For everyone who is still waiting for the entirely unrealistic “perfect Christmas” to arrive … let’s remember that 52 weeks out of the year (that is, the entire year) we gather Sunday after Sunday like shepherds – a little dirty from our labor. We gather like magi – getting lost now and then and needing directions. We come together for Sunday Mass like John the Baptist – with our doubts, looking to Jesus for an answer. We come together like Peter, James, and John – not exactly sure where we’re going, and sometimes not too sure it’s where we want to go. We come together weekly for the Eucharist like those women on Easter morning – full of sadness, only to discover real Joy. We come together like those frightened disciples who were locked in an upper room, but then set on fire by a vision of the Mission entrusted to them/us.
This day we rejoice! This day we look past anything that might discourage us or allow us to think that we are alone – because Christ has been born and now God is with us in the flesh and in the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.
With all the hope and the realistic optimism that the message of the Gospel holds for us, let us pray for one another and our world – for peace – so that whatever in our lives might be broken or otherwise imperfect will be healed and mended, bringing us into lasting Joy.
