Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.
No one is shut out from that joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. - from a sermon by St. Leo the Great, pope
Indeed, in these days when I have been missing my loved ones so much, I have also been feeling united with them in the one Hope that we share. I know others whose hearts are heavy this Christmas season, whose grief or fear is perhaps too fresh to be dismissed by today's glad tidings of great joy. I pray that you will touch their hearts anyway, Lord, and draw them into your presence in a way that transcends and includes their current feelings and circumstances.
May your heart too, dear reader, be flooded with a deep and abiding sense of God's loving presence, as we are united in him and all those we love in the eternal moment.
("Transcends and includes," in regard to God's work, seems to be my idea of the season. I just used it last week in a letter to a friend, too.)
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