Saturday, December 27, 2008 -

Now that things have more or less settled down, I am remembering some of the moments that stand out from this Christmas. On Christmas day, we begin our celebration at the home of my sister-in-law, Judy. In our family we have many December birthdays - including 2 on Christmas day. As we were singing Happy Birthday, our - soon to be four - grandson (who also has a December birthday) was frantically making the time out sign. When we finished, he shrieked at the top of his lungs -
"IT'S JESUS' BIRTHDAY!!!!" Ah yes, our own little John the Baptist.

Nina is hoping - yes, I can see you, Nina - that I will relate the Grinch episode. Perhaps tomorrow. LOL!
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Yesterday I started carb detox in preparation for "Goal Christmas 2009." Friday is normally a baseline day, but I did a carb down to get the ball rolling. Things are going well and I will give updates as they occur. Workouts begin again tomorrow - hopefully. My challenge for the day is a staff Christmas party tonight after mass. It's fairly informal so no one really watches what anyone else eats. Today is a carb down day so I am going to hang tough.
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Word of the day:
Feast of Saint John, Apostle and evangelist
Gospel
Jn 20:1a and 2-8

On the first day of the week,
Mary Magdalene ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we do not know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.

Thoughts from the cornfield:
Today we celebrate St. John - the beloved disciple of Jesus. When I first read today's Gospel, I was wondering about it's placement among all of the Christmas readings. Other than the obvious message, I ponder the irony of this reading - where Peter and John run to the tomb only to find it empty. I look at this Gospel in light of the past few weeks, where our view of Jesus may have been eclipsed by all of the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations. The disciples saw and believed in the midst of the burial wrappings. Let us see and believe as we take care of the paper and ribbon.


God bless our troops!

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