This is Mary*s week

This is Mary*s week, the final days of seeking a place to give birth to Jesus.  She and Joseph spent a lot of time looking for the manger.  Las Posadas is celebrated in the novena before Christmas, including night after night of looking for a place for the Holy Couple to stay, night after night of looking for the manger.  I remember year after year in parish ministry, trying to find where we stored the manger last year.  One year, unbeknownst to me, someone had brought it home for safekeeping (!)... Oy.  This is Mary*s week, no matter where we are, secular or sacred.  It is still Mary*s week.

This is Mary*s week.

We spend her week in Florida.

The people here

Save every packet of soy sauce

From take-out Chinese.

They believe every plastic bag

Can be used again

For something.

They save awake hours at night

To use for sleep

In the morning.

There is no boundary

That belongs to someone else.

Christmas is a time to count

How many

How much

And by the way,

Save the wrapping paper.

Yet still

This is Mary*s week.

The angels sing around the edges

The Star beckons.

Like every year in parish ministry,

I still have to find where the manger

Was stored

Last year,

So the Nativity can happen

Again.

This is Mary*s week,

No matter who is on the road with me,

No matter how many doors are shut

In my face,

No matter weather,

Warm or cold.

This is Mary*s week.

I think I know,

I think I remember

Where the manger is.