Out with old, in with the new! That is literally how some people welcome in the New Year. In some parts of Italy, especially in the south, Italians have the custom of throwing old things out the window, especially old pots, pans, plates and any other unwanted items. A grand gesture to let go of the past! Ecuadorians are somewhat more creative. They take old clothes, stuff them with straw and make them into effigies of the old year and then burn them on New Year’s Eve.
Against the background of an ancient marble arch, Mary and Joseph look upon the newly born Jesus. With them, we rejoice.
The Light has come into the darkness. The two angels behind Joseph join in adoration with the two shepherds behind Mary.
Heaven and earth unite in praise, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Each year, Christmas gives the biggest economic boost to our economy. To celebrate the day, more than 86 percent of Americans purchase gifts for family members and friends. Holiday sales exceed $1 trillion. However, the big winners in this frantic holiday spending spree are our young people. On average, most children receive anywhere from three to eight gifts and sometimes even many more. We are a society preoccupied with youth.
In the center of modern Rome, on the banks of the Tiber, there humbly rises a dilapidated ruin that once stood as a proud building of Imperial Rome. It is the Mausoleum of Augustus. The Greek historian Strabo records that Augustus, the first emperor of Rome, built this structure in 23 B.C. to house his remains and those of his family when they died.
Like the pilgrims who gathered with their neighbors at Plymouth Rock after their first successful harvest in 1621, the early American colonists celebrated days of thanksgiving. When a drought ended or a war won, they would set aside a day to give thanks for the favorable outcome. For example, after the victory over British forces in the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, the Continental Congress declared a Thanksgiving holiday. The 13 original colonies stopped their ordinary routine in order “to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to [Almighty God] for benefits received, and to implore … farther blessings …”
In June of 1967, Pope Paul VI issued the Apostolic letter, Diaconatus Ordinem, re-establishing the permanent diaconate in the Latin Church. From her very beginnings, the Church has had the blessing of the ministry of deacons. Even before Luke writes in the Acts of the Apostles about the first deacons and their work, Paul is already mentioning deacons in his writings. In his letter to the Philippians (c. 54 A. D.), he addresses “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons.”
For the last 25 years, the moral landscape of our country has been changing. More and more people argue against the death penalty as a legitimate form of justice. Some strenuously argue that every individual has the right to determine when and how to end their life. Divorce has become more common. Many now accept cohabitation before marriage as an acceptable preparation for marriage. And, activist groups have been able to alter our laws to reflect their agendas on family, human life and the very notion of the human person.
By year 200 A.D., the Christian faith had spread to most regions of the Roman Empire. However, those early Christians found that their faith was incompatible with the Roman Empire. Of the estimated seven million Christians, as many as two million were martyred for not compromising their faith.
Modern technology enables us to communicate with each other, search out information and enjoy various types of entertainment with an astonishing speed and convenience. Almost two-thirds of Americans use a smartphone. Sixty-eight percent of them place their smartphone next to their bed at night. And, nearly 30 percent check their mobile device every 30 minutes. We have become people who like to stay connected.
On Jan. 20, 1961, President Kennedy concluded his inaugural address, the first ever televised in color, with the stirring challenge: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Kennedy’s rally cry for duty to one’s country was not unique. At the 1916 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Warren Harding, later to be elected president, said, “We must have a citizenship less concerned about what the government can do for it and more anxious about what it can do for the nation.”
In his Apostolic Exhortation,
Catechesi Tradendae (1979), Pope St. John Paul II noted that the whole Church is responsible for the work of handing on the faith (cf., n. 16). He also noted that pastors have special responsibilities for catechesis: “Because of their charge, pastors have, at differing levels, the chief responsibility for fostering, guiding and coordinating catechesis” (n. 16). Thus, bishops and pastors along with their parochial vicars have the special task of ensuring that the fullness of our faith, with its language and expression, is transmitted to the faithful in order to foster the unity of faith and uphold the communion of the Church.
As you begin a new year of studies, I have you very much on my mind and in my heart. This moment in our history is challenging us to search our souls and to choose between justice and prejudice, violence and peace, reason and emotion. The media have recently been flashing before our eyes the images of angry protests across our nation. When the city officials of Charlottesville, Va., the hometown of Thomas Jefferson, decided to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a downtown park, they ignited a nationwide argument about the propriety of honoring heroes of the South’s confederate past. As a result of this controversy, a statue of Lee no longer towers over the city of New Orleans. And the limestone, almost life-size image of Lee no longer graces the entrance to the Chapel of Duke University in Durham, N.C.
In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love. Coming from two warring families, these two “star-cross’d” lovers are doomed from the start. In the famous balcony scene, Juliet tells Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” This one brief line captures the tragedy of the entire play.
In 1835, French sociologist and political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville published Democracy in America, one of the most influential books of the 19th century. Previously, he had spent nine months traveling through the United States studying our religious, political, and economic character. His findings provide much wisdom concerning life in America. He astutely remarked that “The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”