And Another Year Begins

The honest truth is that our Christmas mass at the cathedral left me overwhelmed.  It is the big mass of the year, every year, but this time it was huge.  What was it about this time?  It was about more than the number of people, even if it was the largest number I have ever seen at the cathedral.  With all the people there, you could feel the warm spirit alive in our midst.  So many people were so kind to me.  Still, my sense of being overwhelmed was about much more, something deeper, for it was a spiritual experience, an experience that spoke of the love of God alive and active in our midst.  Powerful!

This experience is for us to take away and sit with it, be nourished by and live it in reality.  Given the timing, this proved to be a sure foundation upon which to begin another year.  As I hear expressed by so many, this is not just any other year ahead, for it is a year sitting in a world that knows too much conflict, too much suffering, too much fear and insecurity.  

Despite all to the contrary, the sacred remains ever present and real in our world.  God's love is here and now for us and all creation, for creation is the fruit of God's outpouring of his love.  Love is the very essence of God's creation.  This is so, no matter what and despite us.  Our Christian faith assures us that God is with us.  That is the mystery shared at Christmas.  It is a mystery that gathers us together to remember. to celebrate, to know joy, to shed a tear.  This mystery reflects, reveals God's love in the midst of harsh reality, in the midst of our mess and chaos.  

God is the God of our mess.  I read that once and it stays with me.  So true and nourishing as we face the contradictions of life.  The challenge is how we live this mystery in our world, for it is not just something we know and experience on Christmas Day at mass.  It is what we live everyday, wherever we may be, knowing that we are never alone.  In an imperfect world, as imperfect people, we live God's love imperfectly, but we do it as best we can.  

Bring on another year and, in the words of Pope Francis, let us make it holy with the help of Mary, our Mother.  So God is with us and we are sacrament of his love, no matter what.  

Life