Tonight was my turn to drive WWD's basketball carpool. It's just far enough away--about 30 minutes--that it's not worth making the round trip twice, so I planned to just hang out at the gym during practice.Which would give me, I realized, just over an hour to myself. As in--alone. Far from my chore-filled, to-do laden house.
What would I do? Bring a book? Bring my laptop? Catch up on phone calls? Squeeze in a few errands? I was so excited about the sudden empty block on my calendar that I was overwhelmed--stumped as to how to fill this one free hour, on the dark night after the snowy winter solstice, three days before Christmas.
I dropped off the boys, went to fill up my van with gas and wiper fluid (the latter being something I never once did in my entire life before moving to the midwest), and started back to watch practice.
For no particular reason, I decided to take a quick detour through the parking lot of the Catholic church a block away from WWD's practice gym. Just to check it out--peek at their school, that sort of thing.
The church lights were on.
"Cool," I thought, peering through the church's glass doors from inside my warm van. I'll just say a little "hello" prayer while I'm so near to the Lord.
I even thought I could see the red tabernacle candle, but it turned out to be my brake lights reflecting in the church window.
Then I saw it. The monstrance on the altar. Could it be? Yes. Right there, in the small-town church, on this dark solstice night, miles away from the retail frenzy that has filled the rest of my week...Eucharistic Adoration.
An hour of Adoration, all alone. Quiet. Peace. A whole, uninterrupted Rosary, all by myself, without the phone ringing and without me falling asleep after about the first decade. And then...more peace.
My dear sweet infant Lord Jesus, how can my family's Christmas celebration ever be a worthy birthday party for You, the most holy and amazing gift the world has ever known? How can we ever, ever comprehend God's glorious plan for mankind or His eternal and infinite love for each of His precious creatures?
As St. Paul explained to those long-ago Corinthians, "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know as I am known."
And as St. Matthew wrote, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him." Tonight, He sure knew what I needed...more of Himself!!
Could there be a better Christmas present than a sweet, silent hour with my Lord? I felt like I got a little peek at the Nativity itself!
O Come Let Us Adore Him
Christ the Lord!
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