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Thursday, January 6, 2000
The Southern Cross, Page 5
Everyday Graces
Why 1 lack millennial enthusiasm
A s you read this, you will have rung in the
new millennium in what I hope was a
safe, joyful, and memorable way.
Writing this column on December 30,1
confess to a lack of enthusiasm for lav
ish New Year celebrations.
Indeed, I have never been one to cel
ebrate heartily on New Year’s Eve.
Perhaps the most enthusiasm I ever
brought to the occasion came when I was
a child, and at the stroke of midnight,
my brother and I would dash out in the
backyard to bang pots and pans. Later, my moth
er confessed that she and my father turned all the
clocks forward, so that “midnight” came at ten
o’clock. That explains why John and I were the
only ones who ever seemed to celebrate in our
neighborhood. Of course, by the time the legiti
mate celebrations were going on, we were in bed
sound asleep.
In my single years, New Year’s Eve was an
occasion for depression. If I happened to be
invited to a party, invariably I was without a
date, and when the clock signaled the New Year,
and everyone else seemed caught up in the
romance of the moment, I was leaning against
the wall, staring into my champagne glass.
As newlyweds, when Jim and I moved to
South Carolina, one New Year’s Eve we were
stunned to discover that a ban on Sunday liquor
sales prevented restaurants and clubs from sell
ing alcohol after midnight, so in South Carolina
that year, ail celebrants out on the town toasted
the New Year at eleven p.m., then were hastened
out of the closing barrooms.
As it turns out, then, in my experience,
celebrating the New Year in the tradi
tional style has proven itself to be
anti-climactic, even slightly absurd.
As a result, nowadays, in our
home, celebrations of the New
Year are family-centered; in fact,
my favorite New Year’s Eve in
recent memory was the year we
bought all the makings for hot fudge
sundaes and the six of us binged on
ice cream while watching the ball
drop at Times Square.
Maybe it’s in reaction to the overkill or, maybe
I’m secretly a little envious of those celebrating
in some exotic locale while I’m home dressed in
flannel, but I find the lavish millennial celebra
tions touted in the media frightfully unappealing.
I don’t think I’m alone in this feeling; however,
since, according to recent polls, a healthy per
centage of Americans opted to stay home New
Year’s Eve and celebrate quietly in their own
homes.
This is not to say, however, we should dismiss
the significance of this milestone. Though we
choose not to party in the traditional sense, our
hearts should be filled with gladness and hope.
As Christians, we have much to celebrate. And,
unlike the traditional revelers, our celebrations
don’t end once the last of the champagne is pol
ished off in the early hours of January 1. Our
hope and our happiness rest in the Lord. And
this millennium offers us the opportunity to
become more devoted to him, more committed
to building his kingdom, more focused on his
commandments to love God with all our heart
and to love and serve one another.
Indeed, our Holy Father has provided us the
blueprint for joy in our Jubilee celebration. With
great happiness and faith and hope, we “open
wide the doors to Christ.” Fear and distrust and
cynicism have no place in the lives of Christians.
Now more than ever, it’s absolutely critical we
avoid the sin of fear, which separates us from
one another and our God. With calm confidence
and an abiding trust in our heavenly Father, we
remain joyful, trusting children of light.
It seems appropriate, then, that I close this col
umn with the words of saints, whose examples
remain beacons to us as we begin our journey
into the new millennium:
“Be merry, really merry. The life of a true
Christian should be a perpetual jubilee, a prelude
to the festivals of eternity.”—Saint Theophane
Venard
“Leave sadness to those in the world. We who
work for God should be lighthearted.”—Saint
Leonard of Port Maurice
“It is always springtime in the heart that loves
God.”— Saint John Vianney
“A sad saint is a sorry saint.”— Saint Francis
de Sales
“The monks have no sadness. They wage war
on the devil as if they were performing a
dance.”— Saint John Chrysostom
“Happiness is the natural life of man.”—Saint
Thomas Aquinas
Mary Hood Hart lives with her husband and
four children in Sunset Beach, N.C.
Mary Hood Hart
Helping Others 'Understand
Mary is sent when we fail in our assigned
I t seems Mary did stay at home to
be a full-time Mother for her
very special child. But this did not
keep her from being very active
and enthusiastic in sharing the
Good News of her child Jesus with
others. Along with the Christmas
angels, she is clearly the first
Christian evangelist, indeed the
“star” of the team.
Even before his birth, she went
“in haste” to bring the Good News
to the household of Elizabeth. As
the angels would say later to the
shepherds, it did bring “great joy”,
even to John the Baptist still being
formed in the womb of his mother.
When the shepherds went to
Bethlehem to see the Good News
proclaimed by the angels, where
did they find the one promised? In
the manger, with his mother. The
magi from the east who followed
the star seeking the newborn king,
also “saw the child with Mary his
mother” (.Matthew 2:11)
Sc vve see Mary helping those of
her family, and those who visited
her, come to know and | ,^ | ^ visit and support the work of
appreciate the Christ. To bringing the Good News of
be able to give a credi- mBBm her Son Jesus. She had a
ble witness to the Lord ; JaR|> personal hand in estab-
Jesus, every Christian lishing the church in
must spend time nur- > tT W Mexico, and visited
turing the presence of ' ■ Lourdes and Fatima in
Christ within our own moments of special need
personal lives, as well ~g and urgency. Often it
as in those for whom we -| seems Mary is sent when
are most immediately -3 we, the church, are not
responsible. Father Michael H. Smith doing our assigned
We have to continu- job well,
ally evangelize ourselves and our When Pope John Paul II was
own. Mary’s role in nurturing elected, he sensed a special call to
Christ was altogether unique in that lead the church into the new mil-
she was literally helping form the lennium. His visits to almost all the
body and spirit of the one who nations of the earth have certainly
would himself become the light for , made him a major player in evan-
all nations and the bread of life for gelizing the world of our day. The
all who believe. At Cana it seems pope keeps calling all of us to be
she had to gently encourage Jesus active members of his team for this
to work that first of his signs which “new evangelization.”
would “reveal his glory and lead According to his predecessor,
his disciples to believe in him” Pope Paul VI, the essential founda-
(John 2:11) tion for all evangelization is the
As Catholics we believe God has witness of lives lived more and
continued to send Mother Mary to more fully in accord with the light
tasks
of Christ. But we must also come to
appreciate and be enthused enough
about our faith to speak of it to all
who are interested, and even some
who aren’t (sometimes our own
children).
I see the columns I have been
sharing with you through The
Southern Cross as part of my con
tribution to this work. The first
series was on connecting faith and
daily life, which I see as part of the
genius of our Catholic tradition. We
take the Incarnation very seriously.
The most recent has been on
“Helping Others Understand,” an
effort to be more “user-friendly,”
presenting our doctrines and prac
tices in words Protestant Christians
can more readily understand.
I am glad to have been able to
share with you what I see as these
two “guiding lights” of my more
than 30 years of service in our dio
cese. Having now completed what I
believe the Lord has given me to
say, I will be devoting more time to
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