Wednesday, January 3, 2024
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Give it up for the gift of years
See what love the Father has bestowed on us, that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.
In her 2008 book The Gift of Years, Benedictine Joan Chittister kindles all our senses.
“It is so easy to sit outside a bakery and smell fresh bread.”
In Austin, a bakery on Burnet Rd fits the bill, but I don’t get over that way much. The Krispie Crème factory is just a few blocks away, though. And down the street the coffee smell fills the air. Espresso, cream, sugar …
Sr. Chittister both supports and defies her beloved Roman Catholic church. Since The Gift of Years in 2008, she has published 21 more books. She’ll be 88 in April. Millions of women around the world listen for her voice to guide their walk with God, especially as they grow older.
And not just the women.
“Why not, in fact walk into the mystery of life until we are comfortable enough with mystery to trust it even at the end?” That’s for all of us, of course. Filled with wonder, little boys and girls ask a million questions, get answers of a sort and gradually become adults, locked into routines and goals. Then at last, thanks to the “gift of years,” we return slowly to the wonder with which we were born.
Mystery to believe in has become far more important than facts to know.
The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. To those who accepted him he gave power to become the children of God.
In our nativity play, 4-year-old Jasper lay quietly in the manger, a big baby Jesus. His eyes flickered from Mary to Joseph. He didn’t say a word. He wasn’t wondering where he came from. His mom (Andi) had a big tummy and then he tumbled out. Joseph held Mary’s hand, the shepherds came and bowed before him, the wise men brought him gifts. Gold? Frankincense? Myrrh? From his vantage point in the manger, he didn’t have to understand a thing.
It wasn’t long before he opened legos and games and a Paw Patrol sleeping bag. But for now, he looked at the wise men (including his brother Miles) and just smiled his beatific smile. Bless you, bless you, bless you, he whispered.
Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.
As she gets older, Sr. Chittister knows time as a companion rather than a tyrant. Each moment becomes more immediate. Plans for the future are more tentative. And the rest of life has prepared us for this. We have been practicing all along to become the human be-ings God made us to be, and “the present finds its way into the center of our souls as it has never done before.”
And these days, as she suggests, we might even drive to a beach somewhere, sit in our car, and read a book all day long.
We are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
 (1 John 2, Psalm 98, John 1)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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