Wrecked

This morning I was thinking about how absolutely wrecked my life would be without the love of Jesus Christ. He holds it all together and I'm constantly in awe of His goodness! Praise be to the King of kings, who took on lowly flesh and became one of us in the form of an infant. He came to us then, so vulnerable, and He comes to us now, just as vulnerable, in the state of bread and wine. He partakes in our humanity so that we can share in His Divinity.

Today I saw this picture:

This is a beautiful picture of Cardinal Ratzinger giving the Precious Body of Christ to Pope John Paul II. (Since this picture was taken, their titles have changed to Pope Benedict XVI and BLESSED John Paul II!) As I was looking at this picture, I realized that the remarkable thing about it is that both of the men in this picture are just that: men. Sometimes we idealize them, sometimes we act as if they are celebrities, but in reality, they are just men. Saint Catherine of Sienna once said, "If you are who you were meant to be, you will set the world on fire." Isn't that the perfect way to describe these Holy Fathers? They were just who God intended them to be. Sure, they were sinners, just like me, but they persevered in the way of perfection and now, one of them is with the Father and is praying for us! 

Lately, I've been trying to cherish life: to etch into my mind the little things in which I find delight. I suppose this is due to the two fold meaning of the title of this post: two weeks ago I was in a pretty bad car accident. I'll tell you the story if you ask, but suffice it to say, the man who caused the accident and I should both be dead, but we both walked away without a scratch. God performed a HUGE miracle that day, and I've been noticing little miracles ever since. I think they've always been there, but now I'm taking the time to notice them.

Merry Christmas! Fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding Joy! (Luke 19:40)

Holy Innocents, pray for us!