Merry Christmas! It is still the Christmas season and actually it is the octave of Christmas. Octaves point out how important such a feast is. We can take for granted the fact that God coming in the flesh for our salvation is important. We celebrate it each and every year. That should not lessen its importance in our minds and hearts. The infinite God coming to us as a newborn infant. How can we ever fully wrap our minds around that reality? Our God always invites and who doesn’t want to hold onto a cute newborn? That is how close our God wants to be with us.
The octave is filled with many feast days that call us to celebrate those who have
followed Jesus and call us to do the same. St. Stephen’s feast comes right after Christmas. He is the Church’s first martyr. The Acts of the Apostles gives us that account of his boldly proclaiming Jesus and suffering for it. The next feast day is for St. John the Apostle. His death is not recorded in the scriptures but he wrote his Gospel so that we could come to know Jesus. His Gospel is different from the other three and offers us another point of reflection on the life of the Word made flesh. This year the feast of the Holy Innocents falls on a Saturday. That feast too is rooted in the scriptures and occurs when Jesus Himself is a little child. These feasts are rooted in real people, places and time. It reminds us that we too are called to be saints in our own day and place.
Finally, looking ahead is January 1st. We celebrate Mary, the Mother of God. Highlighting again the reality of our God who has come to us as one of us in the flesh. It is good to start the New Year off by turning to Mary and asking her intercession. It is also World Day of Prayer for Peace. Our world needs that especially in the Middle East and Ukraine. As we have a few more days of Christmas to enjoy, please lift up the needs of others, they may come to know the Prince of Peace born for us this season.