I'll write more about the Janaro family Christmas Day and ongoing celebration when I get the chance. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a simple message:
Don't forget to KEEP CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS!
The "Christmas Season" is not over. Some think otherwise. In the world of Retail Sales, December 26 is...
...Valentine's Day? SERIOUSLY??? This is a real picture from a real store this morning!!!
No no no no no no no no no no no no! Just... totally... NO!!!
Oh well, sales is a wacky world of its own. But those of us who are Catholic Christians should not shape our lives according to this pattern. We should know better.
Christmas is not over. Indeed, it has just begun.
We are celebrating the fact that God has come to dwell with us. The Infinite Mystery has become a man so that He can walk with us and endure our pain... because He loves us!
Jesus is born. We need more than one day to take in the magnitude and the wonder of this event. Thus, in the great family of Jesus that is the Church, we celebrate Christmas for an entire season.
"Christmas Day" itself is extended into an Octave: like Easter, Christmas properly speaking encompasses the whole of Christmas Week, capped by the "eight day," the feast of the Mother of God in the current Roman calendar.
Then the Christmas Season continues until the feasts of the Epiphany (hence the classic "twelve days of Christmas") and the Baptism of the Lord. This concludes the proper liturgical season in the current Roman rite, but it is traditional (and very nice too in the dark days of January) to extend Christmas season and especially to keep our Nativity scenes and some of our decorations up for 40 days, taking us all the way to February 2, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem.
In any case, this is just DAY TWO. You know, "the second day of Christmas..." etc.?
So by all means, continue to have a "Merry Christmas"!
Don't forget to KEEP CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS!
The "Christmas Season" is not over. Some think otherwise. In the world of Retail Sales, December 26 is...
...Valentine's Day? SERIOUSLY??? This is a real picture from a real store this morning!!!
No no no no no no no no no no no no! Just... totally... NO!!!
Oh well, sales is a wacky world of its own. But those of us who are Catholic Christians should not shape our lives according to this pattern. We should know better.
Christmas is not over. Indeed, it has just begun.
We are celebrating the fact that God has come to dwell with us. The Infinite Mystery has become a man so that He can walk with us and endure our pain... because He loves us!
Jesus is born. We need more than one day to take in the magnitude and the wonder of this event. Thus, in the great family of Jesus that is the Church, we celebrate Christmas for an entire season."Christmas Day" itself is extended into an Octave: like Easter, Christmas properly speaking encompasses the whole of Christmas Week, capped by the "eight day," the feast of the Mother of God in the current Roman calendar.
Then the Christmas Season continues until the feasts of the Epiphany (hence the classic "twelve days of Christmas") and the Baptism of the Lord. This concludes the proper liturgical season in the current Roman rite, but it is traditional (and very nice too in the dark days of January) to extend Christmas season and especially to keep our Nativity scenes and some of our decorations up for 40 days, taking us all the way to February 2, the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the temple of Jerusalem.
In any case, this is just DAY TWO. You know, "the second day of Christmas..." etc.?
So by all means, continue to have a "Merry Christmas"!
