The Coming of Gleeful Magic and Peaceful Miracle.  

Readings for today: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121624.cfm 

By Chris Appleyard

My children are grown, but this season still fills me with anticipation, which I find more and more in the perennial symbols of the season. Looking back at my childhood Christmases, it was always less about the gifts and much more about the coming of something special represented in the symbols; the tree glowing with lights, the creche with the empty manger, the jolly old man whose only job is to make children happy, and ultimately, the anticipation of magic making a visit to our house. These were the sights, sounds, smells and experiences that held us in wonder.  

Watching my kids enter the family room I relived the magic. Their eyes scanned the tree in a moment of almost non-comprehension then immediately traveled over to the table where they had set out the cookies and milk for Santa. They were gone! He is real, he was here, and he liked our food. It was pure glee, and it was magical.  

I still lovingly, sometimes frantically, decorate. The decorations, the symbols, create living memories of the gleeful magic that made invisible reality visible. Nowadays during Advent, I spend most evenings sitting quietly surrounded by these symbols that again make the invisible, visible. What once represented gleeful magic now represents a miracle of love about to be relived. I sit content with the peace of knowing that though I can see him, but not yet, I behold him very near.  

Yesterday was Laudate Sunday, be joyful, he is near. If you haven’t already, take some time in the quiet of evening, to sit among all the beautiful symbols and consider both the magic and the miracle that, in the now of eternity, he came, he is coming, here is here, he lives in you, he shares with you and he will come again when we will behold him as he is. 

Chris Appleyard coordinates and teaches in our program that prepares adults to be received into the Catholic Church.  

In today’s selection from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he calls for them to “rejoice in the Lord always.”

Readings for today: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121524.cfm 

By Deacon Pat Frye, OSF 

In today’s selection from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, he calls for them to “rejoice in the Lord always.” It is important to remember that Paul is speaking to a community that is being persecuted for their faith. We Christians today can find ourselves out of place in a world full of violence and suffering. It seems that people often turn to the world and not to God. We may be dealing with our own difficulties and may ask, “What is there to rejoice about?” 

 We can rejoice that the Father loved us enough to send His son to teach us the way to live in the Kingdom of God, now and forever. 

  We can rejoice that Jesus will come again at the end of time and will come to meet us at the end of our time on earth. 

  We can rejoice that Jesus is always near to us. We meet Him in prayer, service to others, and especially when we receive Him in Holy Communion. 

 Rejoice today and always for the Lord is near! 

Deacon Pat was ordained in 1984 in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and has served at St. Anne for 12 years. He was also professed to the Franciscan order in 2010.