Tree of Life

*Please celebrate wisely and don’t drink and drive or allow anyone who’s been drinking to drive home. Uber and AAA have resources for free and safe trips home.* On December 31st each year much of the world welcomes the end of the old and the beginning of the New Year.  New Year’s Eve is a time to reflect on the year gone by and to thank God for the blessings He’s granted to us. We ask for mercy for the mistakes we’ve made and ask for the strength to learn from them and we make resolutions for the year to come. The Church exhorts us to pray the Te Deum  to gain an  indulgence * for the close of the old year in thanksgiving to God for the blessings bestowed therein. The colors for New Year are often gold for luck and white for peace. The inclusion of black I believe is to commemorate the death of the passing Year whereas silver and gold in this regard are used to commemorate time like silver and gold anniversaries. Father Time and Baby New Year both represent how the transi...

  The Holy Innocents, the Infant Martyrs of Bethlehem   December 28th honors the infants slain by Herod's jealousy after the birth of Christ and the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt as  refugees . In 2024 we remember in a certain way all the children who are victims of the cruelty of Israeli soldiers in Palestine. As Bethlehem is in Palestine, the evil committed there today, especially against children re echoes the sorrow and solemnity of today’s feast and how the Christ Child, the Newborn King commands a ceasefire!  The Coventry Carol  is a haunting song for today’s feast. Today we reflect on the Flight to Egypt (the second of the  Seven Sorrows of Mary , an efficacious devotion) it's also one of the  Seven Joys and Sorrows of St. Joseph . Today's feast is a unique point in our Christmas celebrations where we reflect that from even from His Infancy, Christ was sought out for death until He laid down His life for us on the Cross. About the Holy Innocen...