Wednesday, January 14, 2015

1/16/2015 – Friday of 1st Week in Ordinary Time – Psalm 95

 German: Ich bin klein
Mein herz ist rein
Soll niemand drin wohnen
Als Jesus allein.  Amen.

English translation:
I am small,
my heart is pure.
No one shall live in it
but Jesus alone.  Amen.


I remember this traditional German bedtime prayer that my grandfather taught me when I was a small child.  I used to say it every night to my mom before I went to bed, along with my prayers in English.  My mom grew up in a German immigrant family in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago.  My grandfather’s name was Wilhelm Spannenberg.  My grandmother was Clara Schramm.  Can’t get much German than that.  They were very proud of their German heritage and for my grandparents, German was their mother tongue and the first language they spoke at home.  I thought about this German bedtime prayer that I used to pray every night as a small child in Chicago when I read the first verse of our psalm today -  “What we have heard and know, and what our fathers have declared to us, we will declare to the generation to come: the glorious deeds of the LORD and his strength.”  We pass down a lot of things to our children.  We do so through our words and our actions.  It is so interesting how our church is packed on Christmas Eve Midnight mass each year.  People love midnight mass because it is a tradition for them and most often something they remember growing up, something they want to pass down in their family.  Our faith has been passed down to us and now we pass it down to further generations.  Are we even aware of this?  There is so much about our faith that we take for granted, yet we should appreciate and treasure what we have and should enjoy passing it down to others.  It is what we are called to do as a part of our faith. 

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