The Day After 

   Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving.  I hope your day was as good as mine.  Few things can make a celebration more meaningful than to share it with good friends and family.  After all, our family and friends are some of the greatest blessings of God; things for which we should be thankful for not just for a day but for the year round.

   Today, the madness resumes.  My email and Facebook is blowing up with ads for black Friday sales.  I’m certain that many people were up at dawn or before to join the fight for those must have Christmas gifts.  We sometimes forget that the greatest gift of all is the gift of salvation offered by our Lord.

   I opted to spend this day continuing to be thankful, to go to Mass and again praise my God and thank Him for all His blessings.  I am thankful for the turkey carcass now being turned into turkey stock for the soup that I will make.  I’m thankful for the leftovers which will be my dinner today.  I am thankful for the beauty of this day, another of God’s gifts.

   Today is also the day I chose to honor the Lord by setting up the near life-size nativity scene I’ve had for many years.  It has become the only decoration I care to display.  The Santa’s, reindeer, snowmen, and brightly colored lights are fine and bring joy to many, especially the children.  For me, however, I prefer to forego the secular and focus on the real reason for the season, the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

   It may be a bit early for a Christmas wish, but I’m going to do it anyway.  My wish for you this Christmas is that Christ be the gift you seek, His love the gift you cherish and His mercy the gift you most desire. 

We begin the joyous season of Christmas.

We look forward to the birth of our Lord.

Keep our minds on the true joy of Christmas.

The gift of Your love. 

Amen