The supreme trick of Old Scratch

Good Thursday morning, my friends.

Consider this today:

   "Take time to be aware that in the very midst of our busy preparations for the celebration of Christ's birth in ancient Bethlehem, Christ is reborn in the Bethlehems of our homes and daily lives. Take time, slow down, be still, be awake to the Divine Mystery that looks so common and so ordinary yet is wondrously present.

   "An old abbot was fond of saying, 'The devil is always the most active on the highest feast days.'

   "The supreme trick of Old Scratch is to have us so busy decorating, preparing food, practicing music and cleaning in preparation for the feast of Christmas that we actually miss the coming of Christ. Hurt feelings, anger, impatience, injured egos—the list of clouds that busyness creates to blind us to the birth can be long, but it is familiar to us all."

(Edward Hays, A Pilgrim's Almanac, p. 196)

Hurt feelings, anger, impatience, injured egos.  How many of those seem familiar in the days leading up to Christmas?  "Old Scratch" is up to his old tricks.  Don't let him succeed this year.

Grace and Peace be yours in abundance,

Bruce

Dear Lord, I am tired. 

I sit here surrounded by ribbons and paper, gifts and tags 

and I struggle to feel the spirit of giving.  

I can barely remember which gift is for whom 

and at moments it all seems so far from your birth.  

Help me to take this moment to think of the many gifts you have given to me, 

the many ways your grace has blessed my life.  

Help me to remember that each gift is a tiny mirror of the generosity I see so clearly in your life 

and of the many ways you shower me with such lavish and undeserved love.  

Let me sit here for just a moment and feel that joy in my heart.  

Thank you.  Thank you.

(http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/Advent/advent-prayers.html)

Bruce MacPherson  macpherson@celtic.ca / Blog: The Celtic Christian / Home: 613.489.4174 Cell: 613.720.0821 You are receiving this email because you have requested it or I felt you would be interested in this material. If you would like to be removed from this email list, please do not hesitate to contact me at the above email address. Likewise, if you know of someone else who you believe would appreciate receiving these messages, please let me know.