Compassion for Christmas.
Christmas is coming and the pressure is on…for us to come up with the perfect gift, meal, gesture and yes indeed, the perfect family. That’s what the ads are telling us…in your dreams, or rather your delusions. Let’s be honest, Christmas is a minefield that challenges us in so many different ways: money (or lack of), cooking skills (ditto) and let’s not get started on the difficult family members. Maybe we are even that person! So let’s step away from the false ideals and delusions and consider what Jesus came to offer us and what we and others really need: compassion. Jesus came to give us the compassion of God and as we receive it, so we are to share.
The St Vincent de Paul Society has launched their Christmas appeal, which you will hear about from your child/ren and from the school. Here we are called to help those who are obviously less well of than ourselves. This is a good place to begin, and what we give will make a difference in ways we may never know.
But we don’t stop there. Give compassion to your family and friends. Nobody ‘needs’ fancy gifts or expensive food, but we all hunger for a thoughtful gesture and to be served with love. If we start our Christmas preparations with compassion, with feeling for others, we begin a revolution in how we celebrate. Out go the unreal expectations that make us feel inadequate and depressed. In comes tenderness. If God loved the world, in all its weakness and failure, so much that he gave us Jesus, maybe this Christmas we can cut ourselves a little slack and be compassionate to all…ourselves included.
Loving Father, you sent Jesus to show your compassion to all. May I know his love with me, and as I begin my Christmas preparations, may compassion be the guiding light in all that I do for my family and friends. I ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear me.
Sr Kym Harris osb
