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Christmas is coming. Santa faces appear on the cord of catalogs the mail guy keeps dropping off. I ought to have a prayer for Christmas, no? But my mind is a blank. Okay, I'll try:

"Our Father, who art...."

Lord, Christmas is coming. It's a month -- an Advent -- away, but the "buy-now" drum is beating today. I'm more than a bit confused about what I'm supposed to be doing. So many demands made on my time, my finances, my patience, my peace.

"Hallowed be thy name...."

Wow! Isn't it great that you let us call you "Father"? Great that you even know we exist? So few people seem to know that I'm here or that I make any difference at all. Thanks for not taking me for granted.

"Thy kingdom come...."

Your Son is coming. Again. When He came the first time, people weren't ready. We read about "no room in the inn" and "His own received Him not." Am I ready this year? Is my family, my faith community? Will we find Jesus in the boxes of expensive gifts or seated at the banquet table of rich food? Or will we find Him in His sisters and brothers who are jobless, disabled, homeless, old, forgotten, and seated unnoticed, perhaps, in the corner of a soup kitchen?

"Thy will be done...."

What is your will for me this Christmas? I've heard the political talk. It all sounds so familiar. In 1960, President Kennedy said we had the power to eliminate poverty and hunger. Why aren't they gone? What am I doing besides talking? How can I make a difference?

"Give us our daily bread...."

Bread, dough, money -- can't live without it. But my life can't be measured by money: How much did I make? how much did I spend? how much did I leave my family? I have to find some Christmas money for the needs of those who can't cope, who aren't making it.

"Forgive us as we forgive...."

I'm overwhelmed, Lord. Maybe not so much with the evil I've done; there's some of that. But my life seems mostly humdrum. It's when I face what I've left undone -- all the hands extended to me I've ignored, all the pleading eyes I've turned away from -- that it gets heavy. I know you don't live in the past, but in the glorious Now. Help me to use well the only time I have: my now.

"Lead us not into temptation...."

Those malls. The shouts to "Buy! Buy! More! More! Spend it all! Use it up! After all, you deserve it. They'll love you if you wear this. They'll respect you if you own that." But what does it profit me to gain the whole world and lose my soul? And the poor sit at the gate -- our gate -- begging. The widows and orphans, the battered women and abused children, the refugees and immigrants sit with them.

"But deliver us from evil...."

The worst evil? I know what that is: forgetting you, Lord. Forgetting you when you come and ask for my help. I have the power (you have given me the power) to bring about change, to make a difference. I will try. And when they sing, "Come, let us adore Him" at Christmas, I'll know I tried.

Amen. Thank you.

(Editor's note: Aidan and Louise Gara, members of Sacred Heart parish, Sidney, are farmers and members of the Albany diocesan Commission on Peace and Justice. Aidan is also professor of humanities at SUNY Delhi.)

(11-28-96)

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