Are you ready for Christmas and New Year ?

Walking past my neighbour’s house, I caught her sunning herself and asked the expected question that everyone asks during Christmas season
‘Are you ready for Christmas?’ And she turned to me with toss of her head, replied disdainfully
‘I prefer to be ready on the inside’. Now, not being a very polite person, I could have said, ‘Oh, oh, you are one of those people who loves sexy, silk lingerie uhmm’ But I did not say this, for I knew what she meant, she felt that we were mere materialistic mortals, not knowing, nor aware of God’s plan for us, wasting time and energy on earthly things such as paper stars and Christmas sweets, but I love paper stars and Christmas sweets; and anyway how does one get ‘ready for Christmas on the inside?’
When Luiza a widow, mother of three who works from morning to night, takes a break to cook a nice lunch of chicken and pulao for her three children and then they all shout and scream over which is the best colour for their paper star, isn’t that a prayer?
When Catarina, who has been working every day with no break, decides that come what may, she has to make some Christmas sweets for her children and spends the entire night with her good pal Rosa, a widow who has no kids of her own but enjoys everyone’s kids, just filling and frying nevreos till they are covered with flour and have blisters all over their hands, isn’t that a prayer?
How you wonder what went on in Caravaggio’s mind when he painted ‘The Incredulity of Saint Thomas’, Christ with an expression of gentility when Saint Thomas literally pokes him in his side and you really want to scream out, ‘Watch out buddy that hurts’, how many long hours must Caravaggio have worked, his mind only on how best to convey The Incredulity of Saint Thomas, not a stroke out of place, not one wrinkle on Saint Thomas’ forehead misplaced, such patience, although Caravaggio was said to be a wild man, could we not consider Caravaggio’s paintings an act of prayer?
And what is Klaus Meine thinking of when he with his ever so beautiful voice, sings his Ave Maria to the poorest of the poor, a shanty of blacks who are so poor, so poor that they do not even have a tiny chapel to pray to the Blessed Virgin and she says ‘You are on the top of the Hill, you are the closest to me, you have the sky studded with a thousand stars covering you like a mantle, why do you need a chapel?. And all the while Klaus Meine pleads and narrates the suffering of the blacks to you, could so much love and passion not be a prayer?
We pray all the time, all the time, just by doing what we do best…..
May we have a thousand prayers in the coming year…..

What do you do when Baby Jesus comes to your neighbourhood much in advance of Christmas?

What do you do when Baby Jesus comes to your neighbourhood much in advance of Christmas?
We welcome her of course, which is what we have done……with open arms.
Some years back Nazareth and Beatriz got married, as everyone, they waited for a baby, which took time in coming because Beatriz was so very ill, trips to the hospital, doctors and endless drugs but Beatriz did not feel any better, besides there was the endless suffering and frustration of not having a baby to hold in her arms. Nazareth was not there to console her when those endless tongues started wagging?
Why did he marry her? Could he not see she was ill, even on her wedding day….. the torture went on and on.
Nazareth so far away trying to earn a nice living for his family.
Oh! what days of loneliness, pain and the endless wait for the baby, but Beatriz decided; no painful treatments, she already had so much medication that she did not want any more drugs, nor she did want to meet any more doctors. Surrogacy? That option was not even considered by Nazareth and Beatriz…..
And then one fine glorious day Caris burst on the scene…….Baby clothes on the clothesline, we peeped out,
What was happening? Was it a relative visiting?
But no, Caris’ grandmother said we have a baby!
What excitement, we rushed over and there was Caris in her little bed, plump cheeks like delicious cupcakes and her hair tiny, tiny curls like a zillion springs, oh the smell of milk and baby powder….we just inhaled it deeply, heaven.
Where have you come from darling? Nobody cares
No longer will Beatriz be the woman who has no children…..she is a mother who has sleepless nights, worries about immunization and lovely clothes for Caris who rests softly in her arms.
And Nazareth, the proud father who has come for Christmas with special permission from his employer, who can resist a Baby? Walking tall and proud with Caris perched, cooing on his shoulder.
We the willing slaves following every look, every move Caris makes. ‘Oh she is clapping, is she?’’ No, no’ says the very proud grandmother, ‘she is shooing away the monkeys’ Ohhh we breathe in
And so we have our very own Baby Jesus, our miracle child…..for who knows in what guise He will come to us….