Saint Frances Cabrini Parish

Father Kleppner - January 9^th 2005

As we bring the Christmas season to a close with the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, I share with you the following reflection by Phil Morelli, who serves as principal of St. John the Baptist School in Unity.

The Search for Peace Is Paramount During Holidays
Oftentimes in our efforts to make those around us happy during this season we become so weary that all we want to do when Christmas finally arrives is rest. We can become hard-pressed to enjoy the season ourselves.
We must understand that the importance of the search for peace during this busy season cannot be overstated, especially as we get older.
In an article I read recently, writer Jeff Rockwell describes peace in these ways:
Peace is an unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment. It is an absence of judging one’s self or others. True peace involves a loss of interest in having conflicts or the need to try to interpret the actions of others. Signs of a person finding peace are a loss of the ability to worry about things and frequent episodes of overwhelming appreciation. When a person finds true peace, he or she also finds an increasing susceptibility to love, when it is extended by others, as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it to others.
We should all try to find this sense of peace. If we can attain it, the joy of Christmas will become magnified.
In our haste to provide others with the joys of the holiday season, our focus can become obstructed and we can miss its true meaning.
Here’s a story to illustrate this. It comes from Alice Gray’s book, “Stories for the Heart.”
A seminary professor once asked his students to preach on the parable of the good Samaritan, and he set up an experiment. Each student would have to leave his class and travel to another classroom to preach the sermon. The professor organized it so that some of them were forced to rush to get there.
Each student had to walk down a certain corridor and pass by a dirty homeless man, who was deliberately planted there and obviously in need of aid.
The results were surprising. The percentage of those good men and women who stopped to help was extremely low, especially for those who were under the pressure of a shorter time period. The tighter the schedule, the fewer who stopped to help.
When the professor revealed his experiment, you can imagine the impact it had on that class. Rushing to preach a sermon about the good Samaritan, they had walked past the beggar at the heart of the parable.
How often in our haste to do something we consider to be important during the Christmas season do we miss something that is so obvious that we are embarrassed to admit we missed it?
How often during this time do we miss the true meaning of the holiday?
During December and January, the students and faculty of our school will be focusing on the value of peace. If it ever exists, it will not be based on the fear of war but on the love of peace—and “when a person finds no peace within, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.”

FATHER KLEPPNER ARCHIVES

115 Trinity Drive
Aliquippa, PA 15001 (724) 775-6363 Phone
(724) 775-3848 Fax

Father Kleppner - January 9th 2005

The Search for Peace Is Paramount During Holidays

FATHER KLEPPNER ARCHIVES

St. Frances Cabrini Parish

Father Kleppner - January 9^th 2005