Dcn Brigid Waszczak

“In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified… “‘Do not be afraid… to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:8-14)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Interruptions. When we’re busy, working to a deadline, interruptions are annoyances. When we’re engrossed in dry, boring work, interruptions can be welcome distractions.

I was preoccupied with doing laundry when my 5-year-old, riding her bike in circles behind me in the basement, began a familiar litany, “Mom, Mom, Mommy,  Mooomm?” I stalled. “Just a minute.” Ignoring my delay tactic she asked, “How long is a minute?” Absently-mindedly, I responded that it was a very short time. Her quick retort caught me off guard. “Then why are my minutes so much longer than everyone else’s?” I’ve never forgotten that moment of being brought up short. Hers was an interruption I shouldn’t have ignored, which her wit pointed out.

God’s angels interrupted the shepherds’ sleep. They, too, were brought up short, shocked awake by singing and trumpeting. No wonder they were frightened. Mouths agape, cowering together, shuddering, shaking, and mesmerized by the whole horde of angels hovering above them, the angel quicky comforted the shepherds with familiar biblical words, “Do not be afraid.” (Angels seem to start messages with those words often.)

Obviously, the angel expected them to go find the Savior of whom he spoke since he offered clues: a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (angelic hint: in a stall where animals were kept). Such a loud, unexpected interruption would have been hard to ignore on this otherwise ordinary night. Since the shepherds quickly set out to seek the Savior babe, it must have been a welcome and memorable interruption.

God sends us interruptions daily. Do we ignore them? Delay our attention to them? Delight in them? We can’t all receive angelic hosts heralding His interruptions—like the shepherds or like Paul’s lightening bolt on the road to Damascus. Sometimes we just need a child or an unexpected event to help us pay attention to His interruptions.

Blessings,

—Dcn Brigid