I was doing some Christmas shopping the other day, and I stopped at Target.  And after I found what I needed, I went up and got in the check-out line.  And it was then, that I met Joshua.  Joshua was four years-old, and he was with his mother and his baby sister, who was in one of those portable car seats.  And young Joshua was not having a good day.  He was very angry.  Within seconds of them walking up and getting in line behind me, it became painfully clear that Joshua was in the middle of a tantrum over some kind of talking dinosaur that he had seen in the toy department, and that his evil mother would not buy for him.  Joshua was crying.  And through the sobs you could barely make out that he just had to have the talking dinosaur.   And he wanted it right now.  His mother reminded him that Christmas was coming soon.  But Joshua would have none of it.  He didn’t want the dinosaur for Christmas.  He wanted it right now.  In his anger and disappointment the child let fly an astonishing litany of “I hate you, Mommy”s.  There were more tears and then screaming.  I am not exaggerating here.  By now, everybody in all of the checkout lines were paying attention to Joshua.  Next he started kicking the display there along side the checkout line, and he knocked-off the display a box with two lightbulbs in it, breaking both of the lightbulbs.  With Joshua still in full-rant mode, and without saying a word to anyone, Mom scooped up the boy, and picked up the baby sister in the carrier, and walked out the doors of Target, leaving behind her cart with her things and the two broken lightbulbs on the floor.  It was a haunting experience.  I didn’t know if the mom had gotten in line behind me on purpose, because she wanted me to do an exorcism on her son or what.  Clearly young Joshua, at four years-old, is out of control.  Selfishness has taken over his life.

      And you know, my experience with Joshua has really made me think this week, about how much I am like him.  It has made me think about my own selfishness.  And I’m not just talking about my selfishness when I was a boy.  What I have to admit is that I can be very selfish, maybe even more selfish, as an adult.  We all can be.  Selfishness is rampant in our society today.  Oh, we might not rant and rave like Joshua did in Target, but all of us have our own way of wanting to get our own way.  Don’t we?  You know what I’m talking about.  And it’s never pretty.  It’s never fun.  As we grow up, most of us learn that we can’t throw fits like this young child.  And so we become more politically correct in our selfishness.  But oh how very much we still like to get our way and get what we want all the time!  And our selfishness ruins so much.  Selfishness ruins families.  It ruins marriages.  It makes our workplaces and our schools miserable places to be.  It destroys our friendships.  It makes our neighborhoods places of conflict and discord.  Selfishness doesn’t work for anybody.  It didn’t work for Joshua.  He didn’t get his dinosaur.  He ended up just looking like a little baby, instead of a four year-old.  We would say that Joshua needs to grow up.  And guess what?  When we’re selfish, so do we!

       Today on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, our final Sunday before Christmas, we get this beautiful example from just before the first Christmas, of unselfish love and devotion.  Mary, the young girl chosen by God to be the Mother of His Son, and who is now pregnant with Jesus, travels a fair distance to be with and to take care of her kinswoman, Elizabeth.  Elizabeth is about to give birth to her son, John the Baptist.  Mary has no business making this trip.  This was not an easy thing for her to do.  She could have stayed home and soaked her feet, and let Joseph wait on her.  But there’s Mary, getting completely out of herself, ignoring her own physical discomfort, to go and help Elizabeth.  This is an extraordinary example of selflessness.  And in this Fourth Week of Advent, it is one that we are called to imitate as we make our final preparations for Christmas.

       My brothers and sisters, if you want to have the best Christmas that you have ever had, this week, do everything that you can to root out all selfishness from your life.  In these next few days, concentrate NOT on what you can do for yourself or what you can get for yourself.  But concentrate on what you can do and be for others.  We can all fall into selfishness so easily.  We might not stomp our feet, and yell, and break lightbulbs.  But we all do it!  Getting rid of selfishness is the single greatest thing that you can do to be happier.  It is NOT all about us.  It never is.  It was never supposed to be.  Christmas will be a lot happier and a lot holier, if we all get that right.  Don’t be like Joshua.  There’s a bigger picture.

May God bless us today,  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!