The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Jesus has come to save us! Tonight we celebrate this “O Holy Night” in which Jesus really and truly comes to dwell among us. What a great event we celebrate tonight!
Christmas can be a hard time. Let’s be honest. It’s not really always “the most wonderful time of year.”
It can be, of course, because it is truly a time of great beauty, a time together with family, time of celebration of special traditions, and the great graces of this most mysterious event of the Incarnation.
But it can also be a very difficult or challenging time for many. Maybe your family is not so “put together” and you are just trying to “make it through the holidays” without any major blowups. Maybe you have experienced a great loss this year and the absence of your child, friend, or family member is excruciating as you go this time of celebrating without him and her. Maybe you feel a great loneliness and emptiness because it is yet another Christmas in which you are still single, and you are still searching for the ways in which you will give of yourself through your vocation. Maybe it’s financial stress, or illness, or the absence of loved ones that make it difficult for you to gleefully sing out that this is the “most wonderful time of the year.”
But that’s the point, ladies. This is what we are celebrating. Jesus has come to save us — in the midst of all that! He has come in the midst of all our sufferings, our wounds, traumas, fears, sin, brokenness, stress, irritations, heartbreak, and loss. And that’s why we can celebrate. Zechariah’s Benedictus summarizes it well, “In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” This is what it is all about. The light is breaking for us. In God’s compassion, He’s come into our darkness and even into the sorrow and grief of death. He’s leading us and guiding us. He is giving us His peace.
Jesus has come to save us! We can truly say that this is “the most wonderful time of the year”! May we have hearts open to receive this Christchild, our Savior and King!
Wishing you a blessed Christmas!
Jesus has come to save us — in the midst of all our sufferings.
If you are feeling stressed, anxious, or hurting, take a moment to step out in faith to RECEIVE this gift of Jesus’ presence that He gives today. Jesus comes to YOU! In all your pain and darkness. He comes to save you — to give you His peace and His joy.
