I am writing this on the 12th day of Christmas, when many people have already discarded their Christmas trees and stopped celebrating Christmas. Yet, the church still marvels and ponders the meaning and mystery of this tender holy day until January 6 (Epiphany) with the journey of the Magi. By the time you read this reflection, Christmas will have come and gone.  Nevertheless, we do well to look back at our parish Christmas celebration this year and to keep Christ’s presence alive!

In part, what inspired these thoughts was one of the Letters to the Editor in the January 4 Democrat and Chronicle by James Quackenbush. He wrote: “As a Christian, I choose to celebrate the Christmas holiday and do so until Epiphany, January 6 (the traditional 12th day and final day of Christmas) . . . I often hold and attend holiday parties into the new year and enjoy keeping my Christmas lights on for such occasions.” Bravo to you, Jim!

The twelve days of Christmas are really not enough time for us to delve into and really appreciate the great Christmas mystery of which we are a part. This is expressed well in the poem, “Christmas” by John Betjeman (1906): “No love that in a family dwells, nor caroling in neither the frosty air, nor all the steeple-shaking bells can with this single truth compare – that God was man in Palestine and lives today in Bread and Wine.” The mystery of Christmas continues on and on. Christ is being born in us today, so that we might be born of Him until the end of time.

I want to congratulate all of you on your wonderful attendance in church this past Christmas – would that it were the same every Sunday!! Of course, the mild weather was a contributing factor to the great turnout. It was exhilarating to experience a full to overflowing church and a packed parish center for all of our Christmas masses here at St. Rita. Your presence was a powerful witness to your faith in Jesus. You can’t imagine the impact this has on all of us – priests, deacon, fellow parishioners and lay ecclesial ministers. Not just your presence; but your attention and participation made our Christmas Masses prayerful and uplifting. Worshipping God is the greatest activity we can spend time doing. The Eucharist is the Universal Prayer of the church because it is the prayer of Christ. We don’t repeat routine petitions or listen to mood music at Eucharist. Rather, we enter into and partake of Christ’s offering of Himself to God the Father and offer ourselves with Him. We are filled with wonder, love and praise. It is this awe that inspires adoration and communion. Christ’s sacrifice, wisdom, compassion, humility and goodness flows into us and transforms us so we can say with Thomas the Apostle: “My Lord and My God”. Our actions and words can be examples to others. As St. Paul tells his co-worker Timothy: “Be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in Spirit, in faith and in single-mindedness. (1Tm 4:12) In the same vein he writes to the Romans: “I am longing to see you, so that I may share some spiritual gift to strengthen you – or rather so that we may mutually encourage each others’ faith, both yours and mine.” (Rom 1:11-12)

So, we thank you for your presence here and for your living faith, which was so evident in our Christmas Masses. Our faith is shaped by the people and events of our lives, as well as by Christ’s presence in the sacraments, in the Word and in the teaching about God for whom we search throughout life. Christmas helps us to know God is close to us. The Infinite, Transcendent and Holy One becomes a child, tender, vulnerable and intimate. Though God is greater than we can imagine, God walks with us, touches, teaches, and suffers for us in Jesus. This mystery of God becoming human begins at Christmas and continues until we all are one with Him. Do you now understand why we need all 12 days of Christmas to reflect on, to proclaim, and to make our own with truth of our faith, and a whole life-time to live this mystery of the incarnation and Christ’s love and sacrifice which we have just celebrated?