We celebrate Christmas for 8 days!!!! So if I seem joyful it’s because O Come O Come Emanuel Happened!!!! He’s here. Joyfully we praise God for light and love. Then… Why do we celebrate the first day after Christmas, December 26 a death? St Stephen was stoned with the approval of a man named Saul. He was martyred for being a Christian. The story opens in Acts, "Stephen, filled with grace and power…. debated with wisdom. He looked up to heaven and saw Jesus." When he was stoned, he looked up and said, "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." What great faith! Jesus died like that too. So Christmas is a gift time of gold and myrrh. Life and death. In Matthew 10, Jesus told us to "beware of men… they will scourge you and hand you over… you will be hated. Endure and be saved." Today the Catholic Mass really digs deep and asks us to keep our eyes, not on men and men’s empty promises, but on heaven. I wonder if this year has been a time when all the love shown by hospitals has been overshadowed by the hate we have seen in the accusations and criticisms we have heard on the streets and from our televisions and from the mouths of friends we have lost. Let the spirit of Joy and love not be killed. Look out and up. I am ashamed that I have not followed up on some ideas I had to help the poor. I’m using Covid separation as an excuse. I have a friend who actively teaches young teenagers. She loves those kids and by her love and support, she is teaching them to love along with the Catechism she reads to them. My friend Charlie teaches and gives to African churches as well as to his own in Atlanta. There is a lot of poverty and hunger. Let us not be ashamed at New Years that we didn’t help. God bless us abundantly! Merry Christmas.
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