A Note From Fr. Brady
Brothers and sisters,
Every year, it seems like the Christmas season goes way too fast. It was only two and a half weeks ago that we all gathered with family and friends to celebrate our Savior’s birth. However, even though the Christmas season technically comes to an end this week with the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord, we’re given a reminder to keep the spirit of the Christmas season going. That reminder is the reappearance of the color green at Mass.
After a month and a half hiatus, we’ll see more green when we come to Mass. How does that remind us to keep the spirit of Christmas going? Green is a color that symbolizes new life and growth. Think of spring time when the grass is growing, leaves are budding, and everything is coming to life again. Well, at Christmas we celebrated the birth of Life itself in the person of Jesus Christ. At his Nativity, Christ became visible for the world to see and that child “grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40).
Therefore, the green we’ll begin seeing again reminds us to let the new life of Christ grow stronger within us. There is no middle ground in our life with Christ. We’re either growing or we’re dying. Perhaps we can keep some of our Christmas decorations up a little bit longer to remind ourselves of our needed growth. Perhaps we can make some practical commitments to make daily prayer a reality if it is not already, including prayer as a family. We can read the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel to keep the Nativity of our Lord fresh in our hearts and continue reading the rest of the gospel as a source of daily meditation on our newborn King.
In short, keep allowing Christ to grow anew within you. Like a strong tree that buds forth new life in the spring, let the green we’ll see at Mass now remind you to let the all-powerful grace of Christ bud forth through a life conformed to his teachings.
Fr. Brady