Christmas isn’t Over!!!: Weekly Message for 12-29-2020

Dear Fellow Digital Pilgrim, Pax Christi:

What are you thinking about more often these days – the coming secular New Year, or the glories of the Christmas Season?

Most of us tend to get swept away in the New Year preparations and celebrations.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  Except that, liturgically speaking, our New Year began back with the First Sunday of Advent.  And right now, we are still in the midst of the wonderful liturgical season of Christmas, and God still has plenty of graces he wants to give us as part of that season.

When the secular New Year distracts us from the meaning of Christmas, and all the feasts and celebrations surrounding it – like today’s commemoration of St. Thomas Beckett, or Friday’s Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, and the coming celebration of the Epiphany – we can miss out on those graces.  We also miss out on giving him glory and honor for his magnificent works of salvation.

The more the internal rhythm of our hearts and minds reflects the rhythm of the liturgical seasons, the more space God’s grace has in our lives to work in us and through us.  For that reason, I want to recommend that we all continue to savor the meaning of Christmas throughout this season.  Our many Retreat Guides on the themes of Christmas can help with that.  You can read them, listen to them, or watch them, either by yourself or with your family and friends.  And they can really help you stay in tune with whatever the Holy Spirit wants to be communicating to you during these holy days.

I can recommend especially our Retreat Guide on The Hidden Treasures of Christmas, and our Retreat Guide on Epiphany’s Three Wise Men, Starlight.  But we have many more to choose from.  You can find them all on our Retreat Guide page.

May God grant you all a grace-filled Christmas season!  And may that grace be a powerful blessing as you start off the secular New Year.

Peace in Him,

Fr John Bartunek, LC