Fourth Sunday of Advent

Okay. I can’t properly introduce my blog post this week without being honest about something. It’s less than a week until Christmas. It’s almost year-end at work. My mind is going a million miles a minute.

I kinda spaced out at the beginning of the homily today. (Sorry, Father Rob.) 😬

When I ‘came to’ and caught back up mentally with the other parishioners, Father was asking if there were any engineers in the congregation. Seemed like an odd question to ask, but hey – I wasn’t there for the beginning of the conversation. A few people raised their hands, and Father noted that engineers solve problems that most people don’t even think about.

My mind started to wander (again), but this time I was thinking about another time I had witnessed something similar with my own eyes. It was another Sunday a while back that I had attended mass. Right before it was my turn to walk up to the altar for communion, I noticed one of the ushers walking down the aisle. I wondered what he was doing, as there were so few people in church the ushers were not dismissing us pew by pew as they normally would. I watched him walk over to a pew across the aisle from me, and at that point I noticed what the usher had seen but I had not. There was an older couple that wanted to walk up to the altar for communion, but they both had difficultly walking. The husband had difficulty walking on his own, so he was unable to help his wife – who was having more difficulty than he was. This usher had walked up to assist her as she walked up to receive the blessed sacrament, and then he walked her back to her pew. That random act of kindness warmed my heart, and I think about every time I’ve received communion since.

Peeps – the next 11 days are going to FLY by. I know it feels like we have so many problems to solve, but we really don’t. Menus will figure themselves out for Christmas dinner. Anxiety about what gifts to buy and whether we bought the right thing really isn’t all that important.

I’m challenging myself – as well as all of you – to be a’mercy engineer.’ I’m going to focus less on my preoccupation with crap that really doesn’t matter, and I’m going to try to zero in on those problems that most people don’t think about.

What about my neighbor with young children who is quarantined? What about those among us that need some extra assistance this holiday season? What about my friends who may have just lost a loved one and need a little extra support?

I think if we all signed on as ‘mercy engineers,’ 2021 could be a very different year for all of us.

Have a very Merry Christmas – and see you back here next Sunday.