Christmas

At the beginning of Advent I told myself that this year things would be different... I was going to focus on the real celebration of Christmas...Christ's Birthday...

His coming into our world to show us how to live in peace and harmony with each other. I was going to get well organised and leave myself with time to pray, to reflect on the great mystery of Christ's birth and with time to help others....

And here I am now, with Christmas upon me and I'm just in the same mess, the same feverish rush and bustle as every other year ... worrying about the presents I've bought, the cards I may have forgotten to send, the calls I still need to make, the decorations I want to put up.... I feel disappointed at having failed once again and yet I'm not really surprised that I've allowed myself to be swept along by the frenzy that surrounds me. In all the preparations I haven't had time to prepare myself for the feast even by doing little things... like being kinder, more generous and thoughtful to those around me..... Still, getting downhearted about it won't do any good... In the midst of this I came across a reflection I picked up some years and here it is.......

Can You Keep Christmas? "It is a good thing to observe Christmas Day but it is better to hold the spirit of Christmas through the year. Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people and to remember what other people have done for you? Are you willing to admit that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of it but what you are going to put into it?

To close your book of complaints against the management of the Universe and to look around for a place where you can sow a few seed of happiness Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children, to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old, to stop asking how much your friends love you and to ask yourself whether you love them or not?

To try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you? Are you willing to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke - to carry it in front of you so that your shadow will fall behind you? Are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas. (Extract from a Radio Message of Dr. Tom Dooley to America)