The dinner has long been eaten, "Elf " has been watched, the cookies polished off and the stockings gone through (two out of three made it back to the mantle.) My family is all around me, and everyone is sleepy, well-feed, and just glad to be together. It is the state of being called Christmas.
You don't know, from year to year, what changes wll take place in your family, and as you age you learn to appreciate the precious faces around you even more. Judgement fades, as you realize that acceptance is a big part of love. If you are lucky enough to have no illness, no death, and no calamity visit your door, you have every reason to count yourself lucky and blessed, especially at holiday season. Around the globe there is so much pain, anxiety and death that we in America are lucky to have the kinds of strife we have - even a bad economy and political divide pales in comparison to starvation, natural disasters and genocide.
At Christmas we are reminded to help the poor, and Jesus meant constantly, and as a mission in life. It is actually about the poor among us. Jesus asked us to help widows, orphans and the poor. I am reminded to see how I personally can do more for the truly poor; why have so many other things gotten in the way? Is there any more important work? As our parish priest pointed out today at Mass, we come from the ages of saints whose work was the poor and the state of our souls...this is our inheritance. What will we do with it...squander it, or live up to it?
May peace and joy stay with you this season, and throughout the year. God bless us, everyone!
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