Reflection for Tuesday, Dec. 15

Today’s Gospel from Matthew tells us of the two sons who were asked by their father to do something.  The first said, “No” but eventually did it. The second said “Sure” but never did anything. Does this sound familiar at all? How many times are we asked by someone to do something and we claim we don’t have the time and after thinking about it, decided to do it. On the other hand, how many times do we say “Sure” and have no intentions of following through on it?

It brings to mind the famous saying “Actions speak louder than words!” In my own life, I have always believed that our actions reflect far more of what we truly believe than our words do. As we approach Christmas this year, with all its limitations because of Covid, remember that our actions speak louder than our words. So call someone who is relatively confined alone at home, drop a note to someone you haven’t seen in a while, or offer to do the shopping for an older person who might be unable to go out themselves. These actions would be better gifts to the Christ child than simply our saying, “Yeah, let’s keep Christ in Christmas!”

Beverly Brazauskas