Provincial Letter- Winter 2008

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Peace and Good Things!

Going through a box of Christmas �stuff� the other day I came across a Christmas letter I received a number of years ago from the venerable Godfrey Diekman, OSB.� Some of you may recall that Godfrey, a monk of St. John�s Abbey, used to reside with us at St. Thomas More Friary when he was teaching at the Catholic University of America.� In the letter he reflected on pieces of a cr�che scene that were made and presented to him by some dear friends.

In part, he wrote, �I don�t remember when Advent has meant as much to me as it has this year.� And all because of a little donkey shaped out of clay�he has been resting on a piece of cork on my desk, looking at me with doleful, questioning eyes.� In thanking my friend for her gift, I asked her why the donkey looks so sad�come to think of it, all donkeys do!� Her answer: �Could it be that donkeys are sad because they were considered unclean, while the cloven footed oxen were declared clean?� So the ox at the crib represents the Chosen People, and the donkey all the rest of us who were not so privileged.�� Something to think about, especially since the donkey continues to look so sad.�

I think this has something terribly important to say to us about the feast we are preparing to celebrate.� How often have we felt like the donkey�sad and feeling �un-chosen?�� How often have we felt like we were on the outside looking in or felt less than worthy of another�s love and concern, never mind the love and concern of God?� If this feast says anything to us, it says that in God�s way of looking at things, no one is un-chosen, no one is unworthy, no one has reason to be sad or feel left out.

The marvelous fact of Christmas�the reason Francis was so swept up in the miracle of the Incarnation�is that the Savior whose birth we celebrate extended the promise of God to all people.� The Word-Made-Flesh was not born in a palace, but a stable; not among admiring friends, relatives, and sycophants, but with an ox and ass for company; and the news of his birth was heralded not to the wealthy and powerful, but to shepherds�the poor and dirty and despised of their day.� Think of the implications this has for us personally and those to whom we strive to carry the Good News.� In these days, the world is getting increasingly polarized as more and more lines of division and separation are drawn.� The Incarnation reminds us that so many of the things we use to separate ourselves from one another are really of little or no consequence; because of Christmas all is transformed.� Darkness is overcome by light and despair gives way to hope-filled expectation.� The story of Christmas is one of God�s grace; God�s free and unmerited favor.� We don�t earn it and we have no claim on it�God pours it out on us without asking and without condition.� No racial, intellectual, spiritual, or social qualifications are required, for our God shows no partiality.� In Christ and because of Christ all are chosen, all are one.

Fundamentally, what we celebrate at Christmas is hope and love.� And if we would benefit by the dynamic and transforming power of this feast, we would give ourselves permission to put our gloom and despair away and not allow it to blind us to the message that, in spite of all the evident to the contrary�war and poverty, division within the Church, our dwindling and aging numbers, global warming, hunger, and all the rest�God is with us and within us!

May this hope and love take root in your heart this Christmas and throughout the year and may you know always that you are chosen by the God who continues to come to us!�

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Fraternally in Saint Francis,

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������������������������������������� (Very Reverend) Anthony M. Criscitelli, TOR
Minister Provincial

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