Well, it\u2019s that time of year again, the \u201cHoliday Season\u201d. Yes, our secular society has morphed our\nwonderful Christmas celebration into a \u201cHoliday Season\u201d. And our holidays are characterized with an\nabundance- an abundance of good cheer, food, parties, cookies and presents. It\u2019s as if an abundance of pleasure is what\nthe spirit of Christmas is all about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, believe it or not, today\u2019s readings are all about the\nabundance of God\u2019s blessings. And that\u2019s\nsomething we should all want- an abundance of God\u2019s blessings. However, our Christian concept of abundance\nis better matched to the real meaning of Christmas than the abundance we hear\nabout in secular society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In today\u2019s Gospel, we first hear about the working of many\nmiracles- many of the lame, the deformed, the blind, and the mute are healed. And then, Jesus feeds 4000 people with a few\nloaves and fish. By the way, this is not\nthe feeding of the 5000. That incident\ncame earlier in the Gospel. No, this is\nactually a second incident of mass feeding of a crowd. Clearly, Jesus abundantly heals, and Jesus abundantly\nprovides food for the hungry- so much so that there were seven baskets left\nover; and that\u2019s seven baskets more than they began with! That is real abundance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These gifts of healing and daily bread are signs of God\u2019s intention\nto bless his people with abundance. We\nhave only to ask sincerely, as Jesus did, and God will provide for our needs. Because, you see, God is the ultimate Santa\nClaus! God always gives to others\nwithout expecting anything in return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now notice that Jesus\u2019 actions in today\u2019s Gospel are\ncharacterized by one common factor- Genuine\nNeed. The lame and deformed and blind\nand sick had a genuine need; and the crowd which hadn\u2019t eaten for three days\nhad a genuine need as well. It is God\u2019s will\nthat His people be healthy and that their basic needs be met with abundance. God will answer our prayers for such needs-\nand with abundance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But that is not the same thing as wanting something even if\nwe ask for it in prayer. Because there is\noften a difference between something we want and something we need. In fact, God frequently gives us what we need\nrather than what we want when we pray. That\ncan be a real problem for us- because we think we know what we need and so,\nthat is what we ask for. But God loves\nus so much that he will respond to us with abundance for what we really need. God is the best judge of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I propose we all try something a little different this year\nfor Christmas. Let us compose our\nChristmas lists a little differently. Let\nus ask God for what we really need, rather than what we want. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps a little quiet time to reflect on how you can change\nyour life for the better next year. Or\nto help develop a skill that helps others. \nPerhaps you can anticipate a real need by one of your loved ones, and\nthat can be your gift to them. Maybe\nsome quality time together with a neglected family member. Or Giving up time with the game controller\nand interacting with your siblings instead. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our first reading talks about God\u2019s ultimate gift to all of\nus- everlasting life in paradise. Then,\nwe will be provided with a rich, never ending feast that meets all of our needs\nand wants. But we\u2019re not there yet. While we live this life, our goal should be\nto love others as Jesus did. God gave\nthe world his only son, Jesus, at Christmas. \nJesus gave abundantly of his talent and fed thousands in the miracles. His focus was on giving abundantly to meet\nreal needs. His focus was on fulfilling\nGod\u2019s plan. And he achieved salvation\nfor us all by doing so. That is ultimate\nhappiness and self-fulfillment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe we should try the same thing- giving of ourselves.\u00a0 It might make us happier than all the wants we can think of!\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wednesday of the First Week of Advent Is 25: 6-10a; Mt 15: 29-37 Deacon Larry Brockman Well, it\u2019s that time of year again, the \u201cHoliday Season\u201d. Yes, our secular society has morphed our wonderful Christmas celebration into a \u201cHoliday Season\u201d. And our holidays are characterized with an abundance- an abundance of good cheer, food, parties, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[552,553],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1079,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions\/1079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}