A very strange thing happened the other day. I was doing a
Google search attempting to look up the words to a sermon that I
thought I shared on my site. The results brought me to an online
friend's blog.
Turns out I had shared the sermon in a comment to Charles under a post he
made called:
Christmas Remembrance - December 14, 2007
I just now went and searched through Charles AKA - Ceeque's blog
to see when it was I first met him. That was back in June of 2007.
I landed at his site from a link I had found on someone else's blog. :)
As with so many of my online friends, I will most likely never meet them
in person.
You see Charles lives across the POND over in the UK. Still, he's become like
a back yard neighbor and a special part of my life.
In his post of Christmas Remembrance Ceeque was facing his 6th
Christmas holiday without his son James. Charles shares his thoughts
of the upcoming holiday
along with 'an inspiring piece' that his son James wrote.
James was born the same year as my Vinny, he would have
turned 25 this year. If I were reading someone's message like this,
I'm certain I would wonder what happened that this young man
passed at the age of 17.
Let me say that Charles has a post on his site right up on plain view......
'Memo to Suicidal Young People'.
I would like to share James' words with you............
” Prose No.1 version 1
comment: This is inspired by several people, writers and someone I think is a writer! Its not very good …..
“STOP, yes, STOP! I`d just like you to take a moment and reflect.
Right now you`re sat somewhere reading this. Are you eating or drinking
something you normally eat or drink? If so, have some slowly, feel the
textures,smell the aromas, let your taste buds get a good taste.
Something you don`t normally do … you eat and run. I think its about
time we all sat back and realised what we have.
We`re cruising along in life not realising the potential we all
have, each day. We fear whats to come tomorrow, we regret what was
yesterday but we ignore today. And today you`ll go through what you
felt yesterday and tomorrow.
Appreciate whats today, the potential you have. Make a change,
stand up, and shout. Shout anything you like. Express yourself, tell
people you love them, like friends and family. Step back from that
computer, turn the tv off. Talk and appreciate people.
We take SO MUCH for granted, the air we breathe, food we eat, bus
drivers, that sexy blonde at the local shop .. and family and friends.
Over this Christmas spend as much time as possible with the things you
love (or should love) as you just don`t know when its gonna get taken
away from you….
And remember what the great John and Paul said …
“ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE”
in remembrance of George Harrison. “
..........................
LINK TO CEEQUE'S BLOG ARTICLE - CHRISTMAS REMEMBRANCE
PLEASE JOIN ME IN PRAYER FOR CHARLES AND ALL WHO HAVE BURIED A CHILD.
Christmas Remembrance
September 29, 1984 ~ March 21, 2002
Midnight Mass Sermon
They come……. often uninvited but not wholly unwelcome…..
But they will surely come…..
As soon as the Christmas tree is lit this evening….
As soon as the Christmas dinner is served tomorrow….
As soon as the presents are unwrapped…. They will come….
Who are they? They are the ghosts of our Christmases past.
Not some scary spooks from out of a Steven King movie,
nor some dour figment of Charles Dickens imagination….
No…. these ghosts are neighbors, who have moved away,
grandchildren, too busy to come home,
childhood friends, long since lost touch with,
and all our beloved dead.
These ghosts come to us at the holy time, tinged with
sadness, but so much a part of our Christmas memories
we could not banish them if we would want to….
but who could wish something so dreadful!
Our memories, and the ghosts they conjure, are as much
a part of today’s celebration as the packages sitting under
the tree this very minute or as the lights that beautify our
church this very night.
They are a part of us and they are holy.!
They come back to us….. served up in special Christmas
recipes they hand down….. unique Christmas ornaments that
were theirs, and those special songs of the season that they
loved to sing. They are our special holiday friends.
Aunts smelling like lavender, Grandmother’s who baked the
best bread in the world, small friends who shared their newly
arrived
red wagons, and brothers and sisters who wrapped their
Santa’s workshop
gifts with all the love their small hands could muster.
They are our special holiday friends,
these ghosts of Christmas.
For you see…. they are part of our history, and our history
is holy. For if this Christmas celebration means anything at all, it
means that when God became a part of our human story, our lives
took on
a part of the divine story.
The moments of our lives, each one of them, bears the mark
of the divine life. And therefore, the people of our lives,
all of them, are holy images of God among us.
These ghosts who visit us, trimmed in evergreen and glowing in
Christmas lights, these ghosts remind us that our story is a
part of
God’s story…. For God touched our lives on this holy night.
We need not fear them, these ghosts of love and laughter,
these ghosts of family and friendship……
We need not fear them, for they are our own history,
coming back to reminisce in this holy season.
Our history, made holy, by God becoming one of us.
And so, as I drive down the turnpike tomorrow to celebrate
with my family, they will come back to me,
the ghosts of my own Christmases.
My Grandfather fussing to make sure the house is spotless,
my Grandmother standing in her apron in front of the stove
cooking macaroni.
I hope yours visit you, and when they do, when those
memories of people not with us this day come to reminisce,
remember, they are signs to us of how holy our history is….
Our own history that is made holy by God who took on
our history when he came to Earth this very night.
Greet those ghosts with love for they are signs of God’s love….
Greet them with love…. welcome them home…..
and Merry Christmas to you and to all who are with you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By Father Patrick Ferraro
St Joan of Arc – Streetsboro Ohio
December 2003
This sermon was given at
my parent’s Church.
I thought it was so touching I had my Dad ask
Fr. Patrick for a copy to send to my son Vinny who was
serving in Iraq at that time.
