ONE GIFT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “One Gift.”

EPIPHANY

It’s the feast of the Epiphany and the gospel tells us that the three gifts that the Magi or Kings or Wise men brought to Jesus were gold, frankincense and myrrh.

As I was looking for a theme to preach on for this feast, my sermon was going to be “Three Gifts!”

Where I was going to go with this sermon is to try to come up with three gifts I want to give God this year. As I reflected upon that, I found it difficult to come up with even one good clear gift.

Then the obvious jumped out and I was off the hook a bit, “Hey, each Magi gave only one gift to Jesus.”

I found “One gift?” easier to reflect upon.

As we all know Matthew doesn’t tell us there were 3 Kings or Wise Men or Magi – but three became the tradition because of the 3 gifts. And in time the Magi were even given names – Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar – and even descriptions on what they looked like.

That’s good use of the imagination – and it has always challenged preachers and Christian writers to figure out the why of the gifts.

Theorists say the gold represents Jesus as king or living a virtuous life. Incense represents prayer rising to God or the mysterious reality of God – like a cloud of smoke. And myrrh represents suffering – Christ will suffer and die for us.

And we all heard the joke – probably several times, “How do we know that the Magi were men?” Answer: “Because it looks like they kept getting lost. They must have had a gadget – to track the star – that would help them get to where they had to get, and they brought very impractical gifts for a new born baby: gold, frankincense and myrrh.” If they were women, they would have brought diapers, blankets and a baby crib. Okay, gold is a great gift. And they did ask for directions.

ONE GIFT

So to get a practical homily going here: if you were to visit Jesus what gift would you bring?

To help spiritual growth, perhaps it would be better to frame the question this way: “If you were to visit the adult Jesus, the Son of God, what one gift would you bring?”
We can do this. We can approach God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, or any one of the persons in the Trinity at any time. This is our faith. This is what prayer life is all about.

We just went through the Christmas season and we took moments to ask ourselves: “Okay, I’m going to drop into to see mom or dad or Aunt Tilly and Uncle Tommy, what gift can I bring to them that makes sense – or is personal?”

So people buy ties or a bottle of perfume or Johnny Walker or a gift certificate to Talbot’s or Home Depot or Target or Barns and Noble, or what have you.

Well, if we were to stop to be in God’s presence, what one gift do I bring to God?

I don’t know about you, but I found this a good question, but also a very tough question.

SOME ANSWERS

It could be a resolution - a New Year’s resolution – and Father Jack Kingsbury’s letter as Pastor to the parish in last week’s bulletin is helpful, if that’s the way I want to go with the one gift question. He suggests making a spiritual resolution and making it practical –manageable – specific, realistic, consistent, doable and with my time limits.

Or it could be Sunday Mass. I am going to make coming to Sunday Mass a joy this year. I am going to pray. I’m going to pause. I’m going to sing. I’m going to enjoy being with these other folks who are part of our parish for one hour each week. During Mass, I’m going to look at my life – my relationships – my use of time – how I’m serving others, etc.

It could be a conversion, a change, a new direction.

I remember giving up solitaire on the computer two years ago for Lent and I made the decision on Ash Wednesday without much thought and I haven’t played a game on the computer sense. Now there is nothing wrong with solitaire on the computer. I much rather play cards with others. That’s one of our strong family traditions. Last year I took up Sudoku and finished a whole book of them. Reason: I want to use my brain more as I age – and I’ve always been weak when it comes to numbers.

It could be reading. It could be walking. It could be more sleep. It could be more anonymous giving to the poor box. It could be volunteering. It could be cleaning and clearing out an attic or a yard, a cellar or a garage or one’s priorities list.

But we have to ask the question: How is what I want to do a gift to God?

THE QUESTION

Maybe the process we ought to follow is to go to God and say: “Is there anything You are asking of me?

Then pause – then shut up – then listen – and maybe God will drop a hint – then and there – or maybe in a moment – an unexpected moment our spouse or boss or both will say, “You know, you have to listen more.” Or, “We need to spend more time with dad. He’s been a bit lonely ever since mom died.”

More or less questions help.

Is there anything I’m doing too much of or is there any thing I’m not doing enough of?

A POSSIBLE EXAMPLE

A great gift might be making less whining the gift to give God and our world this new year of 2008.

I’ve been noticing more and more in the past few years that I have a gift I don’t use enough. It’s called, “The mute button.” Or “The pause button.” It’s right there on the remote or the clicker in my brain and I can hit it any time. I’ve noticed that I have found saying to myself, “I don’t have to respond to this. I don’t have to comment on this. I can keep my mouth shut on this.”

And when it comes to whining, and lots of buttons that get pushed, one major area is Church. We all know the old rule: “You can talk about anything around here, except religion and politics.”

On Friday evening I was reading an excellent article in the Christmas issue of America Magazine. It’s an article on Flannery O’Connor, the American Catholic southern writer. It’s entitled “Flannery O’Connor’s Religious Vision” by George Niederauer, the archbishop of San Francisco. [Cf. America, Vol. 197. No. 21, Dec. 24-31, 2007, pp. 9-14]

It was an excerpt from his Lane Center Lecture at the University of San Francisco – adapted for a magazine article. It is wonderful – loaded with lots of things to think about.

There’s a great gift in itself: to give God, ourselves and others, the gift of more good reflective reading in 2008 – to find ourselves escaping to quiet places and do serious reading and reflecting.

Anyway, Flannery O’Connor was off on the issue of whining and complaining and judging and griping amongst church goers about the church and its priests etc. Being a priest, I would obviously spot this.

She says the surface is easy to judge – but not the interior operations of the Holy Spirit.

Then George Niederauer in his article – as he is talking about all this says Flannery O’Conner made a touching reference to the vocation of Catholic priests, whom she often found to be overworked and unimaginative.

Quote: “It is easy for any child to find out the faults in the sermon on his way home from church every Sunday. It is impossible to find out the hidden love that makes a man, in spite of his intellectual limitations, his neuroticism, his lack of strength, give up his life to the service of God’s people, however bumblingly he may go about it.”

That comment stopped me. More than 40 years ago I decided to give my life as a priest. It’s been great – but I have felt its consequences in missing at times not being married, not having kids, not having weekends, and there is no retirement if one is in a religious order that has priests.

That choice was made more that 40 years ago. How am I living out that life choice today. So I would think the key is to be more specific. How do I want to serve here at St. Mary’s this year of 2008? What do people need?

And it’s the same situation for all of you here – married and single, widow or widower, divorced or what have you. You made your big life choices many years ago. How can you be better this new year of 2008?

CONCLUSION

Specifically, how can I make the gift of my one life better this year – practically, realistically, “impacty”? What’s the one gift I have to look at – and make a good decision about for this year – and then try to give that gift to God and others this year? Amen.

THREE TOWN KIDS

[I like to write a story for our Family Mass - which has lots of little ones present. I'm not sure if this story 'worked' for our tiny town or out of town kids on this feast of the Epiphany.]

Once upon a time there were three kids – who happened to be there in Bethlehem when Jesus was born – because they were town kids. They were neither shepherds not kings’ kids – but they saw the kings and the shepherds when they came to see the new born baby Jesus.

The first two kids were two sisters – aged 9 and 11. They woke up many times the night that Jesus was born – because there was a lot of motion and commotion happening just outside their window. They looked out that window several times that night – because there were so many different voices outside in the dark and in the cold. Their mom and dad owned the Inn that had no room for Mary and Joseph. But that night, there were no rooms for lots of people who had come to Bethlehem for the census. And that night was a cold, clear starry, starry night.

Years later, many years later, after Jesus had grown up, preached, healed, and then was arrested and killed and then for those who believe rose from the dead, these two sisters often said, “Imagine if our parents had let Mary and Joseph have a room in our Inn that night? We would be forever remembered for being in the house in which the Messiah was born.”

But that didn’t happen and that’s getting way ahead of the story.

Back to that night – the night Jesus was born…. The two sisters didn’t get dressed when they looked out their window and saw Mary and Joseph – but they quickly got dressed a couple of hours later when they saw shepherds coming into town. It was strange seeing them. Something seemed different. Something new was happening.

The shepherds’ faces were filled with filled with wonder – filled with light – filled with smiles.

The two kids asked the shepherds from their window, “What’s going on? What’s happening?”

And one of them, a young teen age shepherd, said, “As we were out in the fields tonight, guarding our sheep from wolves, we heard a voice, a messenger, an angel from heaven, appearing to us in bright light. We were terrified. And the voice said, ‘Don’t be afraid. Listen, I bring you good news of great joy – to be shared with everyone. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born.’”

The two sisters went outside without waking their parents. They went to a cousin’s house and threw a rock at her wooden window – in hopes of waking up their best friend. These three did everything together. They knew she would love the action. They knew she would want to come and see this new born baby – born in a stable – who was bringing all these shepherds into town.

The three girls silently headed for the cave - the stable where Jesus was born. They watched the shepherds – watching their eyes and their amazement – especially when they saw the baby was lying in a manger – a small wooden box from which the animals ate.

The three girls watched everything – especially the shepherds watching Jesus. The shepherds – not being townspeople – not being around that often – were interesting to watch. These poor shepherds – uneducated – unknown – whose names were never written down – would be the first to see Jesus.

Why did God make them the first?

The three sisters hadn’t heard something this baby would say years later, “The last shall be first!”

Something new was happening here – and these three girls were the second to see the scene.

These three sisters hadn’t heard something this baby would say years later, “Let the children come to me. These know all about the Kingdom of God.”

Some days later three magi or wise men or kings arrived looking for this same baby. They said they had been traveling for the longest time – following a star – that was leading them to this spot.

When they came into town, they saw these three girls – the Inseparables – playing outside the Inn. They asked these three town kids if they knew where the new born baby was born.

The three said, “Yes, you three have asked the right three. Come and see.”

And these three town kids brought these three strangers to see the new born baby, Jesus.

Once more the three girls watched – this time, three kings, three wise men, as they went to Mary and Joseph and asked to see and hold the baby.

And each of these three kings or wise men or whoever they were, also brought a gift for the new born baby – whom they were calling, “The New Born King.”

The three girls thought the three gifts rather odd – well, maybe not the gold, but incense and myrrh, what are they going to do with these gifts?

The three girls were talking, talking, talking to each other about, “Who is this baby? Why is he so special.”

Then they began to hear rumors and rumbles that King Herod in Jerusalem didn’t like what he was hearing – that a new born king was born somewhere near Jerusalem – and Bethlehem was just a few miles away.

They knew their tiny town was famous because a long, long, long time ago a shepherd boy from that town became the famous King David.

“Wow,” one of the three girls said, “I bet you that’s why Jesus was born here in our little town of Bethlehem.”

They would go to see Mary and Joseph every day – and a few times every day – and that’s how they overheard Joseph telling Mary, “I had this strange dream. We have to go to Egypt – because Herod is going to come and kill every new born baby boy around here. He’s known to do these things. He even killed some of his own sons.”

The three girls said, “Thank God, we were born girls and not boys.”

Then the first of the girls said – the one who always spoke up first, “We have to bring a gift to the baby – but what kind of a gift?”

The second girl said, “Well, it has to be light and easy to carry. But what?”

The third girl said, the one who always spoke last said, “Well, let’s get gifts for their journey. Why don’t we give them something to eat and something to drink? Mom and dad have plenty of food in the Inn. I’ll get a jug of wine. You get some bread – after all Bethlehem means, ‘House of Bread.’ But what about the third gift?”

Silence.

“Then the third girl, who always spoke last, said, “I know. I’ll get a lantern. Besides food, they are going to need light for the journey.”

And that’s what they did – and years later, many years later, when they heard that Jesus often talked about his followers being light to our world – light for the journey, they felt part of the story – especially when Jesus used bread and wine as food for the journey – when at his last supper he took bread and he took wine and said, “This is my body. This is my blood.”

But that’s getting ahead of the story….

So there’s more to come … more stories for other days....

[Painting on top: "The Adoration of the Magi," Sano de Pietro (Ansano di Pietro di Mencio), Italian, 1406-1481, painting ca. 1470 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY]

NEW YEAR’S

RESOLUTIONS

Lord, I know New Year’s Resolutions rarely last,
but I also know it’s good to make them.

Sometimes one of them sticks;
sometimes one of them really makes it.

So this year I resolve to begin and end each day
with a prayer: “Thank you, Lord, for the gift of another day.”

This year I resolve:
to taste what I eat,
especially breakfast;
to walk more than I sit;
to listen more than I talk;
to read more than I watch TV;
to let the small things slide
and the big things be confronted;
to sing more in church and in the shower;
to allow for more mystery
and more laughter in my life;
to be compassionate rather than competitive,
allowing myself more second place finishes,
to enjoy the look in the eye of the person
who comes in first -- especially my kids;
to walk more by faith than by fear;
to make opportunities happen
more than to wait for them to happen;
to eat salads and fruits
more than chips and sweets;
to communicate more than to quarrel;
to get second opinions on my judgments;
to live in the present moment
enjoying one day at a time,
instead of being stuck in the past
or hiding out in the future;
and to live up to at least one of these resolutions.

© Andrew Costello, Markings

HAPPY NEW YEAR

God, with your help,
give me the courage
to begin this new year
with the resolve to solve
just one problem
in my life this year.

Give me the honesty
to sit down face to face with
that one issue,
that one memory,
that one sin,
that one mistake,
that one vice,
or that one habit,
that keeps on sitting there like a cancer,
or a tiger sitting on a tree outside my tent,
watching, scratching, clawing,
gnawing away at my strength,
because I know down deep
that this is what is keeping me
year after year
from having a Happy New Year.

© Andrew Costello, Markings

NEW YEAR’S PRAYER

Lord, it’s
a new year,
a new start.
Give us the power,
give us the energy,
give us the desire
to be more holy,
to be more creative,
to be more focused this new year.
Give us insights
to come up with
balanced programs and projects,
to make good resolutions and
to have the resolve
to finish what we have started.
Yet, help us to be more aware of people
than paper,
to be more personal
than professional,
to be more prayerful
than just saying prayers,
knowing that you are with us all days,
even to the end of the year,
even to the end of the world. Amen.

© Andrew Costello, Markings

WHAT ARE
YOUR BUTTONS?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “What Are Your Buttons?”

Do you know your buttons?

What are those words, those people, those situations, that when pushed, you start reacting?

The image, the metaphor, of pushing a button is very clear. You hit the elevator button and sometimes a light goes on in the button itself and the elevator starts moving – hopefully. But sometimes paradoxically, elevators push people’s buttons when they seem so, so, so slow – or so, so full.

What are your buttons? Do you know your buttons? Do you know who, what, when, where, why and how your buttons are pushed?

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

This is Holy Family Sunday – so I assume the homily should trigger thoughts about how we can make family life better.

And a key way to make marriage and family life better is to put into practice better communication skills. And one of the ways to be a better communicator, is to know our buttons – what sets us off.
That would be the logic of my sermon – or the drift of my homily for today.

I would hope that it’s worth taking ten minutes on this topic on a Sunday morning?

Is better family life on your wish list for 2008?

Moreover, these last few days of December is the time we look at the past year and evaluate it and we look to this new year coming, and we make resolutions. One possible resolution is to be aware of one major button that we have – and to ask ourselves, “Do I want to respond the way I usually respond when that button is pushed or is there a better way that I would like to respond in this coming new year?”

Our buttons could be sloppiness around the house – or someone always on the phone or computer or someone is text messaging during a family meal – or people disappearing without telling the others or money or food wasting or kids not wanting to go to Mass or what have you.

What are your buttons?

SECOND READING
I thought of this topic because of today’s second reading.

Today’s second reading has a button. It’s the word “subordinate”.

It says, “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands, as is proper in the Lord.”

If this text is a button text for you, you might have noticed the brackets in the missallette – that mean, the reader doesn’t have to read it.

If the reader reads it, does your motor start revving?

The message I would like to stress today is this: in marriage and family life, be aware of buttons. Keep calm. Avoid automatic reactions. Count to 10 or 100 when someone does the same thing that bothers us for the 100th time. Say “Jesus Christ” in prayer rather than in anger. Some of us might remember going to the doctor and he hits us on the knee with a tiny hammer – and we jump - hence the phase, “knee jerk” reaction.

Some people were aware that this second reading is coming up for this Sunday – two or three weeks ago. I have heard of people in other parishes calling up the rectory and asking that this reading not be read in full – or be switched.

Having heard that, when I was looking at today’s readings to prepare this homily, I reacted with an “Uh oh!”

So it’s a button for me. I’m preaching on it today. I’m facing it head on. I’m pushing its button – so I can understand it better.

Before Mass, the lector sometimes asks the priest, “Do I read the whole reading or what?”

If asked, I usually say, “Whatever you want?” I believe that there is such a thing as the ministry of lector at Mass – and that person is an adult and has the power of choice in these matters.

THE WORD “SUBORDINATE”
Some people think we should just eliminate it.

I don’t. It’s there and we can learn and think about – and those who don’t like it or get irritated by it can choose not to get hot and bothered about it.

St. Paul said what St. Paul said.

When it comes to women’s rights and children’s rights, we certainly have come a long way from the world he lived in.

And the Christian scriptures certainly treat women a lot differently than women were treated in other writings of the time.

If Paul was here today and was asked to explain what he meant, he might do a good job or he might hit buttons or he might say he’s iffy about what he’s saying or he might say he’s not that clear about all this. But he’s not here – so we don’t know his mind or the context of what triggered him to say what he said.

I like the principal, “A text out of context is a pretext.”

We’ve all had the experience of having a long car ride conversation with someone and they take just one thing we said in the midst of many things and zing us about it.

Paul’s statement was made in a letter to the people of Colossae – now in modern Turkey, some 30 or 40 years after Christ.

What was the background experiences that formed Paul’s theology and vision of marriage and family life?

What were Paul’s parent’s marriage and family life like? If he had brothers and sisters, who was the oldest and who was the youngest and what was their growing up together like?

Was Paul married? Some make the case that he was married; others make the case that he wasn’t. So we don’t know for sure.

Were Christian couples in those days much more loving and equal to each other or better than couples that never heard of Christianity?

THOSE WHO REACT TO THE WORD

The question I ask – usually to myself – is this: Why do some people react to this text and some don’t?

Do those who react to this word “subordinate” have an experience of abusive husbands, fathers, work place, organizations, parishes, priests or what or who have you?

These are the questions of communication. These are the questions to bring to the table.

Here at St. Mary’s when couples get married, they go through a pre-marriage inventory as part of the preparation of getting married.

On the series of questions and responses on the matter of finances, I ask, “Who’s better with money management?” Sometimes I get an immediate pointing to her or him. We then talk about money questions.

I assume that a couple today will work things out knowing who’s better with what and then work things out for the best as partners.

I also assume that a couple today who have power problems – will discover that it doesn’t make any difference where the problem shows up, the standard major three areas being money, sex and in-laws. It’s the awareness of the underneath problem – having been treated unfairly in the past, having feelings of inferiority, baggage, not being able to be aware of what’s really going on, and if aware, not being able to communicate it – or what have you.

When it comes to buttons, it’s often not the elevator. It’s a problem of patience – not liking to have to wait – or it’s a problem of not being allowed to take the elevator – or someone got stuck in an elevator or was made to take the stairs or what have you.

As they say in counseling, the presenting problem is never the problem.

What are your buttons?

If you can name them, then you can tame them – that is, if you take the cover off and look underneath – to try to see how things work – and why some things get stuck.

COMMUNICATION

So good communication starts with oneself – a willingness to look in the mirror – to do homework.

Sometimes a person can’t deal with someone at work, so they take things out with those at home.

Why does this person at work drive me crazy – and he or she doesn’t bother anyone else – or they bother everyone else – but some handle the situation much better than I do? What’s their secret? What’s their tricks? Can I learn them? Can I put them into practice?

These are the things we need to reflect and pray about.

How come one person can walk into a room and fill that room with great joy and another person walks into that same room and sucks all the air out of that room in one minute?

Doesn’t everyone know it’s the nature of a dysfunctional person to get everyone constantly talking about him or her? They push buttons. they consume lots of personal energy.

Doesn’t everyone know that someone once said, if you want to change a person, you have to start with their grandmother?

Doesn’t everyone know the secret of dealing with button pushing is to know one’s buttons and then learn to laugh about them?

Communication is all about taking the time to talk about situations – not for the sake of whining or tearing down another – but to understand another or others – as well as ourselves.

The other person might be a Herod – and the best move is to escape to Egypt – like Joseph and Mary did with the child Jesus in today’s gospel.

So with some people, in the long run, the secret might be to avoid traveling in the same elevator with them.

But in marriage, we often have to take the same elevator.

Couples who have to go through life in the same elevator might need outside help to talk things out. And sometimes, unfortunately, things can’t be worked out.
The other person might be pushy and unable to treat a spouse right and always needs to be right – and bossy – and never willing to be subordinate to the other as Paul says.

The other person might only see what they want to see.

Take today’s second reading. The statement, “Wives, be subordinate to your husbands” is only 6 words. Maybe someone doesn’t see the next 6 words “as is proper in the Lord.” The life of Jesus is a life of subordination to his Father. Maybe a study of the life of Jesus will give new insights into what subordination could mean. Maybe a husband who is very bossy misses the next 10 words, “Husbands, love your wives, and avoid any bitterness toward them.” And maybe everyone misses the whole paragraph of words in front of these 6 words – words that are not in brackets.

CONCLUSION
In fact, let me conclude this sermon on “What are Your Buttons,” with Paul’s words opening words in his second reading: “Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another, as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were called in one body.”

Now that would make for great family life and a great marriage. Amen.

FAKE DOG,

REAL LIFE

[I have writen a Christmas story for the past 14 years in memory of a Redemptorist priest I was stationed with named Father John Duffy. He used to write a Christmas story every year for his niece in Boston. Mentioning at breakast that he had just finished his Christmas story, I asked if I could read it. He hesitated, but I pushed and that's how I found out about his custom of writing a Christmas story for his niece. He wasn't a good typist, so I retyped it on computer. The following year he came with a hand-written Christmas story and asked if I would type it up for him. Great story. Then I was changed to Ohio and that December 24th we got the notice that "Duff" had died. So in memory of "Duff" I've been writing a Christmas story every year. People have come up to me afterwards and said, "I don't get it." After saying, "Oops," or "Sorry", I say, "Well, at least I hope you get THE Christmas story." So here is # 14, entitled, "Fake Dog, Real Life."]

Once upon there was this fake dog. At first, it didn’t like being a fake dog – but that was its destiny. That was its life. In fact, this fake dog is still around – while real dogs come and go.

And this time of the year, Christmas, is his favorite time.

This fake dog is a golden retriever. It’s about 30 inches high – and 12 inches wide. It weighs about 45 pounds. So it’s heavy. It’s made mostly of wood and shellac – lots of shellac.

And like every dog, it is not an it. He has a name. In fact, because several people owned this dog, he has had four names down through the years: Ginger, Woody, Doggy, but that was only for a short time, and right now, Louis.

Two times he was a Christmas gift. Life with the first two owners was a joy. Now, with his third owner, life was not too good at first. Then Christmas came and times really changed for the better.

So let me tell you the story about Ginger, then Woody, then Doggy and now Louis.

Robby was the youngest of four kids – three boys and a girl. The girl, Becky, was the second youngest.

The Nance family always had a dog – as far back as anyone could remember. When Robby was about 4 – their dog at that time was a golden retriever named Buster. And Buster was a buster. He could knock Robby over every time – especially when little 4 year old Robby tried to climb on him. He would bark too much, but everyone got used to that. He would slide too much on the tile kitchen floor of the Nance home – but everyone got used to that too.

But when Buster died very suddenly – nobody in the Nance house got used to it. Buster was only 9 years old. This really wiped out little Robby. It was his first real experience of loss. It was his first experience of death.

Mr. and Mrs. Nance decided they better get another dog – and so they bought Buster-Two – also a golden retriever – and Buster-Two brought back joy and smiles into the Nance family’s home – but especially to Robby.

This lasted for three years – when Buster-Two broke loose one day from Robby and shot out into the street and was killed by a car.

“Woo!” This was déjà vu all over again.

Robby’s parents decided, “If we get another dog, we won’t name it “Buster-Three.”

They held off getting a new dog for almost six months. They didn’t want to go through this a third time. Besides all the kids were now in school. And nobody but Robby ever rushed to take the dog out for his walks and to do his doody each day.

It was December. Robby kept asking, “Is there any chance for us to get a new dog for Christmas?”

All was solved when Mr. and Mrs. Nance were visiting some friends, the Trevers, for a Christmas party around December 15th. There it was – a beautiful fake dog – just inside their good friend’s home. It was a wonderful, beautiful, maintenance free golden retriever – fake dog. Cost, they found out, $195 dollars – made mostly of wood, epoxy, resin and shellac – lots of shellac.

“But would Robby like a fake dog?” Mrs. Nance said to Mr. Nance.

“Of course,” said Mr. Nance to Mrs. Nance. “You heard Robby complain that he was the one who always got stuck having to take Buster-One and then Buster-Two out to do his doody every morning and night – especially when it was cold outside.”

So they bought a fake dog for Robby – hoping he would like it – knowing, “Well, at least this dog won’t run away. This dog won’t die. This dog won’t break hearts. And this dog doesn’t have to go to the bathroom.”

Surprise! Robby loved it when he unwrapped it and saw it on Christmas morning.

He took off his Raven’s hat and put it on him. He put a scarf he didn’t like that he got from his grandma around his neck – and immediately named him, “Ginger!”

Being so heavy, Robby realized he couldn’t carry Ginger into the kitchen, down the cellar, into his bedroom, which he shared with his two brothers – all three who complained their sister had her own room. So Robby decided Ginger must be kept next to his favorite chair – in the living room – where he sat while watching television.

Ginger ended up loving this – not because of what Robby watched on TV – but because of what Mr. Nance watched on TV late at night – the old movies, movies like Casablanca and Key Largo – movies without commercial breaks. Ginger hated commercials. Who ever heard of talking dogs or talking ducks?

Ginger became a neat looking piece of furniture and whenever relatives or friends came over, they always loved to pet Ginger or make comments about Ginger.

Of course, Ginger loved this arrangement. The Nance family didn’t know this. Robby didn’t know this. Ginger kept such things to himself.

Ginger stayed in the Nance home for the next 30 years. Ginger became as familiar as the dining room table or the dining room cabinets for the expensive plates and silverware.

Then one day, Ginger sensed he was in for a change. Mr. and Mrs. Nance were all by themselves and loving it. Kids would come by on a regular basis. There was Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter and birthdays. Then, Mr. and Mrs. Nance decided to sell their house and move to a much smaller place – a small condo in the city.

They asked their kids; “Who wants what piece of furniture or what have you?”

When Robby looked around the house, he only asked for Ginger. But it was not for himself. His father-in-law was in a nursing home – and really missed not having a dog – but dogs were not allowed in his nursing home. And it was Christmas time – and this would be a great gift. “We’ll put a Santa hat on him – and he will be the talk of the nursing home.”

That’s how Mr. John Rosetti, Robby’s father-in-law, became the proud new owner of the fake dog – which was about to get a new home and a new name.

When a friend dropped into his room to see the dog, he asked, “Does your dog have a name?”
Mr. Rosetti, paused for a moment and said, “Oh, that’s Woody. His name is Woody.”

Ginger didn’t like the new name at first – but soon got used to it.

Nurses and nurse’s aids, friends in wheelchairs or in walkers, when they would walk by or wheel by Mr. Rosetti’s room, often stopped in to pet Woody – and each time it would bring a smile to the person’s face – especially because Woody wore a series of different hats and caps. First it was that Santa Claus cap, then a Ravens cap, then a Redskins cap, and then an Orioles cap. When someone offered a Yankees hat, Mr. Rosetti said, “No way! Woody would never be a Yankee fan.”

All this certainly brought joy to Woody. More importantly, he was getting the attention he used to get 30 years ago when he first arrived, brand new, in the Nance home.

It brought back warm memories every time Robby and his wife with their kids would visit her dad at the nursing home.

Time moves on and Mr. Rosetti began to fail – and two summer’s later, died.

Death, as Robby knew, is always a tough part of life.

What to do with Woody? What to do with this fake dog?

Robby’s wife said to the head of the nursing home, “We already have a real dog, and my husband bought a similar wooden dog a few years ago, so if anyone wants it, it’s theirs.”
Good thing Woody didn’t hear this.

Well, right after that decision, a local pastor was visiting the nursing home and the head of the nursing home asked him, “Would you like a fake dog?”

“Sure,” said the priest.
He had seen it a few times when he visited Mr. Rosetti at the Nursing Home.

“Wow,” he said to himself, “this is heavy!” as he carried it to his car. He put it in his trunk and it stayed there for three weeks.

Finally, one Saturday morning, he took Woody and placed him over in the corner of his garage – near an old lawn mower and some cinder blocks that were there forever.

And Woody sat there all alone for a few months – in the quiet of the garage – missing all the action – all the stuff he saw in the nursing home – and before that in the Nance family living room.

Well, it was almost Christmas and a parish committee was setting up the crib in the church and all was perfect till someone knocked over the plaster donkey who banged into a plaster sheep and both were broken big time.

“Uh oh, we’ll never be able to glue all this together or to get a new donkey and a new sheep on December 23nd.”

Just then the pastor came into the church to see how things were going with the Christmas decorations. The man who had broken the two statues sheepishly walked up to the pastor and said, “I just broke a donkey and a sheep.”

The priest paused for a moment. Then came a great smile on his face. “I have just the solution.”

He headed back into his house, grabbed a large blue bath towel, and headed for his garage and the fake dog he had put in the corner.

Woody was feeling depressed – but hearing the pastor singing a Christmas song, said to himself, “I guess it’s Christmas time – and Christmas time has always been a blessing for me.”

The pastor cleaned Woody from head to foot with the big blue bath towel. Then he carried Woody – who by now – was wondering where he was going - into a church – a Catholic church. He smiled and said to himself, “This is the first time in my life I’m in a church. It must be Christmas!”

The decoration committee laughed when they saw the dog.

The pastor, whose name was Father Princebury, was all smiles. The committee said, “You’re not?”

The pastor said, “Yes we are!”

And the fake dog fit perfectly up there in the stable in the front of the church – just behind the baby Jesus. He was able to see everything that Jesus sees. And Woody wanted to pinch himself as he thought, “Wow, wow, bow, wow, this is going to be great.”

Woody loved Mass – because the lights would be on and the church was filled and he was able to see all kinds of faces – faces that changed during the Mass – smiles, yawns, puzzlement, watch watching and prayer.

He loved the music, especially the Christmas music. Everyone was singing.

Mass was a new experience for him. He finally figured out something he wondered about – the meaning of the word “Christmas”. “Da,” he barked to himself, “Christ’s Mass… Christmas.”

Woody loved being in church – up front, but not central. He didn’t know it, but he was to be the hit of the Christmas season

People from all over the county came to see the church that had the Christmas stable with the fake dog in it – and many people would put a dollar or two or kids some coins in the poor box on the way out.

After Mass on the Sunday after Christmas, a little girl asked the pastor, “Father Princebury, what’s your doggy’s name?”

He had to think quickly. With a great laugh he said, “Ho, ho, ho. You already know its name. You just said it. It’s ‘Doggy!’”

“Oooh,” thought Woody, “another name – and ‘Doggy’ – what does he think I am, a puppy?”

Well, Doggy even brought people back to church – because kids asked their parents, “Are we going to see Doggy again this Sunday?”

The pastor kept the crib up till almost the end of January.

Then he had to take it down. But instead of putting Doggy in his garage, he brought him into his living room – and placed him right next his favorite chair – his La-Z-Boy Chair – facing the TV set – where he loved to watch old movies – late into the night.

The two of them were now all alone.

Then this priest, whose favorite movie was Casablanca, remembered the last line of the movie. He sat there, put his hand on Doggy’s head and baptized Doggy with his fourth name: “Louis” – saying and laughing at the same time, “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.”