By Kaitlin Klein
WONDERFUL ADVENTURE
Happy New (Liturgical) Year! It’s time to reflect on the past year and look to the future in hope. 2020 has been a year like no other; for me, it was quite a rollercoaster. It will take me a good while with the Lord to sift through the joys, sufferings, and ups and downs of the year, offer it all to him, listen, learn, grow, and ask for and receive the graces I need to continue into the new year.
It’s a new year! It’s full of hope and potential. All of our happiness and all of our sorrow has such an opportunity to bring us closer to the Lord, allow us to grow in holiness, and to offer reparation for our sins and the sins of the world. I’m ready to start anew, and, with the Lord’s help, continue toward eternity with perseverance. As my daughter says often, “Let’s do it!”
The Catholic year begins with Advent – a period of exciting anticipation awaiting the exultant birth of our King! Across social media, I saw people posting about putting up Christmas decorations even earlier than normal this year, many citing the reason of needing some joy in this dark period of the pandemic. And that’s it — Christmas brings joy; even the secular world knows there is something special here.
This is one of my favorite times of the year! I consider a Christmas tree and Christmas cookies necessities in December and January. I love making plans for the holiday season, carefully selecting gifts, playing Christmas music, wrapping presents, baking, crafting and being as merry as possible.
All of these things are good, and they help prepare my heart, mind and soul for the birth of the Savior. But to know and experience the real meaning of Christmas, I must look at my spiritual life: I make sure that “prayer is a vital necessity” (CCC 2744). I make plans for the Advent season, carefully select activities that will bring my family closer to the child Jesus, play Advent music that brings to mind hopeful anticipation, wrap gifts we donate to those in need, bake for the glory of God and to use our talents for others, and be as merry as possible, to share with the world the hope we have in Jesus.
In parallel, to look and experience the real meaning of life, I must look at my spiritual life. Now is the time to make goals for the new year. Now is the time to embrace the full meaning of Advent. Now is the time to embrace the full meaning of life. Now is the time to reflect, plan, trust and grow. Let’s use the uniqueness of this year to snap our focus back to the foundation, purpose and meaning of life: to seek, to know and to love God (CCC 1).