The Healing Journey

December 23, 2024

Late on Christmas Even when all the hubbub was over and the family was gone and the Feast of the Seven Fishes was finished, Joe sat in silence and looked at the lights on the Christmas tree and thought about all the Christmases past, so many of them marred by tragedy. And in recent years, he had gotten into the habit of saying, “It’s a good Christmas if we’re not in the emergency room or the funeral home.” Tragic as it sounded, it was true because most of their Christmas memories were memories of tragedies. His father died on Christmas Eve, his wife’s grandmother and uncle died two days before Christmas one year apart, his mother had fallen down the steps and ended up in the hospital on Christmas Eve, and his aunt whom they cared for was in the hospital and she passed away the day after Christmas. The list was a long one, and it pained him to remember it. And there were the many Christmases they had to celebrate without their loved ones who had died, and the season was a perennial reminder.

But tonight, a different thought came to mind, and he thought of people other than himself who were waking up alone on Christmas morning because they had no one. Either a spouse had died or they were so old they outlived their family … or because of the circumstances of life they had no one to join them —- death, divorce, distance, illness. There were so many possibilities that can leave you waking up alone on what is the most festive day of the year.

He took out a pad and pencil and wrote down their names and was surprised and saddened to discover he had 16 names. The next thing he did as the clock passed midnight and Christmas Day began, was to say prayers for each of them by name, asking God to bring them one measure of joy on this most joyous occasion.

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