The hunched backed old man with the black overcoat passed by my frosty window just as he had every other Christmas night. I always wondered about the strange, unclean man. Every year around seven o’clock he would slowly stride down my street carrying a beat up old box in his left arm with a sparkle of hope in his eyes. I figured he was on his way back from the homeless shelter or the …showed first 75 words of 1591 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1591 total…and opened the box, presuming to find some magical elixir or sack of gold and jewels that would change my life forever. What I found did change my life forever, and made me the richest person in the world. The box contained a single book, which till this day I can’t put down. Now, many years later, while I await my ordination into the priesthood, I look back on that Christmas Eve and smile.