I was never allowed to touch them till I was very old.
I never understood how I was never allowed to watch religious or Christian programs on television or why I was silenced when at home I sung songs I heard sung in church.....
Later on in life my mother said it made my father depressed and think of death which to me made no sense....
For life without joy without song is not life at all but mere existence at best....it is really death.
And so if you have someone you love who continues to curse both life itself & the only life giver as well nearly each time he opens his mouth....only a fool would spend HIS Birthday...Christmas with them....
Choose HIS best part.....spend it some place else.
Christmas is not about things received in bright wrapping papers with ribbons and streamers.
It is about laying down ones life for thy own spouse and best friend trusting God to save them....it is about living without out grudges against another whether they are living or dead...its a choice we make to be happy and joyful regardless what state we are in.
Like Saint Paul we can be not merely content but joyful whether we are eating fatted calf at a banquet for the kings daughter or eating turkey sandwiches made on ones lap in the seat of thy bloody red 2000 extended Montana van in parking lots where the meat was butchered sold and purchased, bagged and carried out by ones husband with all his heart pouring out though his smile...
Its about being grateful for all of the bondages HE has already released us from.....and rejoicing that again our Savior is Born both to our world and into our hearts. And I pray that at least one life any where in this world is forever changed through reading this blog post.
Amen Amen Amen and Alleluia!
