SHOP RETAIL

FR. TERRY RYAN, CSP
Matthew 2: 1-12
January 6, 2008
Epiphany

My mother never shopped retail. She always waited for the sales, the 50 percent off sales. She taught me how to shop. When I was a little boy in the Bronx , shopping with my mom was an ordeal. She had endless stamina for walking slowly through a store of clothes. I had no stamina for this. But much later I realized that for her, shopping was a recreation. She did not often buy, but she liked to look at clothes in the stores. I began to take her shopping. She was much older and could not stand so long in a store. The excursions were shorter.

I would take her to a store of women's clothes, which was having a sale. I would find out what she was looking for and then go throughout the store picking things out in her size that were at least 50 percent off. I would save her having to walk all over the store with her cane in hand. I knew her sizes. I was surprised at how large a person could be and still fit into the “petite” category. I would bring all my choices to Mom and she could pick out what she might want to try on. I always felt a sense of joy and accomplishment if I could help Mom find something that she liked, fit her, and was on sale. We never shopped retail.

I think that I treat my spiritual life about the same way at times. I want to get a lot from God, but I don't want to spend too much of me in my time and energy. I shop discount in my spiritual life. I read the spiritual books and admire what the writers say. I long for the kind of life they describe. Then I notice that the writers seem to give their all, to surrender, or abandon themselves to God. They seem to give a lot of time and energy to prayer, and good deeds. The spiritual life seems so expensive if it is to be lived at any depth.

Fortunately, God does shop retail. God wants me and is willing to give all to have me, to save me from myself. God seems to have it pretty good in heaven with no bad weather, ice, snow, cold, or sickness. God gave up all to become a human being all because God finds me so precious and valuable. God shops retail. So do the Magi. The star advertises that the Messiah is come. The Magi are willing to leave home and travel through the miserable desert, to a foreign country, to find Jesus. They are focused. When they find him, they pay him homage and then offer him expensive gifts. They pour out not only their treasures, but their time and energy as well. The Magi shop retail.

If you ever find some object so valuable that you are willing to pay a high price for it right now, that is how God is with us. We are valuable and precious to God. The Incarnation says that God will surrender all to have us with God forever. What am I willing to give to this God who loves me so much?