2023: It’s a wrap!

As the year comes to a swift close, I am reminded of the quote from Philippians 4:6-7, that states “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

The end of the year, while being celebratory, is often full of anxiety, frustration, and depression for many. We may get caught up in the frivolity of the season, the rushing around, the stretching of the limited dollars, the pressure to have a perfectly decorated, “put-away” house. The cooking, the baking, the expectations that everything will be done as traditionally mandated, may have us tired and not in the essence of the season.

For others, the season heightens their loneliness, and their feelings of being alone in a world. The depression that sets in during this time makes it very difficult for others to navigate the season, thinking about unfulfilled dreams, grief over lost loved ones, and the sadness that may generally come from life’s tumultuous terrain.

We get a manual for everything but life. No one can tell us how life will turn out and sometimes, despite our best efforts to live righteously, disappointments happen. Relationships turn sour, children go astray, jobs are lost, finances dwindle and in the midst of it, we are expected to celebrate. Many have declared themselves the Grinch: they do not take on Christmas anymore and there’s nothing to celebrate.

This is where our faith as Catholics must take precedence. This is where we immerse ourselves in faith and “be anxious for nothing”. This is where we understand, that even though we may get caught in the seasonal trappings, the reason the Church provides us with Advent before Christmas is to rekindle our hope, our peace, our joy and our love within ourselves. We cannot give what we do not have, and the Advent allows us that opportunity for introspection, to rekindle that which makes us Catholic, a people called to serve and honour God.

We honour God, not by perfectly coordinated décor, nor by perfectly wrapped gifts, nor by our perfect selves and perfect movie-ending lives. We honour God by understanding that our anxiety, our sadness, our depression, our unfulfilled hopes, and dreams belong to God; and that through “prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving”, the “peace of God…will guard our hearts and minds”. Thus, as we look towards the new year, let us gift ourselves the gift of prayer and thanksgiving. Let us remember, that we are not called to perfection, which is a construct of the world and consumerism, but we are called to bring our less-than-perfect selves, to our God and through it experience the renewal of the season of Advent, throughout the year.