Medical Director
Anthony Lazzara, M.D.,
SFO

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Christmas is a time for wishing, of asking for things that are necessary and not so necessary. It is a time of anticipation, when an agreeable tension fills the air, when one looks forward to family gatherings and the opening of gifts. Our wishes this year are simple and they relate to the children whom God has entrusted to our care. For Maximo, a 19 year old with a pelvic tumor whom the surgeons here refuse to operate on, surgery in the United States and a long, healthy life thereafter. For Emis, a 5 year old with a smile as wide as the world and spastic cerebral palsy, limber limbs and the ability to walk. For Richard, an 11 year old with no family and paralyzed legs, an adoptive family to nurture and care for him.  For Milagros, a 3 year old with imperforate (closed ) anus and a colostomy, corrective surgery that returns to her the ability to function normally. For Nilton, a 17 year old with generalized tuberculosis and severe malnutrition, the complete restoration of his health and potential. And our wish list could go on and on for our home is filled with children whose needs have not been met by the society that sends them to us.

At times I feel overwhelmed by all that needs to be done and undone, indecisive about what to do next with a particular child, unsure as to why events did not turn out as I thought they should. But these are precisely the sentiments that were experienced by the Child whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.

Our Maker was made human that God, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at a mother’s breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tires on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witness, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.

  St. Augustine

This is perhaps the greatest gift we receive at Christmas; the knowledge that our uncertainties, doubts, fears, defeats were fully shared by our God who will always and in every circumstance hold us in the palm of His hand as He has promised us. This is the consolation that enables us to look beyond our seeming impotence when faced with the incongruities of this world and continue on our pilgrimage, for life is just that, a pilgrimage. It is a way station into which we enter naked and helpless and from which we exit naked and helpless.

During this Christmas, let us not measure our success by what we have accrued during the past year but rather by what we have done with what we have accrued. That is the true measure of the legacy we will leave to the world; what we have done with the talents and gifts that have been freely given to us. Have we put on blinders and blocked out the rest of the world, concentrating on the narrow confines that surround us, or have we reached out to the Child Jesus in the guise of our brothers and sisters and welcomed them into our lives, returning to Him the gift of life He has given to us?

Our children and children everywhere clamor for the gift of life, for the gift of health and well being. Our Lord gave up the glories of Divinity to become helpless, small, dependent and in the end, vilified to give us life. Are we willing to do the same to return the gift of life to Him?

Our obedience and surrender to God are in large part our obedience and surrender to our gifts. This is the message wrapped up in the parable of the talents. Our gifts are on loan. We are responsible for spending them in the world, and we will be held accountable.

Elizabeth O’Connor

The children on this site have received the gift of life through your generosity. We love you and wish you God’s peace during the Holiday Season and in the year to come.