{"id":65147,"date":"2014-12-02T07:37:36","date_gmt":"2014-12-02T13:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=65147"},"modified":"2014-12-03T15:31:39","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T21:31:39","slug":"shopping-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/shopping-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Shopping with Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen Black Friday comes,<\/em>
\n I\u2019m gonna dig myself a hole,<\/em>
\n I\u2019m gonna lay down in it \u2018till I satisfy my soul.\u201d<\/em>
\n-Steely Dan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Advent Season is at the same time as the Shopping Season. I wish it wasn\u2019t so. I wish, when December comes, that I could spend my Advent and Christmas as a hermit \u00a0instead.<\/p>\n

I would probably miss my brother, though.<\/p>\n

I told Jesus how much this time of year stresses me out.<\/p>\n

There is so much to do and the whole soundtrack of Advent is Christmas music when it isn\u2019t Christmas. They play and play those Christmas songs everywhere you go, and by the time Christmas comes I don\u2019t even want to hear Joy to the World \u00a0ever again.<\/p>\n

I hate shopping, even on line.<\/p>\n

I am prone to mall nausea.<\/p>\n

Jesus listened in silence. He is good at that.<\/p>\n

He has been helping me pack, since I am in the middle of moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t we just trick all the stores by moving Christmas to some other time?\u201d<\/p>\n

He sat back on his heels, smiling at me. \u201cLet\u2019s go shopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat, right now?\u201d<\/p>\n

But he was already putting on his shoes. Which means I had to put on mine, too.<\/p>\n

He wanted to go to Wal-mart. I hate that place. But I drove him there.<\/p>\n

There was a lot of traffic, and some people were not driving in their right minds. I growled at them, but I said, \u201cGod bless you, have a nice day,\u201d because what else can you say with that guy around?<\/p>\n

When we arrived, he wanted to sit in the parking lot and hold my hand for a while.<\/p>\n

So we held hands sitting in the car. \u00a0I looked at him sometimes, and sometimes I watched the people going by. So many of them were smiling, though many seemed pre-occupied. People handed each other carts, stepped aside for the elderly, grinned conspiratorially at the children, many of whom were skipping or jumping up and down. Parents looked at each other over their children’s heads and laughed.<\/p>\n

I thought about how even in the midst of the over commercialization of the season, it is true that people seem to treat each other with a little more kindness. Maybe there is something to the magic of the season after all. It’s Jesus coming out in people at his special time of year.<\/p>\n

Jesus said his mom always took him shopping when she went, that he loved going with her.<\/p>\n

I thought about that.<\/p>\n

We always think of Mary’s pregnancy during Advent. She was filled with Jesus. She took him everywhere. From what Elizabeth said at the Visitation, his presence could be felt in her. I imagined Mary, very big and pregnant, doing the shopping, smiling, knowing.<\/p>\n

Jesus squeezed my hand. \u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the front doors, he made sure I donated to the Salvation Army, and reminded me to thank the bell ringer for being out there.<\/p>\n

He drew me into conversation with some little boys who were raising money for their team, prompting me to ask questions that seemed to please them.<\/p>\n

We walked through the tinseled Wal-Mart, noticing people and blessing them. He pointed out to me the ones who were tired or worried or sad, and had me pray for them. He showed me examples of people being kind to one another across the usual social boundaries we rarely think about and seldom disregard. I began to kind of almost like Wal-mart.<\/p>\n

I bought some dog food and we silently blessed all the people in the check out line; especially the young mother with the crying baby and \u00a0fussy toddler, the cashier who looked as if she had worked a double, and the old man who counted his change out so slowly and then did it again.<\/p>\n

I felt happy.<\/p>\n

But then Jesus said that the mall was next.<\/p>\n

Bother.<\/p>\n

Yep, there was that Christmas music. He smiled, I noticed. He said he likes Christmas music all the time.<\/p>\n

It was crowded in the mall and I was almost instantly over stimulated. He patted me on the back.<\/p>\n

He thought I should try smiling from the heart at everyone I saw.<\/p>\n

This simple exercise had an amazing curative effect on my nerves.<\/p>\n

I started seeing possible gifts my daughters might like a lot. I even started to feel a little excited. I walked a little faster. I thought how easy to please both my daughters are, and how much I love them.<\/p>\n

As we made our way through the mall, Jesus reminded me to say a kind word to everyone I interacted with, even to go out of my way to compliment people. I was surprised how much this little effort brightened people\u2019s faces, and mine, too.<\/p>\n

He wanted to go into a store that looked really glitzy to me. I dislike places like that. They make me feel ridiculous.<\/p>\n

Sure enough when we stepped across the threshold, I noticed the hole in the toe of my shoe, became conscious of the eccentric bent and general sloppiness of my clothes, the fact that I have not worn make up in years.<\/p>\n

Looking at all those expensive beauty products on mirrored surfaces, all those swanky clothes, the fashion show music, the fast pace, being surrounded by the fashionable and well dressed, made me unusually self conscious. Then I was annoyed at myself for caring.<\/p>\n

Jesus pinched me. Because in my self absorption, I had not noticed a teenaged girl whose bag had come open on the bottom. Her items fell and rolled across the slick, polished aisle and under clothes racks, scattering hopelessly. People stepped over her things, or avoided her or stared at her, but nobody was helping her and she was embarrassed, as teens tend to be.<\/p>\n

I helped her find everything, even getting on my hands and knees and crawling under hanging coats, smiling because it reminded me of hiding from my mom in stores as a kid.<\/p>\n

All her things restored to her, and a new bag procured, the embarrassed teen was on her way, hopefully feeling a little better, and thinking of what was for dinner.<\/p>\n

On our way out, Jesus and I passed one of those triple mirrors that help you see your new outfit from every angle. As I walked by, I saw an unexpected flash of color and retraced my last two steps. I saw myself in a golden dress with bracelets on my arms, rings on my fingers, and gold sandals on my feet, a small crown on my head. I laughed as the vision faded, and the voice in my ear said, \u201cThis is how you look, to ME.\u201d I closed my eyes in sheer joy.<\/p>\n

When I opened my eyes, he had slipped away. \u00a0He must have gone to help someone else so I got into the car alone, knowing he had his own ride home.<\/p>\n

At a very busy intersection I saw him standing on a corner holding one of those signs saying that he was hungry, and would someone please help.<\/p>\n

I hate when he stands on a corner where I can\u2019t get to him unless I go to the next exit and turn around and almost get in a wreck trying to help him. But I did it anyway. I even gave him a hug along with the money. He patted me and said, \u201cGod bless you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in my car, I turned on the radio. Matt Maher was singing “Alive Again” and it made me cry a little bit.<\/p>\n

\n

“You called and You shouted<\/em>
\nBroke through my deafness<\/em>
\nNow I’m breathing in and breathing out<\/em>
\nI’m alive again<\/em><\/p>\n

You shattered my darkness<\/em>
\nWashed away my blindness<\/em>
\nNow I’m breathing in and breathing out<\/em>
\nI’m alive again”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I understand.\u00a0The spirit of Advent, Lord, is in listening to you, noticing you, and spending time with you in the ways you lead me to, loving in all the ways the world around me offers\u2026 even in shopping and going to Wal-Mart and the mall.<\/p>\n

\"Advent\"<\/a>

Week one<\/p><\/div>\n

Advent Challenge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Try shopping with Jesus. Let him show you a few things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen Black Friday comes, I\u2019m gonna dig myself a hole, I\u2019m gonna lay down in it \u2018till I satisfy my soul.\u201d -Steely Dan The Advent Season is at the same time as the Shopping Season. I wish it wasn\u2019t so. I wish, when December comes, that I could spend my Advent and Christmas as a… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[90],"tags":[384,1214,51,2106,50,168,330,859],"class_list":{"0":"post-65147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-faith-blog","7":"tag-advent","8":"tag-advent-challenge","9":"tag-catholicism","10":"tag-christmas-shopping","11":"tag-faith","12":"tag-holiness","13":"tag-jesus","14":"tag-spirituality","15":"entry","16":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42623,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2013\/12\/beginning-advent-with-a-challenge\/","url_meta":{"origin":65147,"position":0},"title":"Beginning Advent With A Challenge","author":"Elizabeth","date":"December 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This year, the number of days in this holiday season are the shortest it possibly can be. 27 days. Just 27 days separate Thanksgiving and Christmas. Perhaps, As a result this begins to explain how and why retailers have combated the unusually short shopping window by putting out Christmas merchandise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Advent","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/ACNM-Advent1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":63509,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/11\/challenge-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":65147,"position":1},"title":"The Challenge of Advent","author":"Rita Suva","date":"November 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cJesus said to his disciples: \u2018Be watchful! Be alert!\u2026\u2019 \u201d Advent is a challenging time for Catholics. With the exception of Mass, it\u2019s easy to let Advent be consumed and overshadowed in our daily lives, as society pushes Halloween into Christmas with a small glint of Thanksgiving thrown in. \u201c\u2026.You\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Advent Challenge Photo by Rita Suva","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Unknown-550x550.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Unknown-550x550.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Unknown-550x550.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":181178,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/in-the-spirit-of-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":65147,"position":2},"title":"In the Spirit of Advent","author":"Ablaze Ministries","date":"December 2, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year during Advent, the Johnson clan leads a church-wide food drive.\u00a0 We ask our church community to draw a family from our sister parish in downtown Houston and pray for them, give them boxes of food, and maybe get them a present or two.\u00a0 Then two Uhauls get filled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Advent-CCFM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-550x366.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-550x366.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Advent-CCFM-550x366.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":186756,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/12\/sunrise-dark-faith-advent-brightness-christmas\/","url_meta":{"origin":65147,"position":3},"title":"Sunrise: through the dark faith of Advent to the brightness of Christmas","author":"Shawn Rain Chapman","date":"December 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Traveling through Advent with grief this year has led to me to soul search about what Christmas is, and, in the process, to notice similarities between the journey of Advent into Christmas and the stages of the soul's progression into the heart of God. \u00a0According to Carmelite spirituality, \u00a0the soul\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/category\/acnm\/blog\/faith-blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photo by Renee Bork","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.austincnm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/12016594_10205918857824426_849206572_n-550x413.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":65535,"url":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2014\/12\/faces-show-the-struggles-of-advent\/","url_meta":{"origin":65147,"position":4},"title":"12 Faces that Show the Struggles of Advent","author":"Crist\u00f3bal Almanza Herrera","date":"December 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"We often take ourselves too seriously, especially when it comes to the pursuit of holiness. Too often do I come across misconceptions about the many limitations and boxes people confine their notions of what saintliness can or should look like. 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