The
Community
at
Prayer
Reflection by Father Paul M. Baca
December
27,
2009,
Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
I have been thinking a good bit lately of the liturgical calendar that we follow throughout the year and I realized how in a way it is all about a journey, the journey of the human family on its way to salvation and heaven. It starts with Advent and the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah and the messianic era that is to follow. We then come to the actual birth of Jesus who we believe to be the Messiah and who changed human history for all time. We joyfully dwell on the story of Mary and Joseph and their journey to Bethlehem and join the shepherds and the magi at the crib. It is such a heartwarming story filled with hope and joy, but then as we continue our journey within the liturgical calendar, we move from there to the ministry of Jesus and ultimately, to Holy Week and his sufferings and death. But that is not the end of the story, so we come to his glorious resurrection that gives us all hope and assurance of life with God forever after we pass from this life.
This time of the year always brings many memories to mind, some about Christmas and of of them about life and its ups and downs. I remember as a child that we had a playmate who live on 
the next farm to ours and on one Christmas Day we were told that his grandfather who lived with them had died that morning. We felt real bad for the family, but I remember Mom reminding us that every one of us must die and that after death, we will be with Jesus with total happiness forever. In a way, these were just words, but I have reflected on them through the many years that I have lived. My Dad and Mom and four older brothers are gone now, but they had such good lives that I can only imagine the happiness they now enjoy.
Another Christmas memory surfaces in my mind every year. When I was at Queen of Heaven, I remember many, many people wanted to do something for a poor family, we we used to connect them to many opportunities. But one day a man that I would guess was around 30, came into the office and told the receptionist, "I would like to see a priest." I was standing right there so I immediately greeted him and invited him to a little office that was right by the front door. I could tell he was very sad, so I engaged him in conversation hoping to lighted his mood. Finally he said, "I know that there are many families here at Queen of Heaven who love to share with the poor throughout the year, but mostly during the season. I would like for you to match me with a large family that is in great need." It happened that at that time my sister, Sister Adele, was working with Father Nava in the parish of Tijeras. She had told me about this family who had been burned out of their home and lost everything; there were ten children in the family. I told my visitor about the plight of that family and his response was, "That is the kind of family I was looking for." I procured the names, sexes, ages and sizes of all the children and gave them to him on a subsequent visit. He took the list and started coming back every day with many packages nearly wrapped with the names of the children. There were toys and clothes and everything imaginable. Pretty soon my room was bulging with packages and by then we had become good friends. He did not look so sad anymore and in a way I felt he was more fulfilled. In his last visit he reached for his wallet and took out two $100 bills and told me to give one to the dad and one to the mom. I was so impressed with all that he was doing that I finally asked him if there was some special reason that he had decided to do this and spend so much money. H sort of looked down and told me, "My wife and my child were killed in a automobile accident and this is the insurance money." He added, "I want to thank you, Father, for making it possible for me to have a meaningful Christmas."
Many of us have seen the movie, It's a Wonderful Life, I am sure, 
but I wonder how many of us know the story behind it. In an issue of The Week a while back, there was a great article about it. The author of the story on which it was based got the idea when he was shaving one morning, and this was about a man who was contemplating suicide, when his guardian angel appears to him and reminds him of the number of people who would be devastated by being deprived of his presence in their lives. Originally the movie was made with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, and it pretty well bombed. It was only a few years late when it dropped into the public domain that it was picked up by a distributing company in 1980 and some 300 stations across the country began showing the move. Besides entertaining many people, the movie has enriched many, many lives. Remembering that each one of us touches many, many lives, at this time of the year we seem to put our best foot forward.
I would like to conclude by quoting from the article in The Week:
A life saving movie, literally. 'Of the hundreds of movies I've seen in my 32 years,' a merchant marine officer wrote to Frank Capra in 1956, 'never has a story on film struck my heart like this one.' That sentiment is typical of the devotion inspired by It's a Wonderful Life. Scores of people from children to prison inmates wrote similar letters, several of them saying that the film helped them vanquish their own suicidal thoughts. One viewer thanked Capra for freeing him "momentarily from fear, rapacity, greed, intolerance and confusion." In 1987 former National Security Advisor Robert McFarland, who was caught up in the Iran-Contra scandal, attempted suicide. McFarland later credited the film with giving him new hope--after a stranger who read about McFarland's woes sent him a videotape of the movie with the message, "Watch this."
May you never underestimate how much you can influence others, especially in a time of crisis. May your life be a shining example of how each one of us is, and can be, a powerful member of the human family.