A link from the old to the new year
Facing uncertainty in 2020? Take heart!
This season offers many ideas to inspire us. Yet it’s easy to forget that Christmas story begins not with comfortable lodging but with Joseph and Mary facing rejection as they are told there is “no room at the inn.”
Of course, we know the story doesn’t end there — in fact, the Christmas story has never ended. Instead, there has been “a new twist to the plot” that should give each of us great joy and hope, no matter what our circumstances.
So, if you have faced rejection and uncertainty this past year, and worry about what 2020 might bring, remember that “the greatest story ever told” also began in uncertainty and poverty. God often begins an action that way, to show that He is in charge and knows how to bring great good out of terrible circumstances.
We can all take great hope that a cold night of rejection that happened 2,000 years ago, was really the beginning of a “New Year” for the world that continues to this day, which is the birth of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.
This is the true message of hope that continues to this day. Whether this past year has brought you pain or joy, remember that God, who is the source of all good, wants to lead you to a place of peace and true happiness.
As a Capuchin priest, I regularly meet poor people, and I hear many stories about what it means “to have nowhere to go.” It means to be rejected and frightened of the future. That’s why I founded the Julia Greeley Home in 2013, to give women who were vulnerable and facing all the dangers of homelessness a new opportunity to build a new life of safety and independence. We do not want any woman to feel there is “no room for her at the inn.”
I have also come to realize that every person, even those with great wealth in the bank, is poor in some way. Think about your own circumstances. You may have a good income, but you feel you have a long road ahead to get yourself healthy, or reconciled with a family member. Maybe you have experienced deep grief this year because someone you love has died. Each one of us has faced the deep poverty of loss, or loneliness, or a journey through very dark times that don’t seem to end.
Well, we aren’t meant to sugarcoat those times as if they don’t matter. They do matter, but that doesn’t mean they are meant to last. Remember that the first Christmas began with a door slammed in the faces of Mary and Joseph. Think of the joy that followed next. For our residents, who have suffered homelessness and rejection, and for those of you who also have suffered loss, remember that out of the darkest night came “joy to the world.” God wants you to have hope that He can do the same for you.