Christmas Eve 1513 AD and 2010 AD

On this Sacred Eve of Christmas, I make two offerings - one written by Fra Giovanni in 1513 AD, and the second, humbly penned by me.

May God's Love and Presence continue to Incarnate in your hearts, and may you always scatter the fruits of your love, your life, and actions, illuminating darkened corners everywhere!

Written on Christmas Eve 1513

I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep.
There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much,
very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can
come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant.
Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within
our reach, is joy. There is a radiance and glory in darkness, could we but see.
And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by their covering,
cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard. Remove the covering, and you
will find beneath it a living splendor, woven of love by wisdom, with power.
Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty,
believe me, that angel's hand is there.
The gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Your joys too,
be not content with them as joys. They, too conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty beneath its covering,
that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.
Courage then to claim it; that is all!
But courage you have, and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together,
wending through unknown country home.

And so, at this time, I greet you, not quite as the world sends greetings,
but with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and
forever, the day breaks and shadows flee away.

~ Fra Giovanni

Christmas 2010

This Christmas...

Love. Love totally and completely.
Love without restraint.
Love with total abandon.

Forgive. Forgive everything.
Forgive every ancient grudge.
Forgive the Unforgivable.

Hope. Hope for a better world.
Hope for Peace, and an end to strife.
Give Hope to all in despair.

Dream. Dream the Impossible
Dream. Feed your Dream and
Give it Life. Make it real.

Believe. Believe in the Seen.
Believe in the Unseen.
Believe in the Power of Miracles.

Live. Live full and Live deeply.
Live with Great Passion. Live
Each moment, as if your last.

Touch. Embrace a loved one.
And a lost one. Embrace them again.
Hold a hurting hand and heart.

Feel. Feel everything. Feel it fully.
Feel the Newness of every moment.
Feel the gift of every day.

Help. Help all those in need.
Help those you know.
Help those you don't.

Give. Give generously.
Give of your time.
Give of your heart.

Heal. Let go and release.
Heal what no longer serves.
Heal a broken heart.

Repent. Make straight
In the desert a highway.
Be sorry. Make amends.

Celebrate. Give thanks always.
Celebrate Blessings.
Celebrate Life.

Enjoy. Enter fully into this Season.
Enjoy, and remember
The Reason for the Season!

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