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Christmas After These are troubled times for our country. Fear, anger, uncertainty have intruded inot our lives. We are told that we will never be the same again, that terrorism will always be part of our lives, that we must give up some of our freedoms, and that the enemy lurks all around us. Doubtless there is some reason to be uneasy as well as cause for morning all those who died. |
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Christmas nonetheless is a challenge to our fears, our anger, our desires for revenge, our prejudices against those who are different from us. It is also a challenge to forgive those who have harmed us. Forgiveness does not mean that we neglect self defense of the apprehension of criminals. It does mean that even our enemies are God's children, that he loves them, and that he yearns for their happiness as he does for ours. The one who came on Christmas would later in his life pray that the Father forgive them for they did not know what they were doing. |  |
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If we are not prepared to pray that way then we have no right to claim to
be followers of the Babe of Bethlehem. Whatever hatred or desire for vengeance we might
have should not survive Christmas. JOY WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE NO REASON TO REJOICE To paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, joy is only a Christian virtue when there seems to be no reason to rejoice. When everything is going well in our own life or in the life of our country, then it is easy to rejoice. No particular faith is required. When we are troubled, frightened, angry, we need faith to rejoice anyway. |
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| We need the kind of joy which is based on experiences of peace and material well being, but on a conviction that God's love is stronger than evil, stronger than tragedy, stronger even then death. We must dig deep into our resources of faith to believe and hope when the situation seems hopeless. This Christmas will be a measure of how seriously we take the message of God's love which was revealed at Bethlehem. If our fears and our suspicions survive the Joyous Season, we ought to ask ourselves whether our faith is fair weather faith. In fact, this should be the most joyous of Christmases precisely because it must depend on naked faith, that persists in the face of tragedy and disaster, faith that can never be snuffed out by suffering and loss. Such faith is not easy, but it is in fact the only kind of faith that is worthy of the name. |  |
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| The joy which comes from that authentic faith is the only joy which is
worth of the Christmas season. NEW AND RECENT BOOKS I've promised to use this newsletter to tell people about books. Since I've been remiss in communicating with the Mailbox Parish, I have a long list of books. Irish Love is the latest in the Nuala Anne Series, The Bishop and the Beggar Girl of St. Germain, |
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the most recent
Blackie, and September Song, the newest of the O’Malley Family saga. It takes
Chuck and Rosemarie through the terrible times of the late nineteen sixties. The next
books in the series will be Irish Stew!, The Bishop and the West Wing, and Second
Spring: A Love Story. Blackie has to go to the West Wing because an Irish Catholic
from the South Side of Chicago has been elected president. Upon his arrival, there is an
obsession of poltergeists in the White House and Cardinal Cronin gives Blackie the usual
order: "See to it Blackwood". Sheed and Ward has published the most recent volume of my prayer journals, My Love. Perhaps it will encourage more people to keep prayer journals, which are a useful way to remain conscious of God in our lives. |
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| AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! | ||||
| America is a resilient nation and Americans are a resilient people. On purely human grounds there is excellent reason to believe that we will survive not only the terrorists, but also the babble of the talking heads on television. We will, I think, return to enjoy travel and vacations and airplane flights. We will regain our self confidence. However, even if the next year continues the troubles of this year, those of us who believe that everything changed at Bethlehem will continue to rejoice in God's love, refuse to lose our nerve, and never indulge in hatred or neurotic fear. May God bless you and protect you and deepen your faith in 2002. May Mary and Brigid watch over you, may springtime come early and may you grow in love, especially of those who love you the most. |  |
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Another Christmas Blessing May the Christmas light glow in your window as you come home
on a dark and stormy night. |
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AMEN. |
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