'Tis the season

The holiday season has always been my favorite time of the year.  Yet, my emotions tend to run high and low.  This year, I was able to shed a few annual responsibilities that previously occupied much of my time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Slowing down has been good as it has allowed me more time to reflect on my current spiritual and corporal well-being.  Health-wise, it has been a pretty good year for a man approaching the completion of seven decades on the earth.  Some friends and relatives have not been so fortunate.  I pray daily that their suffering and that of their family members be soothed. 

Family tragedies seem to escalate in number right before Christmas.  Maybe we are just more aware of them this time of year.  Police officers losing their lives in the line of duty, car accidents, shootings – all these things bring to mind people who are suffering greatly while the rest of celebrate the joyous season.  Locally, a man was shot and killed in his home at Thanksgiving dinner.  That family will forever be haunted by that awful memory. 

For me personally, the holidays bring a sadness that someone I love will once again not be joining us to celebrate.  My wife and daughter often ask me what I want for Christmas.  My silent answer is something they cannot give me.  I try not to let this depression overtake me.  Brooding over something I cannot change is not healthy for me or my family. 

Our parish is taking care of twenty-eight families this year who cannot afford presents for their children.  This may not sound like much to some of you, but we are a very small parish in a town that is struggling.  I have been in charge of this project for the past ten years or so.  Our people tend to be generous, so organizing the giveaway is easy and uplifting. 

I am still one of those old traditionalists who insists on a real Christmas tree.  My favorite has become the Frasier fir.  The short soft needles stay fresh and the fragrance is amazing.  In fact, the aroma seems to get stronger as the tree dries out.  When the season is over, I leave the discarded tree near the garden in back of the house.  Even in the summer time when the needles are brown, the fir smell still whiffs through the air. 

As we get older, the number of Christmas cards we write and receive decreases.  The older folks are gone and younger people send their greetings in other ways now.  We still get an annual Christmas form letter from my cousin, a retired Catholic priest.  He is eighty-two years old now and in poor health.  This year, he writes of two concerns that weigh upon his mind.  The first that he says hurts him deeply is the “blind and close-minded” authority that won’t allow women to be priests.  The second is climate change. 

I love my cousin and am thankful for his life devoted to Christ, but with all due respect, the male priesthood “has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium (cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium 25:2)”  It cannot and should not be changed or even questioned, especially by a priest.  As for climate change, yes, the climate is changing.  The climate has always changed.  When disregarding God, man tends to presume more power than he actually has.  I believe much of the hubbub on climate change is politically motivated.  While we have a responsibility to care for and protect the environment, we do not control it. 

Looking ahead to 2020, our Diocese of Gary will have a new Bishop in February.  Msgr. Robert J. McClory has been appointed to replace Bishop Donald Hying who was named Bishop of Madison Wisconsin earlier this year.  It seems our small diocese may be a stepping stone or training ground for new bishops.  We were blessed to have Bishop Hying here for several years, but I always felt he was destined for bigger and better things.  I would not be surprised if he were Cardinal Hying someday.  I hope to predict the same for our new bishop in the future.

My wish for society in 2020 is a return to sanity.  Stop the polarizing political nonsense, the constant playing of the victim card, the how can I be offended attitude, and all the other craziness that we see every day.  We must have it pretty good if these are the trivialities that come to the forefront.  An Italian “artist” duct-taped a banana to a wall, called it art, and purportedly sold it to a French art collector for $120,000.  Then a so-called “performance artist” ate the banana.  I can’t decide who is crazier, those who consider a taped banana art or those who think eating a banana is art.  My vote goes to the guy who paid $120,000 for it.  Maybe that is what we get for legalizing marijuana.  God help us!