This is truly my favorite time of the Christmas season, the week after the feast of the Nativity. I really enjoy it so much with all the events and get-togethers; it is a time for me to just enjoy. I guess that is why the church has what she calls the ‘octave’ of Christmas. That is the eight days after and including Christmas day. The octave is to be treated liturgically the same as Christmas eve. It is a continuous celebration of the Feast, of course I like to treat the 8 days with the same weight of gift giving during that whole period ( ha ha). It a nice thought, isn’t it? Realistically as I stated earlier, what I enjoy the most is family and friends. Christmas is not primarily a time for presents but for Presence. No gift we humans can offer to one another can come close to the gift of God’s divine presence in our lives. This gift is made visible through the incarnation of God’s son, Jesus. It is a gift of divine indwelling that enables and encourages our own generosity to each other.

May we all continue sharing that generosity as a stewardship parish, not just now, but throughout the new year.

May the presence of Mary, ‘The Mother of God’ bless and enliven you in your stewardship journey.

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Thoughts on the Scriptures: (Taken from the Living Liturgy)

What are the many things that Mary reflected on “in her heart”? Both marvelous events such as the angelic message relayed by the shepherds, and painful circumstances such as a birth in a stable. Mary grappled with both sides of the mystery of Jesus’ birth: the miraculous and the everyday, the joyous, and the painful, what was already unfolding and what was yet to be revealed. In all this she was really pondering the mystery of God’s presence and thus sublimely models how we too can recognize the Word being made flesh and dwelling among us.

Once we are beyond the Christmas season, we tend to forget about the import of the incarnation for our daily living. Mary teaches us that continued active reflection on this mystery is how we are drawn more deeply into the fullness and able more perfectly to live the grace of being children and heirs of God.

Peace,

Fr. Peter