Merry Christmas!
Of my entire life, last Christmas was the first Christmas that I believed in God. This is the first Christmas where I really felt it. Tonight, at Midnight Mass, will be the first time I’ve ever gone to church for Christmas. After 30 years, tonight I will actually celebrate the birth of Christ, in prayer, in a church.
Christmas is so much more beautiful than it used to be, now that I’m a Christian; yet in some ways it’s now wonderfully anticlimactic. When I was an atheist, this season of peace and hope and joy was so special to me, so very different from the rest of the year. Yet since I’ve come to the shocking realization that God exists, that the Christian claims are true, every day is like Christmas. Every day — even bad days — I carry with me that unique peace and hope and joy that comes only from God.
Thank you to every single one of my readers, to those who offer their thoughts through comments or emails, and for those who have kept me in their prayers as I’ve stumbled along in this spiritual journey. May God bless you all, and have a very merry Christmas!
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Thank you, thank you, for reminding me (right before I go off to get ready for mass myself) how special a time this is, and moreover what a gift we have been given in being able to appreciate it. We rejoice as one Church tonight, and I’m so glad you’ve joined our chorus!
God’s peace and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
And a Merry Christmas to you too Jenn!
Wishing you every blessing! TQ
Merry Christmas, Jen!
Merry Christmas,
I am so happy for you.
I remember my first Christmas as a believer though I was still in RCIA and couldn’t yet receive Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. There is just something awesome about Midnight Mass when somehow we can dwell upon the mystery of the Incarnation on a deeper level.
And may God bless you. Your writing is an inspiration. Thank you.
Merry Christmas, my friend.
I hope we can one day share a glass of wine together and discuss theology.
(Seriously…wouldn’t that be cool?)
How wonderful! It reminds me of when I first accepted Christ, 12 years ago, several years before my conversion to Catholicism. It was on November 30 – and I got up the next morning, December 1st, knowing it was the beginning of the Advent season. And for the first time in my life I celebrated Advent, the coming of our Lord, as a Christian, knowing that the Lord had just come into my own life. It was a wonderful feeling.
Congratulations, and God bless you!
Much love to you in Christ,
Aimee
A very merry and blessed Christmas!
How wonderful. I hope your midnight mass was every bit as beautiful as you imagined. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
I’m a day late, but merry Christmas!