Celebrating Ever Since

We hear quite a bit of Luke 2 during the Christmas Masses, including this:

“Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.
“The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear.
“The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
“For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.
“And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.'”
(Luke 2:8–12)

It shows up in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” too, and I talked about that yesterday.

The shepherds went to see what was going on, and liked what they saw. So did the magi and Simeon. Jesus didn’t stay in the manger, of course.

He grew up, ate with sinners, gave Pharisees and Sadducees conniptions, was executed and buried.

Our Lord stopped being dead a few days later, and we’ve been celebrating ever since. We’ve also been sharing the best news humanity’s ever had.

I’ve talked about that before:

• “Anxiety Optional”
  (October 8, 2017)
• “We are Many, We are One”
  (June 4, 2017)
• “Emmaus: Looking Back and Ahead”
  (April 30, 2017)
• “The Eighth Day: Two Millennia and Counting”
  (April 16, 2017)
• “‘Good News of Great Joy’”
  (December 25, 2016)