Getting Ready to Pray                     

There is a liturgical celebration of confusion these days. Last Friday was Christmas and this Sunday we have a wonderful remembering of the family-life of faith and trust into which Mary and Joseph welcomed Jesus. And then comes New Year’s Eve with all its memories and hopes.

Some Thoughts 

The community of the Church will come together as a family with its own memories and hopes. We can prepare by looking backward with regrets and with gratitude. We can look forward with fears and hope. Mary and Joseph would have had many chances to exercise these options as well.

Fear and doubt are parts of faith and hope. Regret can be an honest response to missed opportunities. There is not much we can do about the past except profit from it and perhaps repair some of it.

We prepare for the Eucharist by receiving what is, what has been, and hopefully what will be.