St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

Each one of us has experienced God’s action in our lives in some special way, in a Bethlehem-like way, at least once: Maybe through a truly uncanny God-incidence, or through an answered prayer, or through the providential intervention of a friend or loved one.

Jennifer Miller, the founder and executive director of Bioethics International, the United States’ leading provider of person-centered bioethics programs for the healthcare, life science and biotechnology sectors, had one such experience that totally altered the direction of her life.

In late 2001, she an undergraduate at Fordham University was right on track to become a physicist. Her dream was to work for NASA and go to Mars. She was flying high - so high that when she received an e-mail invitation to speak at a 2-day stem-cell bioethics conference in Rome, she proudly accepted. She knew a little bit about stem cells, and she thought that the invitation was based on their desire to include a young person's perspective in the conference. So she arranged her travel, rescheduled her final exams, and boarded the plane.

Only when she finally arrived in Rome did she find out the uncomfortable truth: the speaking invitation had been an error. She was embarrassed, but so were the organizers, who granted her special permission to attend the closed-door conference to make up for their goof. She listened to high-level scientists, philosophers, theologians, and policymakers discuss cutting-edge stem cell technologies and their ethical ramifications. This is when her interest in Catholic bioethics was born.

Now her solid, practical, and morally sound bioethical training programs have served more than 2500 clinicians and 1200 biotechnology companies across the world. All because of a misplaced – or, rather, a Providence-placed, invitation – a true Bethlehem moment to discover her true vocation.

During this coming week, we will all face at least two situations where our faith in God’s Providence will be tested, where we will be sorely tempted to forget that He is the Lord of life and history, to let our trust in Him go slack, and so to disobey His commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.

First, we will reconnect with family members who rub us the wrong way, bother us, or have wounded us in the past. Christmas is a time when families get together. It is a beautiful tradition, but it has its pitfalls. Let us decide today, with the help of God’s grace, that when our tempers or emotions start to flare, we will not lash out in anger or fear, but rather turn to the babe of Bethlehem and ask Him to give us the grace we need to be His true followers, to experience His peace in our hearts even while storms rage around us, and to share that peace with others.

Second, we will face the challenge of busyness. We will all be so busy during these Holy days that it will be hard to squeeze in any time alone with God. But unless we make it a priority to have a daily God-time, even if it's only five or ten minutes, how will we be able to experience His peace? The hustle and bustle surrounding this time of year can either exhaust or exhilarate us. If we try to live it with just our own strength, we will be exhausted. If we stay close to God, renewing our confidence in His Providence by spending time with Him each day, we will be exhilarated.

Jesus, the Lord of history, came to be our peace. This Christmas, let's give Him the chance to do so!