The original idea of the coffin break was to offer up the usual cup of coffee on Fridays and spend a moment meditating on the upcoming Sunday Gospel reading with a spirit of sacrifice, looking toward and preparing for the ultimate sacrifice that will be required of each of us at the end of our lives; creating thus a little Triduum of each weekend in the hope that we might be more prepared for our own deaths by recognizing the ongoing need to die to ourselves to receive the Ultimate Life. So, when I was picking up a little lumber at Lowes this morning for a side project, and their free coffee caught my eye, my first thought was “no coffee this morning.” But then J remembered that I never drink Lowes free coffee. Never, that is, but one time in Seattle in 1999 where I was landscaping one dark winter’s day.

That coffee was terrible.

Which, thus remembering, led me to reason that perhaps a cup of penitential coffee would be even more spiritually effective than no coffee for this Little Triduum kickoff… So, I bought my wood and pumped out half a cup. The coffee turned out to be surprisingly good.

Open to bigger surprises let’s look at Sunday’s Gospel in the light of the grave:

This Sunday's Gospel is Matthew 1: 18-24 (from the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible)

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly.

But as he considered this, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet;

“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel”

(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but he knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.

My wise wife Kelly commented that Joseph’s righteousness was made manifest in mercy. The mercy God shows to us and longs to show us even more, if we but repent and ask for it, is the most wonderful surprise we could ever hope for. The more we receive it now, the more we will surprise others with it as well as we become agents of His mercy; and, the more we give it away the more we will receive it. We know this. We pray the Our Father, the prayer Jesus gave us, repeatedly. So let us wake from sleep and do as the angel of the Lord commands us.

Have a great Christmas, everybody.