Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
When I wrote the prayer about the homeless man who greeted us after Mass on Sunday, I left out one part of the story about the “Christmas gloves”. After we returned home, we explained to Joy that “the Senator” had no place to live, no bathroom where he could bathe, and no washer or dryer to clean his clothes to keep them from smelling, she looked up at us with those innocent eyes that children have and said, “Maybe he could come here and take a bath.”
Then, my image of “the Senator’s” angelic qualities vanished quickly. I gulped and felt small because of my fear of bringing the mentally ill man into my home. Although I didn’t tell this to Joy, I haven’t forgotten her words and the challenge that it provided. I wondered how much I have to grow. Seeing Christ in all people is one step, but I need to learn how to act like I really believe that.
A Prayer on Christmas Gloves, Postscript
O Most Holy God,
You know that I want
Your will
To be done within me.
While I take one step forward
To see Jesus in those I meet,
I don’t act like that is true.
A moment of fear
Binds my arms
Across my chest
Instead of opening them wide
To embrace my brothers and sisters,
And the Divine Spark
That rests inside.
Open my heart
To Your will,
To show Your love to all.
Make me a worthy child.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Tom
Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
It happened again.
As we exited Church after Mass, our homeless friend greeted us.
He put aside his cardboard sign, “Hungry . . .” and said “Wait a minute,” to Joy. He reached into his bag, bending over to get closer to her. “May I offer you this Christmas gift,” and handed her a pair of white knit gloves. We prompted Joy to tell him thank you. They hugged, and then John hugged him. As we walked away from him toward our car, seven-year old Joy said, “Oh, it smells. Why did he give it to us? We’re not poor.” We quickly shushed her to be quiet. We would have to teach her what this gift meant to us.
As we took our seats in the car, we began to tell Joy that she had received a most valuable present. It was a gift from the heart, from one who had nothing, who didn’t know where his next meal would come from. Because of the circumstances, it was the most precious gift of all. It reminded us again of the parable where Jesus taught of the old woman who had so little, yet her gift of two coins was prized more by God than all the gifts of the rich given from their excess.
We told Joy that we would hang the gloves on the Christmas tree to always remind us of this best of Christmas gifts.
A Prayer on Christmas Gloves
O, Lord, Your presence
Manifests itself in many ways,
In grandeur
From the sight of majestic mountain peaks
Or the setting sun over the ocean,
To the simplest of interactions
Between two of Your children,
Passing unwitnessed
By more than a handful.
I am a witness.
While my daughter was the recipient
Of this gift of the heart,
I, too, received a gift,
The image etched in my memory
Of the homeless man
With the mental illness,
Reaching through
The threshold of sanity,
To grasp a sliver of normalcy
In truth, simplicity, and charity.
It is in such instances of love
That the world is healed.
Was “the Senator” really a homeless man,
Or was he,
For the briefest of moments,
An angel in disguise,
Sharing a lifelong lesson in humility?
May we always be grateful for such gifts.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Tom
Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
I gathered together with my colleagues at work to call our friend and coworker who is in treatment for pancreatic cancer. She was in the hospital, getting fluids. She has been taking nutrition through tubes because every time she tries to eat she gets very sick. She shared with us over the speakerphone that her doctor told her that when this radiation series has been completed they will know whether the tumor has been shrunk enough to perform surgery. If it has not, then no more radiation will be used. She will only have chemotherapy as a treatment option. A hush fell over the room, except for the gentle weeping of the teachers. We understood this to mean that a remission, a cure, would not be found. Chemotherapy might prolong life, but it would not eliminate the cancer.
A Prayer to Be Carried
Lord, I know that You are a tender Parent.
To see one of Your children suffering and in pain
Causes You to ache for her.
You were present
When Julie shared the undetermined outcome
Of her condition.
You are present
Knowing my struggle to hold on to hope
When it seems to be slipping
Through my fingers.
You are present
Knowing that I want to believe
In miracles to save my friend,
Fighting the depression
That swallows me.
I know that faith is believing
When there is no proof.
I can’t see a happy ending.
I feel that I have failed you,
Failed this test of faith.
Carry my friend
through these gray days
keeping a tiny ember of hope alive.
Carry me
Through this time of doubt
Through this time of shattered faith
Through this time of loss.
If the tumor defies the radiation,
Then end Julie’s suffering
And at the appointed time,
Carry her home.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Tom
Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
I was involved in a conference yesterday with a grandparent who had been given custody of seven grandchildren in May, following her son’s murder of her daughter-in-law, and his subsequent suicide. The children already had problems before the tragedy of the murder suicide. The grandmother is overwhelmed by the many needs of her grandchildren. It seems like too much of a job for a person to undertake. It was a similar story today. I met with another grandmother who had been granted custody of her grandchildren following their sexual abuse by the boyfriend of the children’s mother. In both cases, the children were prenatally exposed to drugs. They were abused even before taking their first breath. All of the children in these cases have significant behavior and learning problems. They hoard food, steal, engage in vandalism, and some have been sexual offenders on others.
A Prayer for Children of Abuse
O, Most compassionate Creator,
You made the family
To be a source of love and support for children.
In some cases this idea
Has not only been dishonored,
But a perverted form of evil
Where Your little ones have been
Neglected, abused, and defiled.
How can these children ever be made whole again?
If a child loses his arm in an accident,
No one expects him to grow it back
And resume life as if nothing happened.
If a child loses her soul,
How can we expect her to heal?
I mourn the loss of childhood innocence
Of these children and so many others.
I mourn the loss of carefree days,
Where the biggest concern would be
What show to watch on TV
Or what score one could attain in a video game.
I mourn the loss of a life
Filled with dreams of the future
Of identifying and achieving a goal.
I mourn the loss of a graceful retirement
For elderly grandparents
Who strive to save their grandchildren
From being orphaned,
The ultimate abandonment.
You must cry watching these events unfold,
When the innocent become
Lost souls
Unable to love or receive love,
Walking this earth
With distrust and anger.
May Your holy power
Break this evil scourge.
May Your compassion
Provide them healing.
May Your holy love
Restore a child’s soul.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Tom
Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
My wife Sue has always maintained a tradition of putting a small gift in the stockings of our children for St. Nicholas’ feast day, December 6th. This year Joy spoke to her and wanted to make sure that I had something in my stocking. She had a plan. She got up at three in the morning, woke up her mother and made sure that I would awaken to a surprise, five walnuts and a bag of sunflower seeds, which we will devour together.
I know that she is the source of many of my prayers, and I don’t mean to bore You, but it always gives me something good to talk about with You. It can’t be helped. She is my little angel.
A Prayer on the Empathy of a Child
Lord, I believe in You.
You are my Creator,
The origin of all that is good.
You have created a special child in Joy.
Have You already touched her heart,
To instill a gift of generosity and empathy?
Where does a seven year old
Learn to step outside her own needs
To place herself in the position of another?
You have sent me a living angel
To continually teach and surprise me.
May You continue to place angels in our paths
To show us that which is truly important:
To share our goods,
To give of ourselves,
To give from the heart,
To give with joy,
To care for others,
To care for those in need,
To befriend the lonely,
To visit the shut-ins,
To welcome the stranger,
To share Your love,
To worship You always.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Tom
Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
I worked with a group of nine and ten-year old children today who all had lost a parent. Two of the children had lost their mothers due to heart attacks. One girl’s mother collapsed in front of her, and she tried to run and get help. One boy’s father had been murdered. They remembered attending the funerals, crying, and kissing their parent or the casket. Such a difficult event in the life of a child! What struck me about our conversation was that each child could recall the exact date of their parents’ death.
A Prayer for Children Who Have Lost a Parent
O, Lord of mercy,
Bless these little ones
who have lost a parent.
You know how important
A parent is
In the life of a child:
A guide, a friend,
A role model, a teacher,
A tutor, a nurse,
A provider,
A source of love and good will;
The one who lets a child crawl into their bed
During a midnight thunderstorm;
The one who holds the child’s head during an illness;
The one who changes the bedding in the middle of the night
when the child has gotten sick on his covers
Place good people in their lives
To fill the heart’s empty places
Where the parents’ love once resided.
Enter their lives,
Direct their steps,
And lead them
To the Perfect Parent
The Divine Father-Mother
Who will love them
Unceasingly.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
A Prayer for Those Who Suffer
It was a rainy day today,
Cold and damp,
I was snug in my car
With a good heater,
A nice jacket to keep me warm,
A hot meal to greet me
On my arrival home from work.
I am a fortunate person.
Lord there are many
In this world
With few clothes to warm them,
With little food to feed them,
With no home to shelter them,
With no family to love them.
Bless these,
Brothers and sisters all,
Who suffer from the scourge
Of poverty, famine, and war.
Take them into Your heart,
Ending their misery,
Filling them with hope
And Your promise of salvation.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Tom
Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
Yesterday, our son Matthew dropped off our grandson Malachi so that he could borrow our car and buy a Christmas tree. While Malachi was with us, our daughter Joy sat on the couch, holding him. I stood off and watched her. She caressed him and kissed him on the head. I told her, “Joy, you are so good with him. How did you learn how to do this?” She replied, “I do because I love him.” It was that simple. Maybe that is the answer to many of our problems today, Love.
A Prayer on LoveO Divine Master,
The gift of love transforms our hearts
It enables us to see an infant
And care for him,
To kiss him, and
Desire to make him happy.
Love, is not just the simple answer
To the need for direction in our lives.
It is the only answer.
Love spurs us to care for the poor,
To provide shelter for the homeless,
To feed the hungry.
Love leads us to sacrifice our own comfort
For those dear to us.
Love is the source
Of Your call to us
To live a life modeled after Jesus.
Love is the root of all holiness:
Compassion,
Justice,
Mercy,
Humility,
Peace.
Love is the name of our road home.
Fill our hearts with Love.
Let it guide all our actions.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Tom
Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
It has been a good respite from school over this Thanksgiving break. Friday we put up our tree, and Saturday lights on our house. John looked at the tree, and said, “A Christmas tree looks better with presents under it.”
A Prayer for a Finished Christmas Tree
Most Holy Father,
A Christmas tree without presents beneath it
Is incomplete.
Like Advent,
The tree and we,
Know the celebration is coming.
We wait,
Incomplete,
Unfinished.
We continue to prepare
Ourselves, and the tree,
For the arrival of the Holy One.
Open our minds Lord
To the message of Your word.
Open our hearts Lord
To spread Your love.
Open our spirits Lord
To the movement of Your spirit
In our lives.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Tom
My Joy
Dear Family and Friends,
Please take a moment to pray with us.
Father,
A Prayer of Thanks for Daddy’s Little Girl
O, Most Loving Father,
I saw my daughter
put a veil and crown on her head.
I told her, “Hello, Princess.”
She said, “I’m a bride.”
Then I was transported in time,
To some unidentified future,
when she would say these words to me for real,
A beautiful young woman,
So close to leaving my protection
For the love of her soon to be lifelong friend.
A lump grew in my throat,
Thinking of the speed of time,
its onward march
Transforming my self-image
and the vision of my child.
I thought how much I needed
To be watchful and attentive
To this fleeting present,
Of the girl who scribbles notes to her Daddy,
Writing “I love you”
in a childish scrawl,
treasures captured on scraps of paper.
This is one of my Thanksgiving blessings,
to witness the blossoming love and growth of a child,
once foreign to me,
yet now essential to my existence,
to my being.
Thank You God
For every gift of new Life,
For every gift of new Love.
For every moment of Peace,
For every instance of Brotherhood,
For every occasion of Wonder at Your creation,
For every season of Joy,
In Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Peace,
Tom
