Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve (krĭsʹməs ēv) noun

      1. The evening before Christmas.

2.     The day before Christmas.  

Fist of all, Merry Christmas to all of you whoever you are, wherever you may be, and whatever you may believe. If you don’t’ believe in God or anything else I wish you glad tidings.  I also hope for all of you a good New Year and pray that God will keep you in grace; provide you opportunity; give you all that you need to prosper in the coming year and those to come.

Well, lately I’ve been stalked by God.  You might be saying to yourself, “Stalked by God?!” Yes, lately I’ve been feeling the presence of something greater than myself guiding many of the things I do in my life and ministry.  I can’t explain it any other way.  For those of you who don’t believe in God that’s fine, so I will tell you that whatever is following me is very benevolent and has my best interest and those of my fellow human beings at its core.

Yesterday I met a cab driver right here is NYC. Not your typical cab driver to be sure; I knew there was something different the minute I got into his car.  I can tell you I almost got out immediately, but I’m glad I didn’t. 

I was coming from Kossar’s Bagels on Grand St. on the Lower East Side heading home to Williamsburg.  I had my ipod in one eara cup of coffee in one hand and a bag of bagels in the other; it was very cold. As I passed the corner of Delancey and Essex (right by the Olympic dinner) I saw this cab and heard the driver speaking.  I thought he was arguing with a passenger telling them that he didn’t want to go across the Williamsburg bridge.  At least that’s what I thought I heard having one ear listening to Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California” loudly. 

As I stood at the bus stop drinking my now tepid coffee and waiting for the B39 to take me back across the bridge (so I could finish running my other errands and go home). I walked back to the trash can on the corner to deposit my cup in the trash.  This is the when I noticed that the driver was talking while looking in my direction. I walked over and asked him, “Excuse me sir, are you talking to me?” “Yes,” he said “I’m going across the bridge would you like a ride, I’ll only charge you a dollar.”

Well like I said before I got in and I immediately thought about getting out again.  There was no partition between him and me and the whole cab was decked out in with pictures of his dogs and other things spiritual; little prayers, which I noticed after I got over my initial shock.  He pick up another lady standing in the bus stop: she probably figured it was safe since she saw me in the cab and knew that I had been standing in the bus stop with her.  She didn’t know me from Adam; I guess she took a leap of faith too. 

As we got under way he started talking about his ministry, “Rolling for Jesus” it’s called.  I listened to him tell me about what he did and took a DVD made about him and the type of ministry he does.  He preaches the Gospel every day by getting food from street vendors and giving it to those of us who are less fortunate.  His yellow cab is the only one in the city with no partition, it’s one of a kind, and he asks everyone to pay what they can.

I told him about my ministries of Christian education, healing, Pastoral Eucharistic visiting.  His name is Philip Frabosilo.  I tell you that because I think he would want me to do so.  I think God, if you believe in that sort of thing, pushed us together yesterday.  I haven’t figured out why yet, but I’m working on that believe me.

My point in relaying this story to all of you is, “One person can make a difference in the lives of others.  How do you save souls? One at a time my friends, one at a time.  I’ve discovered that God is always talking and that all I ever had to do was listen; let me tell you God is a real blabber mouth. This is just one of myriad examples of God at work in my life.  I hope that this inspires people to do good work; to try and make a difference in their lives and the lives of others.  It’s not up to politicians to make the world better, it’s up to all of us.  Oh, did I tell you that Philip is a fisherman?  He says that God through Christ has made him a fisher of men. Interesting huh.  Peace and Long Life.

Love Worf