The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Remember when COVID was supposed to be two weeks of lockdown and then it would all be over?
Now we’re in December of 2021, which many have called 2020: Chapter 2.
We thought that 2020 would be one of the worst years of our lives. But for myself and many of my loved ones, 2021 has been even worse. I started the year with the first gift God has ever given humanity — I entered into the sacrament of marriage with my very best friend and (now) soulmate. But barring a few exceptions (we got a puppy!), it feels like nothing good has happened to us since. I’ve spent more time in hospital rooms and doing physical therapy than ever before. We’re using up our savings on hospital bills and hoping we don’t run out. Our year is ending in a much more dire situation than the height of 2020 was for us.
And through it all, we are still called to realize that “God is leading Israel in joy by the light of his glory.”
It’s so easy to forget that we are called to rejoice always.
For this new liturgical year, I ask that you “take off your robe of mourning and misery; put on the splendor of glory from God forever.” While the secular world has their new beginning on January 1, we have our spiritual new year at the beginning of Advent. If you’re among those who have had a year like mine, it might be difficult to try to start over again. You might be tired, feeling beaten down, maybe even feeling abandoned by God.
But the Lord is coming, born once in time as the Christ-child, and born forever into our hearts as long as we invite him in. Take heart in the words of St. Paul, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Christ is in us. We might not understand his inner movements in this life, but that is why we are called to have faith and to trust. The Psalmist sings, “Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, they shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves.”
Our reward is Christ. Rejoice even when the labor seems impossible because at the end of it all, we have God. When we continue to pray, and don’t let anything get in the way of our relationship with God, we have reason to look forward to the future.
Marissa Rankin is an active cantor within the Diocese of Nashville. She loves her husband and rescue pups, Esther and Ewok! She is the creator and founder of the brand new company Covenant (just launched September 2021!) where she aspires to help Catholic couples and remind the Church that marriage is a vocation, too! Check out Covenant on Instagram and Facebook.