FW: Christmas 2008 Letter from Fr. Chet Michael
Gregg Kendrick
Christmas, 2008 finds us experiencing a lot of uncertainty regarding the future – the future of our country, the future of the Church, the future of our economy, the future of the world, the future of the whole human race. In facing the future we have to make a choice between fear and hope. If we choose fear, we will have a pessimistic attitude towards the future. Like the servant in the Gospel parable we will bury our talents in the ground and fail to make use of them in any positive way. On the other hand, if we choose the way of hope, we will have a positive attitude towards the future. We will find a way of using our God-given talents to contribute something worthwhile to society, to the Church, to our country. The Chinese proverb insists that it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.
To live a life of hope we need to build our life around four Ls: Live – Learn – Love – Leave a legacy. We need to live a full life where we identify our talents, our God-given blessings, our strengths, our good experiences of the past. We need to develop our learning abilities and grow in knowledge to the fullest possible extent. We need to learn and practice the art of loving. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel, we must love God with our whole heart, with all our being, with all our strength, with all our mind. Finally, we must leave a legacy. This legacy will primarily involve the good that we have done to our fellow human beings. Jesus tells us that the second commandment to love our neighbor is like the first commandment to love God.
The present uncertainty regarding the future is a call from God to make the most of each day that God gives us. Since we are not sure how many more days we have in our present life on earth, let us use our talents to do as much good to as many people as possible each day. This will be the legacy that we leave behind when we die. Let us begin the day each morning, thanking God for the opportunity of another day to practice loving service to our neighbor. Let us then spend a few minutes discerning whom we will meet and what opportunities the new day will present us to practice love of others. Then spend a couple of minutes petitioning God to give us the needed grace to live the four Ls of Live, Learn, Love and Leave a Legacy Finally, beg God to give you the grace and blessing of Hope so that you may have a positive attitude towards every person you meet and every event of the new day.
God bless you and a Blessed Christmas, full of Hope.
2568 Ennis Mt. Rd.
Afton VA. 22920 Father Chester Michael