I didn't realize how much I'm not being Christmas-like until I saw an old episode of Frasier on the computer last night showing Frasier's apartment (and Eddie the dog) decorated for the season :) .....
The most Christmas-like thing I've done so far was to go with my sister to a local pet store. She wanted to buy pet food for her work's Christmas donation to the county pound. I wanted to donate some cat food to representatives of a no-kill shelter who were at the pet store that day. While there we saw fish, reptiles, and birds for sale. They were so attractive but sad because they'll be spending their lives in cages. Here's a Wikipedia photo of one of the little birds we saw, a zebra finch, which was only about as big as my finger ....
The other Christmas thing is Creighton University's online Ignatian retreat which I'm making in sync with the liturgical calendar - the retreat material is about the annunciation, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, up until but not including Jesus' birth (week 14). This is the first week of the retreat in which we're asked to try gospel contemplation, a vivid imagining of ourselves taking part in the scripture story ....
Be attentive to where you are standing when Mary is visited by an angel. Be aware of what you imagine the angel is saying and what Mary is thinking. What do you say and do as you accompany Mary to the house of Elizabeth? What is Joseph doing after he awakens from a dream in which he understands that he must marry his betrothed even though she is with child, which he knows is not his?
- The Angel Gabriel appearing to Zechariah by William Blake
Then Ignatius asks us to make reflections on ourselves and draw some insight and grace. Perhaps we watch Mary from a distance. That is good. Now we pray with those feelings of distance. Perhaps the distance comes from not wanting to have anything to do with mystery and having to trust. There we are then, praying with a truth, whose realness has been revealed in a new and dramatic way. For Ignatius, getting close to Jesus and his close friends is a way of getting closer to ourselves. This is in no way self-preoccupying or narcissistic. The closer I get to myself and my real truth, the more intimately will I find Jesus being with me. God’s Truth, made flesh, enters the lives of these three persons by charging them with trust and charging them with the mystery of giving in to surprise and adventure. This is a frightening, yet consoling, week for us who watch and listen to the human struggle to let God into our private and personal scenes. We also pray to receive the grandeur of God’s charge. - link
- The Visitation by Maurice Denis
