• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Greg Erlandson writes: "This is the season of new birth. We celebrate the arrival of the Christ Child. We celebrate the arrival of a new year, a time of changes wished and fresh resolutions. In the darkest days of winter, we are filled with new hope, just as when we hold that new child." (CNS photo/Lisa Schulte, Catholic Voice)

A season of change, a time of hope

December 29, 2022
By Greg Erlandson
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Commentary, Guest Commentary

There are a lot of joys about being a grandparent, but for starters, it lets us relive those first months and years of being a parent.

We’ve got a lot of mileage on our odometer now, but at one time, all of us grandparents held a precious new life for the first time in our arms when our own children were born. We wondered what he or she would become, what tales they’d tell, what adventures they’d have.

A grandchild lets us relive the same experience. It evokes the same dreams, yet now we know that whatever way forward, it is not without risk. This makes that grandchild in our arms even more precious, and our desire to protect even stronger, no matter how far away we are or how frequently we are able to visit.

This mix of feelings is the juxtaposition of the crib and the cross. Any parish Nativity scene is in the shadow of the crucifix. That shadow is the sword piercing Mary’s heart even as she stares in plaster rapture at her new child. All of us can share that confluence of joy and apprehension, knowing the promise and the pain that lie ahead. Like the Ukrainian babies born in bomb shelters or migrant babies born on perilous journeys to a new land, birth arrives with both promise and peril.

And yet knowing all those risks, we are still overcome by the birth of a child. As we gaze at this new human, this little creature with a whole lifetime before her, our thoughts may turn to our own life, to the roads taken and not taken, the “yeses” we gave, the “nos” we may regret.

Part of the aging process is that our long-term memory may feel as if it is getting stronger while our short-term memory may not feel as sharp. We can remember all the words to the Byrds’ “Turn! Turn! Turn!” when it comes on the radio, but we can’t remember the name of the actor whose movie we just saw.

Perhaps, as with the arrival of a grandchild, this is God’s way of having us reflect on our lives, on our choices, our loves, our failings. Likewise, when we are gazing at our granddaughter and thinking of what is to come, our thoughts turn to what has happened in our own lives.

What is constant is change, both subtle and abrupt. Marriages start. Jobs end. Loved ones are born and loved ones die. To everything there is a season, the psalm and the song say. Even that sweet baby we are holding in our arms becomes in a blink an energetic toddler racing around the living room with no time for embraces, and in another blink heads out the door.

This is the season of new birth. We celebrate the arrival of the Christ Child. We celebrate the arrival of a new year, a time of changes wished and fresh resolutions. In the darkest days of winter, we are filled with new hope, just as when we hold that new child.

And the lesson for all of us is Emmanuel: “God is with us.” Amid the births and deaths, the losses, the changes, the new beginnings and the last chapters, God is with us. Some of us greet change with excitement, some with trepidation. Our faith tells us we are not alone.

And holding that little child swaddled in our arms, having her wrap her tiny fingers around our own finger, we tell her she is not alone either. Whatever the future holds, she is loved and welcomed and precious in our sight.


Erlandson is director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service.

Read More Commentary

Question Corner: Jesus became man so I could become God?

The mental health crisis crosses all boundaries and ages

Hold the tuna casserole; pass the crab cake this Lent

Question Corner: Do we relax our Lenten fasts on Sunday?

Pope Francis: 10 titles for 10 years

Let’s make another St. Patrick’s Day Parade memory

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Greg Erlandson

Greg Erlandson is the director and editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service. He writes the CNS column "Amid the Fray."

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Question Corner: Jesus became man so I could become God?

The mental health crisis crosses all boundaries and ages

Hold the tuna casserole; pass the crab cake this Lent

Question Corner: Do we relax our Lenten fasts on Sunday?

Pope Francis: 10 titles for 10 years

| Recent Local News |

Sister Joan Cooper, O.S.F., dies at 94

Pathfinders: Five Archdiocese of Baltimore women who made history

Sister Elizabeth Ellen Kane, O.S.F., dies at 81

RADIO INTERVIEW: Dining with the Saints

Archdiocese dispenses with meatless obligation for St. Patrick’s Day

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Federal judge’s pending ruling could block abortion drug from nationwide sale
  • Papa Francisco: Sin la fuerza del Espíritu Santo, la evangelización es publicidad vacía
  • New Orleans Auxiliary Bishop Cheri dies at 71; archbishop thanks God ‘for his life, ministry’
  • Confession, indulgences express and strengthen communion, speakers say
  • Pro-life groups seek commitments on federal abortion limits from 2024 GOP contenders
  • Pope: Without power of Holy Spirit, evangelization is empty advertising
  • West Virginia parishes, people help Ukrainians find safe haven in Mountain State
  • Rosary project supplies ‘long-range, heart-changing weapons’ to Ukraine
  • Bishop calls ‘reproductive justice’ lecture series with abortion doula ‘scandal,’ ‘unworthy’ of Notre Dame university

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED