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PERPETUAL ADORATION WORLDWIDE MISSIONTHE PERFECT GIFT | |
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'Twas the night before Christmas and I found myself, once again, in the shopping mall trying to finish my annual quest of finding "the perfect gift" for my family and friends. Being a person who absolutely abhors shopping, the angst-ridden experience finally became too much for me to bear and, with no small amount of shame, I abandoned my noble intentions and headed for the mall's one-stop-does-it-all gift certificate counter. Upon completing my Christmas transaction and while bolting for the exit of the dreaded mall I saw something magnificent. I stopped in my tracks, transfixed by a rare and wonderful artifact. In all my years of Christmas shopping I had never seen anything like it...
Prominently displayed for all to see, in the window of an Italian eatery, was a poster. This poster was no glossy advertisement for a pepperoni pizza. In fact, it depicted something which no amount of money could buy; a simple yet stunning image of a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, rays of light emanating from His pure and gentle face, accompanied by a simple enjoinder: Please never forget that Jesus is the Reason for the season!
An unexpected sense of joy overwhelmed me, a triumphant realization that even in the very bowels of our twisted and depraved generation, consumed as it is with materialism, egoism, sensualism and countless other 'isms', here yet was a prophetic voice crying out in the wilderness. I immediately entered the restaurant and demanded to see the manager whereupon I thanked him profusely for being a witness to our humble and silent Savior in the midst of a society that so desperately and insanely tries to forget Him.
Jesus is the Reason for the season! The reason that this is the season of gift-giving is precisely because Christmas is the day on which all of creation was graced with THE PERFECT GIFT. Uncontainable by the entire universe, Jesus contains Himself for love of us; two-thousand years ago as a Babe in Bethlehem and today as the Bread of Life in the Eucharist. Indeed, when we come to the Blessed Sacrament we come to Bethlehem, a name which means 'house-of-bread', for in the Living Bread come down from heaven all mankind is offered the very same Gift of God received by the privileged few on that first Christmas day.
Our gift-giving at Christmas must be seen as a participation in this infinite magnanimity of God. Indeed, Christmas must never be about consumerism but, rather, about the consummation of Eucharistic Communion where the consumer becomes consumed in the Divine Love of the Word made Flesh.
The perfect gift that we can give to our family and friends this Christmas, and throughout the year, is to proclaim to them the Good News of God's Eucharistic Love and to bring them into the Real and Abiding Presence of the Christ-Child, the Wonder Counselor, the Prince of Peace - He is only as far away as our nearest Church. Amen. Amen. Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament is truly our Emmanuel, a name which forever means 'God-with-us'.
Other Eucharistic Christmas Reflections:
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The author is a husband, father and permanent Deacon who has been promoting Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration (PEA) since 1993. He has preached and established chapels of PEA in Burma, Colombia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States. In 1999 he began working in the Philippines as he believes that from there PEA will effectively spread throughout Southeast Asia. In 2001 he co-founded, together with the Rev. Msgr. Josefino S. Ramirez, HP, the League of Eucharistic Guardians. He can be reached through email with questions about PEA. |
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