In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. // Luke 1:78-79
Today is Christmas Eve. The Advent season of waiting and preparation is almost over. Tomorrow we celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world, into our homes, into our hearts. Today’s Gospel reading is the beautiful Benedictus prayer of Saint Zechariah. Struck dumb when he questioned the Angel Gabriel’s announcement of Saint Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Zechariah makes the most of his first words after nine months. The first half of the prayer praises God and honors the past, the second half looks to the future and specifically the part that newborn Saint John the Baptist will play in Jesus’ redemption of mankind.
As I look back at the last twenty years of Advents in our home, I’m struck by how important our Advent and Christmas traditions have been in creating our family culture. Practices like the Advent wreath, Straw for Baby Jesus, the Jesse Tree, and the Christmas Novena all do for our family what Zechariah does for his family in this prayer. Zechariah teaches about the greatness of God and the importance of the heroes of the past, and he challenges baby John the Baptist to go forward to serve God and make the world a better place. Those are exactly the lessons I want to impart to my children in the midst of the beautiful hubbub of candy and gifts and Christmas movie marathons.
Today, in our home, we will look forward to blasting carols and hanging stockings and decorating our Christmas tree. We will wrap gifts and set the table and prepare food for tomorrow’s feast. We’ll also look back: observing today’s recommended fasting and abstinence with a special meat-free dinner, and praying the last day of the Christmas Novena and the Jesse Tree devotion and the Christmas Anticipation prayer. And, like Zechariah did for baby John the Baptist, the very last thing we’ll do before we go to bed tonight is put our Baby Jesus into the manger and sing to Him, like we’ve done for many years in the past and will do for many years to come.
Praise God. Honor the past. Look to the future. // Kendra Tierney Click to tweet
Kendra Tierney Norton is grateful to be a wife, mother, and stepmother. She lives in the wilds of unincorporated Los Angeles County in a big old fixer-upper house with her husband and a varying number of their combined fourteen children, plus one fish, two cats, and twenty chickens. She likes to say that her goal is keeping Catholicism weird. To that end, she is the author of books including the Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life with Ignatius Press and O Come, Emmanuel: Advent Reflections on the Jesse Tree for Families with Emmaus Road Publishing, the creator of the TV series Catholic All Year At Home on FORMED, and the CEO of Catholic All Year, an apostolate dedicated to helping parents live out their Catholic faith and pass it along to their children.
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