Making an effort to keep close to him throughout the year can bring us this same joy, but deeper, not just because of the holiday hustle and bustle, but because of our love.
Out of love
We should during this Christmas season take time to pray before the nativity scene, contemplating the humble form which God chose for His Son to take: a beautiful child. While the love God has for us is infinite, he condenses so much of His love into one humble being.
Thus, Jesus is a perfect example of how we should strive to be: humble, loving, and pure-hearted. His innocence and purity can remind us to use the end of the Christmas season and the beginning of the new year to begin again, renewing the struggle to get past our wrongdoings or bad habits.
The Eucharist
While contemplating Jesus as a sweetly innocent child is good for us, we can continue this spirit throughout the rest of the year by having a great devotion to the Eucharist. This will keep us close to Christ both physically and spiritually.
It is beautiful that the Church has God in every church around the world, and we should take advantage to visit Him as often as we can.
Asking help of His Mother
With all the excitement over Christ’s birth, one can only imagine the anticipation Mary had for her Son’s coming into the world. Her willingness to step out of the limelight and allow the Christ child his due attention from all the visitors, while still giving him the care that any good mother would, provides another example of humility for us to meditate upon.
On a separate note, one can be sure that Mary was scared and uncomfortable when she was unsure if she could fulfill the beautiful, yet challenging duty of giving birth to Jesus which God had bestowed upon her. We should ask her intercession for our struggles to start anew with the new birth of Christ. She knows the hardships of tough struggles and for this reason, she can be a powerful intercessor to her Son and our Father for our biggest adversities or the small struggles of each day.
Olivia Knier is a senior at Waunakee High School and hopes to attend the University of Notre Dame next fall. She enjoys running, singing, writing for her high school newspaper, The Purple Sage, spending time with her family, and learning about her Catholic faith.