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As we approach the celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas, God addresses his message of salvation to us: “Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is at hand.”
People usually think of Christmas as a traditional and sentimental festival, but not as a celebration of the Jesus vision it commemorates: a philosophy of profound reform.
Take time to be grateful for the many ways you perceive the world around you—sight, sound, smell, and touch—and the people and places these perceptions evoke.
My daughter Riley is an animal lover. After our dog Hobbes passed away, she carried around a ceramic Yorkshire—complete with Hobbes’s old collar and leash—until we got a new puppy. Riley has great concern for all animals, including birds during the winter months.
Jacopone da Todi’s life changed radically when his wife died in an accident at a local tournament. Turning from his self-indulgent life, he eventually became a Franciscan friar, but life was not easy even then. Jacopone is most known for writing the beautiful hymn, “Stabat Mater,” in the later years of his life.
In the midst of our Christmas celebrations, today’s Gospel reminds of “the rest of the story,” which will culminate in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the birth of the Church. Along with Mary and Joseph and all who follow him, we have begun the journey.
As we approach the celebration of Jesus’ birth, the Church invites us to give thanks for God’s intervention in the affairs of humanity, to take joy in the Lord.
Dark days can mean dark moods. This natural turn of the seasons helps explain the timing of Christmas. It is the festival of light, the return of the sun and longer periods of daylight.
God doesn’t tell us not to question, but rather not to be afraid. And whether we come to our response slowly or quickly, we do come to it in the end. And with God’s grace, that answer will be yes.
It’s harder to show compassion if we disconnect from our own wisdom and experience—perhaps rejecting some part of ourselves we think is shameful. The key to loving another is the ability to love all of ourselves—being flawed but fully human, whole.
