Merry Christmas, Happy New Year

Family Update '08

Tara is employed with Starz Entertainment in Colorado.  Mike walks the streets of Seattle in search of homeless with a special eye out for the vet.  He's done with his class work and this is his final OJT towards his drug/alcohol counseling certification.  Tim raises Monty Pope as the most fantastic of kids.  Their spouses, Jim, Debi and Jessie continue to be the pride of our lives.  Kris sacrifices all to care and love me.  I remain stable in my cancer as I move into my fourth year of survival.  

When asked if I've had a good day my response is more focused.  No, I never do, but the hours and minutes have been enough to make it all worthwhile, fantastic moments of a lifetime.  The warmth of a childhood remembrance, the experiences of teenage progress and failure, the strong and faulty steps of adulthood and the marvels of priesthood, marriage, and parenthood bring depth and joy to these moments of now.  We have grown in your friendships as we have been nourished by the gifts of God throughout our lives.

The laughs and joys of each day continue as they provide balance to the pain and hurt of a cancer little understood.  I am humbled in moments of self-pity by the courage and love of friends in their illnesses and deaths.  they have lit the highway before me as I maneuver the turns and dangers that arise from day to day.  Their examples help us to better appreciate the celebrations of the year and now of Christmas.

There will be toys under the tree.  We will all be together.  In our togetherness we will laugh and enjoy the day as we ponder the mystery of it all.  Jesus is born to us.  Mary is happy amidst her sufferings and Joseph will forever be a model of quiet strength and gift of self.  May we all be granted a level of faith that brings alive the meaning of love in togetherness, gift giving, sacrifice and prayer.

God bless you all in His love.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year

Today, the star shines down upon us at the very moment it shine upon the child within the stable.  It shines with eternal hope that can't be quenched by time or distance.  The child within the crib smiles for having been recognized as savior of the UNIVERSE.  

The word "universe" is just too impersonal to convey the personal and intimate nature of this encounter of God and man.  It's an encounter with the Infinite.  It's an encounter with an innumerable number of souls inclusive of my own.

Grasping the hand of my mother on one side and my dad on the other, I had my introduction to this manger scene of hope.  As my brothers/sisters before me and those who would follow after me, we were introduced to the "baby Jesus."  Yes, now simply a cast of stone depicting the love of their family and mine.  We the peoples of the world begin a unity with each other in a brotherhood of one in His name.  It's a family within the loving power of Jesus Christ.  We are one with each other within the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This season I prepare once again for this celebration of love incarnate.  The intimacy and simplicity of God's gift sweeps me off my feet into a bliss never experienced before.