Dec 05, 2021

  Living in Unconditional Love (39)

“Love flows from God to humans without effort:

As a bird glides through the air without moving its wings-

Thus, they go wherever they wish united in body and soul,

Yet separate in form.”

–Mechtild of Magdeburg

My wife Eileen died from esophageal cancer in February 2020 one year after being diagnosed, 60 years to the day that we met on Long Island. Then my brother Tom became ill, and I spent a total of six weeks being with him in Ohio, but he died in October 2020. My sister-in-law Sue Mahoney died from Covid-19 in January 2021. On top of it all stood the pandemic, locking everyone down over a year and a half, and still going strong from my viewpoint, as I wear my mask anytime I am out, unlike many.

         12/05/2021                         December already! Coming off the high of the family, I am now alone once more. I had some let-down shortly afterwards but decided if I could get myself decorating for Christmas that may spark things up, and it did. We have many Christmas decorations, and it is fun to sort things out, look at pictures of past Christmases, (yes, I specifically took pictures during Eileen’s last Christmas so I could duplicate most things) and begin the process of putting them up. It will take a while as I do things slowly, especially since it means many trips up the stairs with things.

I also spent a good part of Saturday afternoon outside in the “warmer” weather emptying garbage and putting covers on the outdoor furniture. I put the stable and figures up on Sunday (today) as the decorations gathered speed. The let-down feeling is gone, and I am starting to see things perk up for Christmas, with various candles and runners and Santa’s appearing.

I do enjoy this season. Everyone seems happier, even though the world’s pain is still very evident. I extend it a few weeks, just to keep the house looking happier. Eileen liked to take things down shortly after January 6, the feast of the three kings but I plan on a few weeks longer.

Part of the reason I love this season of Christmas so much is that I believe that God’s gift to us in assuming human form, as St. Francis of Assisi believed, the beginning of a human life on earth that signaled God’s love and the gift of eternity, not the crucifixion and death thirty years later. What greater sign could there be but the physical joining of divinity to material flesh to say “Yes! You are my beloved! See, I will show you that I am truly one with you by becoming one of you.”. I believe this outward sign was but a fulfillment of the reality of “God with us, now and forever, past and present”. A single moment of time that had no beginning and no end.

Meditation

Gentle One, I rest in You, now and forever. I can truly rejoice in this season, even with all the pain in the world, for You have called us to love intensely this suffering world of ours and Yours. You have called us to be Your presence on earth, doing the one thing that breathes You: Love all. I am grateful I can add my voice and heart to Your call to the world: Love one another.