Because Christmas Day falls on a Monday this year, the church obligation is to attend a Mass on Saturday evening or Sunday morning to celebrate the 4th week of Advent, and also attend Mass on Sunday evening or Monday morning to celebrate the Christmas Holy Day. For a couple of weeks now, there has been much debate in the household and with friends as to how many Masses people were actually going to and when. My parents were raised old school Catholic, so were very willing to do what was required. Personally, I wanted to complete the Advent season, so wanted to celebrate that final week. Needless to say, my parents and I went to Mass this evening. It was a very crowded church, which we anticipated, and some people were not real happy about that. But overall, the mood was light and cheery. I noticed the responses and singing were louder than usual, perhaps because it was so crowded, perhaps because everyone fully participated. The priest’s homily was on point. The message was that just like Mary, we much participate in the act of Salvation. How do we do that? By saying “Yes” to the promptings of God. I think that everyone in that church tonight was doing exactly that. I look forward to the Christmas celebrations.

I Found God today in a community celebration.