Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”

Walking through a residential area this late in January one notices Christmas wreaths on many a door or in windows. Through some windows you can see Christmas trees all lit up. It's easier to leave them up than it was to put them up. Yet for some of us there's a reluctance to see the bright lights and color of that beautiful celebration disappear. More profoundly we really need more time to comprehend what it means for God to take on human life in the form of an infant. In past times the Church's feasts of Our Lord and the saints colored brightly many an ordinary day.

Target, Macy’s and Penney’s all start celebrating Christmas right after Thanksgiving so as to benefit from all the gift buying. An older ‘enterprise’, the Church, celebrates the twelve days after Christmas, the days from December 25th to Epiphany, traditionally January 6th. Epiphany celebrates the arrival of the Magi (Wise Men) and the revelation of Christ as the light of the world.

Those whose lives have been elevated and brightened by belief and trust in God are especially able to bring some light and joy into the lives of the world around them. I am not suggesting that we come to the workplace and slap a co-worker on the back while saying: “Be happy; cheer up. The Lord loves you and has saved you. Yowee!” But the attitude of one who truly trusts in God's love should, in a much more subtle way, affect for the better his or her environment and way of doing work.

Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”

Reply to Fr. Don at: DTalafous@csbsju.edu

Watch Daily Mass online at: SaintJohnsAbbey.org/live

Send your prayer requests to the monks