Christmas is an extraordinary time of the year. Even as people of faith, we might use the term “magical” to describe it.
In the everyday use of that term, it is fitting. For most of us, Christmas brings out the best in us—which is not to say that it makes us perfect!
At Christmastime, we seek to put our best foot forward. We decorate our homes, we join in festive celebrations, we exchange gifts, sing carols, deck our halls with boughs of holly and celebrate yuletide cheer! We are filled with memories of Christmas long ago, which appear to be ever more wonderful as time goes by with its unique impact on our recollections.
All this is a good thing, even the Christmas decorations outside—at least the ones that don’t appear until after Thanksgiving! It all points in one way or another to something beyond. Everyone may not fully appreciate the mystery. Some of the festivity may seem so far removed from the heart of the season that precious little of it can be identified. Yet, the very fact that all this is present still connects everyone in one way or another to the mystery we celebrate.
As people of faith, as disciples of the Lord whose birth we celebrate, as worshippers of the child conceived of a Virgin, born to us, wrapped in swaddling clothes and adored by shepherds and angels, we also have everything that marks this time of the year. We have all that, but we have so much more!
What we have so far surpasses everything else that we have a Season of anticipation to prepare us for the Season of celebration! While the world celebrates its often incomplete or even defective understanding of Christmas, we have Advent to quietly anticipate the true mystery yet to come. When Advent does give way to Christmas, when others have lost whatever interest they initially had, we are just getting started! We celebrate the day, the Octave and the Season!
We have so much to ponder that it could not be contained in a single day. When Advent gives way to Christmas, the Child whose birth we have anticipated is now the newborn Babe we worship and adore. Images of the Child and his Holy Family remind us throughout the Season that a mighty gift has been given to us; a gift that has radically changed the world and one that can radically change our lives. It is the gift of the Child.
At Sycamore Trust, we are grateful to be numbered among those who cherish the gift of this Child. As members of the Notre Dame community, we are especially grateful for the opportunity that Christmas gives us to renew our love and devotion to the Mother of this Child, and to join with her and her most chaste Spouse, St Joseph, in gazing lovingly upon this Child.
As always this is the time of year when we especially thank each of you who has joined us in our mission and in our apostolate in any manner. Promoting and protecting the Catholic identity of our beloved Alma Mater flows from the gift we have received as adorers of this Child. Your support, participation and prayer make our work possible!
The gift we have received cannot be kept to ourselves. It imposes upon us an obligation to share the Good News! Whether the news is welcome or not, Christmas reminds us that, like the angels and the shepherds, we must always say to one another and to everyone we meet:
“Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.”
