You know it beyond any doubt: Christmas has become the very embodiment of and the channel for sheer and simple materialism.

We will spend more time wrapping presents than attending special Christmas services.

We will spend more money on our pets than on foreign missions.

How on earth in heaven's name can we stem the commercial tide of Christmas?

Let me suggest that you read the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Born in 1182 in Assisi of Italy and who died in 1228, Francis was a fabulously wealthy young man, but who gave it all up to assist the poor and overlooked.

Perhaps his prayer in some way will shape your Christmas season.

"O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace!

"Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is discord, harmony; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light, and Where there is sorrow, joy.

"Oh Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life."

Can we get into our heads that one phrase, particularly at this time of the year, "For it is in giving that we receive"? Let me suggest that you consider giving to some folks and causes that cannot in any way give