After six it is

All the sounds of the sky seem to be falling

just as the sun.

I can’t see the sun

But I know it is falling below

the horizon

For the crickets and other bugs

have started up the chorus

Light is fading

I am glad just to be

God did not send his Son into the world

to condemn the world

God loves the world!

I love the world, even the annoying bugs…

… especially the annoying bugs

that bite, sting, buzz, itch for

They serve a purpose

feed fish and birds and spiders and ducks

and the soil

God is Cool, all the time

God is love.

I wish I could stay longer

to really grasp my childhood again

In my surprisingly introverted and hidden mystery of me

more than nostalgic feelings and emotions

For the first 12 years of my life

I truly was embraced with an incredible childhood

I was very blessed!

…swimming in Lake Winnipesaukee

running through the woods alone

school was an adventure

family was real fun

hugs and affirmation abundant…

What happened in the following years

wasn’t as tragic as others experienced

because I had the wisdom to know

“To Yahweh belongs the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live there, it is he who laid its foundations on the seas, on the flowing waters fixed it firm” (Psalm 24:1-2)

God owns it all!

“Stewardship of Creation”

Care for the world!

Beloved, I wrote the preceding seven years ago while in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. I had just found out that Sister Althea who was living in Haiti had just died at 55 years of age. Within a year following this, I would be in Fallujah, Iraq. The reason I share this poem with you is that it is so hope filled. Christmas is a true gift in our lives. It comes a few days after the shortest day of the year. After Winter Solstice, the days begin to get longer and filled with more light.

The only way I know of to experience the best Christmas ever is for each of us to give the best Gift ever to our Beloved God. What is your best gift?

St. Ambrose in the 4^th century proclaimed: “God has ordained all things to be produced so that there shall be food in common for all and that the earth should be in common possession of all. Nature has produced a common right for all but greed has made it a right for a few.”

And then I read from Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation in the U.S. Catholic Bishop’s Resource Materials: “According to the Scriptures, stewardship, far from being merely a utilitarian and managerial metaphor, assumes as its basis a solidarity with all for which the steward is responsible and answerable, and it issues in a life of service and sacrifice. In all that we do or are, we are to offer ourselves sacramentally to God, to one another, and to the world God loves.”

Since the earth and all it contains is a revelation of God; it is sacred, it is to be respected, honored, to be tenderly cared for. But what humankind has done is just the opposite.

Eckhart the Mystic: “All gifts of nature and of grace have been given us on loan. Their ownership is not ours, but God’s. God never gave personal property to anyone—not even to his Mother…treat all things as if they were loaned to you without any ownership…” Elsewhere he says, “All bread is ours and is given to me, to others through me and to me through others. For not only bread but all things necessary for sustenance in this life are given on loan to us and with others, because of others, and for others and to others through us.”

So, while celebrating the Mass in deep prayer this week, a revelation hit me. I truly know what Jesus wants for a Christmas Gift. The First Eucharistic prayer came alive for me. The Christ-Mass is the Way to the best Christmas Gift…

The day before he suffered Jesus took bread in his sacred hands and looking up to heaven, to you, his almighty Father, he gave you thanks and praise. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples and said: “Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you.”

Then the prayer continues in which we offer to God the gift that Jesus has given us. There is no gift in Heaven or on Earth that is acceptable to God. Our gift is a simple fiat of saying “Yes” to God that we would accept God’s gift of pure and perfect love. Listen to the Eucharistic prayer as the priest proclaims for all of us in the Body of Christ:

“Father, we celebrate the memory of Christ, your Son.

We your people and your ministers,

recall his passion, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension into glory;

and from the many gifts you have given us

we offer to you, God of glory and majesty,

this holy and perfect sacrifice:

the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.

Look with favor on these offerings and accept them as once you accepted the gifts of your servant Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the bread and wine offered by your priest Melchisedech.

Beloved, God desires us to come home for Christmas. God has prepared a banquet where heaven and earth are together. Christmas is a glimpse of the home we all desire and long for. Every Christmas is the best Christmas ever, as long as I receive the gift of the Body of Christ…and then give the gift that is now wrapped in my own body and blood. The only thing God wants for Christmas is Jesus and You!

God will never return this gift to the stores.

I am so excited to be preparing the best Christmas gift ever for my Beloved Jesus.

What gift are you preparing for our Creator of Heaven and Earth? Me? I’ll be Home for Christmas.

How is that for great News!!!!!!

Love, joy, peace,

Father Ron Moses +

www.tearinthedesert.com