Merry Christmas
I want to express my sincere thanks to all who have made this Christmas so special not only for me for everyone in our cluster. Thank you to all who volunteered to decorate the churches, who planned and organized the music, and all those who do so many unseen things to make this season special. A personal thank you to those who kept me in prayer, the cards and gifts are very much appreciated. May you and your family be filled with the joy of the season and may your new year be blessed abundantly.
The readings for Christmas and Christmas season tend to be a little confusing. I know our people who are readers for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are concerned that they get the right reading. If you are not a lector but do like to read ahead to know what the readings are you have fallen into the four choices. Is there not just one reading? No, the Church has designated specific readings for the Vigil Mass and Mass During Night.
On Christmas day there are readings for Mass at Dawn and Mass During the Day. In one day, we go from Joseph being told to take Mary into his home. Then we hear the Lukan version of the birth of Jesus, more commonly known as the Charlie Brown story. On Christmas Day we experience the angels breaking through and telling the shepherds to make haste to Jerusalem. Finally, Mass during the Day shares the gospel of John, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. . . I am not sure there is a good reason for this, but the Christmas season is the shortest liturgical season, so we want to get this all in. Now if you have a tradition of always going to the same Christmas Mass you will not experience the other proclamations. The Church does allow the priest some flexibility to one or all of the readings.
To prepare you for the Christmas season, we will hear of the child Jesus readings over Christmas Friday and Saturday. This Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family. Jesus is in the temple and Mary and Joseph are searching for him. It is thought he might be twelve years of age at this time. Then next weekend, January 2, we experience the Wise Men coming and Jesus is back to maybe 1 or 2 years of age. The end of Christmas is January 9 with the baptism of Jesus when he is ready to begin his ministry. For those of you who like order and properly sequenced events this might all seem a little confusing. But that is ok. Life normally is not properly sequenced. We do a little of this, a little of that, not necessarily in the proper order. In this sense we need to be somewhat fluid.
The best part of Christmas is coming to Church and sharing with family and others your faith. Then returning home to celebrate. This year, take a few minutes to let people share their thoughts, their experience of the birth of the Christ Child. Answer the questions of children, ask questions of your own. Dig into your faith, dig into the readings. Not all questions will have a logical answer because we are working with spiritual matters. Then when everyone is at peace, close with a family prayer, thanking God for sending His Son into the world. Amen
May the Lord bless you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen