Wishing You A Merry Christmas

Photo: Joseph's Studio by Roman Nativity

My friend, Margareta, said, "It's been hard getting into the Christmas spirit this year." I can understand the feeling. Likely, it's due to the solemn events that have occurred in the world so recently, as well as, losing people we care about at home. Several of my mother's longtime neighbors have died, which makes visiting home bittersweet. Every year there are one, or two fewer familiar faces to see.

We hope there is more to the world then the here and now. An ultimate good, a God who cares about us, a holy child who was born to return us to grace. Philosophers and theologians have argued for millenniums that there is more than just the physical world. Life has a meaning, a greater purpose.

We live on a globe. There are many paths to answer life's Ultimate Questions. Each person must find his or her own responses. In the end, how you live life and treat people matter.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City [Photo: Wikepedia Commons]

Soon many families will gather to take a leap of faith that life goes on beyond what we can now see. Somehow remembering a humble, Holy Family, who slept in a stable helps believers deal with life's ups and downs. Worshipers are reminded to dig a little deeper; try a little harder; don't give up; and focus on what's truly important.

Cathedral of the Assumption, Louisville, Kentucky [Photo: Wikepedia]

Life is change. Children grow into adults. One generation passes onto the next. 

St. Cecilia Church before closing

St. Cecilia Church was a neighborhood parish for 175 years before shutting its doors. Modest and tidy, the parish ran a fish fry and bingo on Fridays, as well as, a yearly festival to support its school, and of course, held midnight Mass on Christmas Eve like local parishes elsewhere.🐑

Sometimes when I step inside an old church, or hear of one's closing, I think about its bygone generations of parishioners who attended. You don't need the Ghost of Christmas Past to know that on Christmas Eve, every seat in this little neighborhood church was filled.

Where on Earth does the time go? Missing are souls, with us for only a dash of time. Which brings us back to a humble holy child, whose birth we celebrate.

Wishing you lots of love, peace and joy, dear readers. Merry Christmas!🎄

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