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Perhaps we’re a bit relieved that Christmas is over for another year. But perhaps we discover that something has changed in us because of an encounter, a gift, a new insight into the meaning of the incarnation. We can keep a little bit of that with us through the coming year and let it bring light and peace to our everyday lives. Our journey with God doesn’t end with the Christmas season. Jesus is forever, not just for Christmas.

Peace begins in the heart and moves outward. If we’re not at peace within ourselves, conflict will find its way into our daily interactions with others. If our families and neighborhoods are not at peace, turmoil in our cities will spread. As we begin the new year, make a commitment to focus on peace through prayer, through meditation, through working for justice.

“Mary gave a human face to the eternal Word, so that all of us can contemplate him.” — Pope Francis

On this New Year’s Day, think of the faces in your life that bring you peace and joy. Say a special prayer for those people. And on this day of prayer for world peace, ask the Lord to smile in a special way on those areas of our world that most need the light of peace to shine on them.

Holy people are always  ready to show creation’s inner connections. Knowing such people draws us closer to God, whose goodness was revealed through the life of Francis of Assisi.

We may be tempted to think that Francis lived at a time when holiness was easier. An honest look at his life reveals a very different and grittier story. Through God’s grace, Francis learned to make the most of the hand that was dealt to him. He used his talents as best he could, but he knew, as Saint Paul had told the Corinthian Christians centuries before, “God gives the growth.”

Pope Francis reminds us that God’s attitude toward us is far more one of mercy than of judgment. Forgiveness and generosity are the hallmarks of the divine. The psalms tell us that God puts behind himself all our sins. Gifts, by their nature, are something we don’t deserve and can’t earn. And the greatest gift-giver is our God. If this is what our faith tells us, then our Christmas traditions should reflect this.

The Holy Family were refugees from a corrupt political situation and an unstable ruler. No matter how much Matthew focuses on the way this flight into another country fulfilled passages in the Hebrew Scriptures, the fact is they were fleeing for their lives.

At our own birth, the child of Christmas is born in us. He is our spiritual potential. But we have to let that birth find its fulfillment in a life that rises above the ordinary. You might say that we have to keep the promise of that child alive in us always. Christmas is a reminder that the child is always being born, always in the manger, and always being welcomed.

— from the book The Soul of Christmas by Thomas Moore