A talent that comes so naturally to a child but one that sometimes fades as we get older is the ability to be sur-prised or delighted. Those of us who think they have seen it all, can be slow to hear new things or consider different ways of doing things. It’s called being “stodgy” or old fashioned or “set in your ways”.

I’m dangerously close to that. But something happened last weekend while I was in Syracuse that really surprised and delighted all of us. A young man (now a deacon in Syracuse, soon to be ordained a priest) gave a talk on “discernment”. How do you figure out what path in life God wants you to take?
He used this image. See what you think.

Picture you’re weaving a cloth with a shuttle and yarn attached to it. Only this cloth is suspended over your head. The garment you’re weaving is, of course, “your life”.

You view your cloth from the bottom and see several openings which will receive your shuttle. So, seeing the pattern you’ve already begun, you choose an opening that seems to best add to your cloth. You push the shuttle through and wait for its return.

Meanwhile, God is there above to receive your choice. He takes His time in returning the shuttle. He’s partnering with you as co-weaver! Finally, He drops the shuttle back down to you, but not exactly where you thought He would. It’s “over there”.

“Oh,” we think. “That changes things. Now what? Where do I send my shuttle back to Him?”
And up and down the shuttle of life goes. Each time we make the best judgment we can about life’s choices . . . Is this the person I should marry? Do I work or stay home with the children? Do I apply for the new opening at work? Where do we send the children to school? What should I say about recent developments in the family? How do I handle this new problem? Etc.

Get the picture? It’s really a nice meditation on the part-nership God has with us in guiding us through our lives.
Two points seem critical to me in this process.

1. When we ponder where to send up our choices, (the shuttle) there needs to be some sort of prayer. “Oh Lord, please guide me, enlighten me. Show me where to send this choice in life. I give it to you. Help me.” Then act with the confidence that God will indeed help your choic-es. He loves you!

2. When God drops the shuttle back down to you, no mat-ter how unexpected its placement— trust that it is God’s answer to your prayer. The events of our life that follow our prayerful action is what we call God’s Providence (His loving grace given to us, His children) Trust that He has heard you and has answered your prayers.

Case in point: We prayed for months that God would guide the selection of our next bishop. Bishop Salvatore Matano is God’s answer to us! Welcome bishop. Now let’s all get to work.
God is waiting for your next prayer.

Bless you.

Fr. Tim

PS. Your garment is going to be breathtaking!

This little article is about time and how it seems to change the older I get. There was a time (as a child) when time was a wall that stood between me and something I wanted very badly. “It’s going to take time”, my parents warned me as we drove off for Niagara Falls for our first family vacation. “So don’t go asking, are we there yet.”

“Is it TIME?”, my sisters and I would scream, begging that Christmas morning could finally begin. The last day of school, the start of baseball season, your drivers test, were all separated from you by this wall of time that could only be endured, and at great cost.

It’s not like that any more. Things are on me before I know it. There doesn’t seem to be enough time now. There are some days when every moment is scheduled for some purpose — a meeting, an appointment, an event, phone calls etc. You finish your day and sit for a minute. You remember your first cup of coffee that morning and how good it tasted and suddenly….it’s nine o’clock at night!! Where did all the time go?

I had an interesting drive home to Ohio this summer. (I’ve been making that trip since 1971. That is 41 years.) There is a favorite part of the drive for me just south of Fredonia on the NYS Thruway. It’s a valley with a stream running under both lanes of the highway. The trees are arranged just so, the hills are mowed giving a nice view of the stream. It’s the kind of place that’s just right for a picnic.

“Is this supposed to say something about God, Fr. Tim?” Yes. It is very simple. When God became a human being in Jesus, He entered into time. John calls it the “fullness of time”. Something was now different from every other time on earth.

What was it? Jesus tells us in his first recorded words of his public life, “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” It is here. Now. In this moment and every moment to follow, God is with us. Emmanuel.

You and I are in that time. The Kingdom is here. Let us walk in its light. Let us use the gift of time to spread the good news….The Eternal God has entered time to show us the way to live. And in living that way we might enter into that life that has no time, and we are forever young in Christ.

A Blessed Christmas Season to you.

Fr. Tim

Are you still Fa la la la la-ing?

I hope so.