The end of the Christmas season is upon us. We first waited and prayed, preparing ourselves for the coming of our Lord at Christmas.
We celebrated with friends and family with great joy, attended our favorite Mass, praised our children’s efforts in Christmas plays and pageants and concerts.
The whirl of New Year’s celebrations have also come and gone. Hopefully some of our resolutions are not gone as well, and our dreams of self-improvement are still intact.
But what does it really mean that we are still in the Christmas season after most of the world thinks the celebration is over and the humdrum work routine is reestablishing itself? Why leave up trees and nativities when the relentless push of the world is now marketing Valentine’s Day?
The answer lies partly with the great feast of Epiphany, which we will celebrate tomorrow. The average person on the street does not seem to know much about this feast, other than that three wise men, visited Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, bringing presents. The meaning of these presents will be opened up by others tomorrow.
Today is a quiet day, a chance to catch our collective breaths and contemplate the mysteries unveiled before us.
How did we experience the mystery of waiting for the Lord’s coming to us? Were we able to share the waiting with someone in need, lightening the load for an in-home caregiver or an overworked single mother? How did the Lord reveal Himself to us in the glory of His incarnation?
What we might spend some time today thinking about is what present we would bring our newborn King if we could travel to Bethlehem as the wise men did. What are we willing to part with to honor our Lord?
It is also a day of continued celebration, as we welcome the presence of Christ in our hearts and our world. Plan a family celebration for this last day of Christmas. Bake a king cake, set out a feast, invite the neighbors in and show them that the twelve days of Christmas are more than an excuse not to take the tree down.
Copyright © 2013, Carol Ann Chybowski
Carol Ann Chybowski
Carol Ann Chybowski is a long time member of the Catholic Writers Guild. She has published book reviews at various websites and appears in two volumes of A Community of Voices: An Anthology of Santa Barbara. When not busy about her parish, Carol Ann can be found knitting, gardening, or on horseback.
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