Sunday in Octave of Christmas 26 December 2021 The eternal Day
We said it all yesterday but we come back today, the day after Christmas.
Life presses on and does not give us a lot of time to reflect on important issues.
Even liturgically one day merges into another and we speed along rapidly.
We hold on as best we can to the fast-moving train! It is not usually a comfortable ride for us.
One reason for this is that the things we celebrate (such as the Birth of Christ) are not yet fully integrated into our daily lives, or in the surrounding society. So there is always an element of struggle involved.
Many do not believe these events are important, or they fail to give them the attention they deserve.
The calendar takes us quickly from Christmas Day to St Stephen’s Day, and then two days later to the feast of the Holy Innocents.
The gentle crib scene of one day gives way to brutal martyrdom on another day.
We would like to live in a world where everything was as peaceful and ordered as that crib scene.
The next best thing is that we are ready to live either way. If it is peaceful, fine - we can cope with that. If it is violent, and we face the prospect of martyrdom, fine. That is harder but we can still cope, by the grace of God.
We live our faith in such a way that we are prepared to die for it.
We are fortified for such a life by continuous prayer, penance, sacraments, good works.
We follow the example of the great saints, who were holy and humble enough to withstand worldly pressure and hold firm to the Truth.
They imitated Christ, they obeyed Him, they witnessed to Him.
There is an urgency. We rest the body but never the spirit. We are in a long war, and there is work to be done.
It is not just Christmas Day that we are thinking of these things.
The first Christmas was an enormous event. Now it is up to us to bring that event into our time and space. It is up to us now because the people of past times are resting, and the future ones are not here yet.
Oh, but I am inadequate for the task, we will say. Yes we are inadequate if on our own, but we have access to the grace of God, to help us do everything that has to be done.
To save souls is the big task - to get people to accept the will of God and actually be submissive to Him.
It is very difficult to change long-held opinions but the task has to be done, rain or shine.
The clock does not stop; we use our time in the sun. Not clinging too much to this life we interpret everything in terms of the spiritual world.
We might envy the worldly people but we must not. We are the lucky ones to be employed in the vineyard (Mt 20,1-16).
We integrate all days, special and ordinary, and join them to the eternal Day of Heaven.
If ever and whenever we do reach the point that life is all peaceful and everything goes as it should, we will not stop praying.
There is still the matter of praising God, for which we were created! That is what they do in Heaven – all day, as it were.
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