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Q This may have been asked before, but I need some advice on how to manage holiday gatherings with someone who has dementia.
My mother lives with my sister. Mom has Alzheimer’s disease and my sister wants the entire family, all 25 of us, to gather at her home for Christmas.
I think it will be too hard for mom to be around all of us at the same time. My sister thinks we might not have another Christmas with mom so I don’t know how far to push.
(From a son in Sun Prairie).
We have begun the season of Advent, the time when we prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.
The religious dimensions of the holiday season seem to be getting diminished more each year. I think all of us need to step back and look at what we’re doing at this time of year.
PHOTO: ‘Mary’ and ‘Joseph’ — St. Peter School, Ashton, students Stephanie Kalscheuer and Peter Volkman — smile with the student cast of ‘Miracle at Midnight,’ at the conclusion of the school’s annual Christmas program.
MADISON — December is a lonely time at the train station in the small town of Holly.
“This is the most hopeless place in the world!” Hilda intones as she and Satch, her assistant, argue over what time it is.
BELOIT — Lessons and Carols at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 2222 Shopiere Rd., has been rescheduled for Saturday, Jan. 18, at 3 p.m. in the church.
Come and enjoy a welcome extension to the Christmas Season with proclamation of the Advent/Christmas Scriptures and musical responses by the choir and congregation. The service will last around one hour and is guaranteed to be joyful and uplifting.
CROSS PLAINS — Students at St. Francis Xavier School focused on the true meaning of Christmas through prayer, service projects, and spreading holiday cheer.
During Advent, the entire school came together on Monday mornings for a prayer service. Surrounding a large Advent wreath, the students looked on as candles were lit. Students then took turns leading the school in prayer and singing.
Students in kindergarten, first, and fourth grade classes spread holiday cheer by caroling at local nursing homes.
ASHTON — Students from St. Peter School in Ashton, along with Music Instructor LoriAnn Meinholz, thanked their audience for coming to their annual Christmas program on Monday, Dec. 16. This year’s performance was titled The Tiniest Christmas Star.
It was the story told of a “tiny” star who was given the big and important job of shining bright in the sky to proclaim the birth of Jesus on Christmas.
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Although we all seem to long for peace on earth and in our own lives, peace seems to be an elusive commodity. Is peace on earth really possible?
Some would say we may have to wait until our earthly life is over to experience real peace. However, Jesus said to his disciples, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” He has sent his apostles and all of his disciples — including us — to establish peace on earth.
But how do we achieve that peace? In his message for the World Day of Peace, observed on January 1, Pope Francis says that peace will happen if we treat each other as sisters and brothers, remembering that God is the father of all.
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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
Dear Friends,
In these last days of Advent, before our joy-filled celebration of Christ’s Incarnation and the Christmas Season, we are offered a taste of that joy (during this penitential season) on Gaudete Sunday.
In the book of Nehemiah, but also in the book of Chronicles, there is a prayer which goes simply: “Let the joy of the Lord be our strength” (Neh 8:10).
As a matter of fact, in many of the translations of the Mass (in both Spanish and Italian, for instance) that phrase is inserted at the time of the final dismissal. “The Mass is ended, let the joy of the Lord be our strength, and let us go in peace.”
Before the new English translation came out, I myself was known to use that dismissal. Blessed Pope John Paul II never left it out when he was celebrating Mass privately. “Let the joy of the Lord be our strength, and let us go in peace” — that is the perfect attitude with which we should leave Mass.
I especially remember the Christmas when Donna taught me that Christmas is about love. We were a family of five children plus Mom and Dad.
Donna, my seven-year-old sister with a generous heart, wanted to buy a present for every member of our family. This was an ambitious undertaking for a little girl, because our family was poor.
