Today’s Life-Line is:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers*,
To make music in the heart.”

~ Howard Thurman
“The Work of Christmas” from The Mood of Christmas

Christmas evokes traditions, be they personal and family customs or communal religious rituals — some simple, some more involved. The last few years on December 26th I make a point of finding my way back to the eminent Howard Thurman‘s words reminding us that Christmas is not only a Divine act but a human vocation, task, and responsibility at the very center of what it means to be a Christian. At Mass, during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the presider prays, “may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity..” This is our graced “work of Christmas” in response to God’s work of love in and through the incarnation. The mystery of our faith involves doing the most basic of human deeds in order to participate in the Divine life.

* and sisters