Christmas Greetings!!

I hope everyone is doing well today on Christmas Eve, as we await one of the holiest nights in Christianity, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the true meaning of Christmas! In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season in our culture, it's so easy to lose sight of what this season is about, between frantic shopping and fighting traffic and eating way too many Christmas cookies (my personal struggle this holiday :) ) To help me remember how God has worked and continues to work in our world, I thought I'd share a story that happened to me just a few weeks ago...

Those of you who know me know that I'm always busy, running from one thing to the other and trying to keep my head on straight in the process. This year is no different, as I've gone back to a full-time graduate program and have stayed on with both the Life Teen youth ministry at my parish and our Guatemala committee from our trip this summer. As the quarter got deeper however, I started questioning what I was doing staying so involved with church activities while finals loomed, stress was creeping in! The weekend before finals week I had to drive to Bellingham on Saturday to practice with the choir for an old roommate's upcoming wedding, in which I'll be playing the flute. We learned some beautiful, though challenging music including a musical setting of St. Therese's Canticle of Love and an incredible Ave Maria by Franz Biebl. That Sunday I had to go to campus to study and our Life Night was one of our yearly favorites, making Christmas boxes to hand out to homeless teens in Seattle at a dinner we helped put on. Then finals week.

Well, Sunday, after spending 6 hours studying at school, I went to Mass. Just as the Liturgy of the Eucharist was starting I began to get majorly stressed... why in the world was I staying for the Life Night, I had so much to do! Our first communion song was "Enough" ("All of you is more than enough for all of me") Neon sign #1. The words of the chorus that I sang as I went forward to receive the Body and Blood of Christ reminded me of my priorities, as did the song we sang during our second collection "Strength for the Journey" Neon sign #2. My stress level dropped and the Life Night was great. But God knows I sometimes need a really big neon sign to get it... That night I was praying, mainly about how I felt that what I was doing with church and my friend's wedding were an important way of serving Him and trying to keep my faith life alive while I was in school. But I questioned if I was doing too much, if I should focus more on school. I always fall asleep to classical music and it was on quietly while I prayed, suddenly I was distracted by the music. Why? I thought I recognized the song but wasn't sure and tried to get back into the prayer, but I couldn't. I listened again, more closely, and it took me a second but I finally figured out what it was. The Ave Maria by Biebl that we're singing at the wedding, which I had never heard before that Saturday and have not heard on that station since. (Really big) neon sign #3. I knew in that moment that God was telling me that I was doing the right thing by keeping my faith up front and trying to serve others. And I passed all my finals :)

God speaks to us in big ways and small, differently to each person depending on what we need to hear from Him. This season, as we celebrate His choosing to walk among us and our brokenness, so that He could save us, take a second to listen. What does God want from us right now, today. And call on Him if you need Him because I know He's there waiting and loving us. Merry Christmas!!