Christmas 2021 was celebrated in style I would say. The message in the Church was, “Make this a Holy Christmas”
At first it sounded weird to me because I thought,” what could be more Holy than celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy One,” but as the celebration approached and especially in my family, I understood what a Holy Christmas could really mean to different people.
To me, it was really doing a makeover of my house without really spending a dime. Tidying up the house, bringing out old packed- away stuff ranging from shoes, bags to clothes etc was really a task which I achieved with great determination. Decisions had to be made on timelines for outings and the likes just to have more time for my unpacking and repacking for disposal and bringing out for use in the new year.
To my amazement one of the afternoons, while I was working on Steve’s table I found out I was feeling uneasy sitting on his chair (a Plastic one lol ). He had moved out of his office into our living room, since we had an empty nest (children have grown and relocated to Nigeria to build their own lives.) His well- built Office table and chair were sure too big for our compact Living room.
I complained about the chair not really been comfortable, then asked him if he was really comfortable sitting on it especially as he works long hours on it. Just as he was about answering, I remembered and asked, “What about your real Office chair,” I went on “I think you need to bring it in.” He mumbled in reply “we’ll see.”
The next morning, he had gone to the boys’ quarters turned office and now a store house to bring out the chair and was dusting it up when I came out to see him doing that on our balcony. This little act turned around the setting of our living room, and you cannot believe what God had done with this, which had created a bigger space to take an additional table for me. A total makeover, with a more beautiful setting for a living room, dinning, and an Office Space for two.
All these made our Christmas a merrier and Holy Christmas because we listened to each other better, Steve did not argue with me on my request and I did not push him by giving a time limit. Christmas was more jolly because of the excitement of a new Sitting room which also has a dinning for two. We had a candle lit dinner on New Year’s Day.
Like us, our twin daughters had a Holy Christmas by spending their Christmas (which also marks their birthday) with their grandmother instead of going off with their friends to a resort, they postponed it to the Boxing Day. This made Grandma happier because she had their company on Christmas day and the ladies were happy they could achieve that, taking responsibility at the expense of fun with friends. They went out that evening with their friends who decided to wait for them, so they also had some family time in their homes. It turned out to be a blessing for everyone.
I know many of us would have testimony of how we had a Holy and Merrier Christmas with family, loved ones and others whom we thought needed our help one way or the other. This I say would have opened a chapter in our lives which we hold dearly and would have made us better people walking through 2022 with God on our side.
Therefore, I believe we are better prepared for the Lenten season, stronger to participate in the Lenten Observances; Fasting, Praying and Alms-Giving. We are stronger in our Faith and giving our fate to the one who gave himself up on the Cross of Calvary that we may have life and have it in abundance. (John10:10)
Dear reader, I look forward to hearing from you about how you had a Holy and merrier Christmas and a good return to God during this Lenten season for a more fulfilling Easter, so I say we are all Winners in Christ.
I have been thinking a great deal about my experience at Reconciliation this past Saturday. I felt an intense and unexplainable urge to go and confess my sins when I woke up that morning. I try to go every six weeks or so, but this was no routine visit to the priest for me. I needed to unburden myself of the numerous venial sins I had committed since I last participated in this Sacrament.
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After salvation, many young Christians wonder if there's anything more to their newfound faith than just the security blanket of "being a Christian." Time and time again, God shows himself as a "refiner," and our lives are as gold. God started leading me in this study to understand what He was doing in my life, as well as in the lives of others.
Picking up my pen to write this column, I couldn’t imagine how time flies. Since the last publication of this column I have gone through a lot, especially the loss of my dear mother to whom I dedicate this article. Not only her, but seems I lost a whole generation of my close family.
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Feast Day: February 8
Patron Saint Of: Sudan
Saint Josephine Margaret Bakhita was born around 1869 in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was a member of the Daju people and her uncle was a tribal chief. Due to her family lineage, she grew up happy and relatively prosperous, saying that as a child, she did not know suffering.
Catholics Must Fast More Intensely This Lent»
The Norbertine Canons of St. Michael's Abbey have created this digital Lenten retreat so that you can journey through this holy season alongside them. If you want to have one of your best Lenten seasons yet, join us in our Lenten Program "The Great Fast" - https://theabbotscircle.com/the-great-fast-join
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Friends, we come now to the Second Sunday of Lent, and we’re on both dangerous and very holy ground with the first reading from the twenty-second chapter of Genesis. The ancient Israelites referred to it as the “Akedah,” which means the “binding”: Abraham binds and is ready to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command.
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