'Thomas the Tank Engine' takeaways

Sister Denise watches Thomas with Jax.

I spent a little time over the Christmas holidays with my goddaughter’s 2-year-old son, Jax. As a consequence, I watched quite a bit of “Thomas the Tank Engine;” and I am now familiar with the various personalities and idiosyncrasies of Thomas and his engine friends.

Each vignette we watched had a point to make about important life issues — true friendship, asking for help when needed, keeping one’s promises, doing one’s assigned tasks. Each story made it clear that no one engine could work alone to accomplish the important work assigned to the little engines on the island of Sodor.

I have no idea of what Jax carries away from his multiple viewings of the Thomas CDs. But I’m thinking of Thomas, Percy, Toby, Elizabeth and the other engines as 2012 begins.

My hope for all of us who share the journey of Providence is that we, too, will feel confident and comfortable in relying on one another for the help we need — material, physical, emotional and spiritual.

I hope we will, like the little engines, take our life’s work, our vocations seriously and give all the energy we have to our personal and collective call from a loving God.

I hope that others — children and adults — will “watch” us as carefully and often and with as much pleasure as Jax watches the Thomas stories; and, from watching, others will see in us what on-lookers saw in the first followers of Jesus — love in action. “See how they love one another.”

I hope, like Thomas who feels responsible for and familiar with the whole of his home island of Sodor, that we will feel responsible for and familiar with the whole of our “island” — the whole of creation.

Have a wonderful 2012!