Our Saviour Is Born
Christians throughout the world are united in celebrating their joy at the birth of Jesus Christ and this joy is shared by so many who, while not understanding the full meaning of Christmas, unite with family and friends to affirm their desire to be united in peace and love.
At this time we share the joy of all those who are able to unite with family and friends and we share the pain of those who are suffering the pain of isolation or loneliness. We hold all in our hearts and in our prayers. May the light of Christ which no darkness can overcome bring peace and renewed hope to us all.
Many people ask us how we celebrate Christmas. Well for one thing the Church does not believe it is possible to celebrate the birth of the Lord in a single day so we celebrate for many days to come! We have all the wonderful Christmas liturgies which help us to enter into and explore deeply the great mystery of the Incarnation - the entry of God into our world as one of us. This includes two Christmas Masses, one on Christmas eve and another on Christmas morning. We set up picnic tables to share celebratory meals for several days, transferring the party to our community room if the weather is too hot. Each evening of the great Christmas feast days we gather around our Christmas crib to sing carols and to celebrate Night Prayer.
We do not set up our Christmas crib until a few days before Christmas as we are still focused on the season of Advent. We come together to set up and decorate the crib and when it is in place we really know that Christmas is very close. For eight days the Church celebrates the Christmas Octave, which means every one of these days is another Christmas day for us. Each day we celebrate, reflect on and pray about a different facet of this great feast for it is impossible to ever fully grasp the riches contained in the Incarnation.
After the eighth day - New Years Day - we still have not finished with the Christmas season. We now change the figures in our crib, removing the shepherds and placing the three wise men and their gifts at the crib. While the feast of Christmas presents us with the mystery of the Incarnation - God becoming man - the feast of Epiphany presents us with the reverse side of this mystery of faith, the revelation of the glory of God and our divinization in Christ through whom we are united with the Father by the Holy Spirit. Now we will ponder on this mystery until the second Sunday of the year when we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord which marks the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of Ordinary time for the new year.
After the upheavals of 2020 and the COVID 19 pandemic I am sure we are all looking forward to some ‘ordinary’ time. Whatever the new year brings, however, we journey with faith and hope in the God who makes all things work for good.
Wishing you every grace and blessing this Christmas, from your Carmelite Sisters.
