As we prepare to begin a new year, I know that the days might not seem all that different on the other side of midnight on January 1. But they also await us with wonder, holding new opportunities and new discoveries.

What a whirlwind Christmas is every year! When our children were younger, I felt more pressure to make sure Christmas was magical. Celebrating Christmas with teens means this season is still magical, but in a different way.

God will give us our daily bread. He will ensure that we are not alone, and that we are equipped with the faith and the strength for whatever we might face.

This Christmas season, let our New Year’s resolution be to celebrate Christmas a wee bit longer than 24 hours.

In Nativity scenes all around us, we see the Holy Infant come into less than ideal circumstances and are reminded that our cause – – protection of innocent, fragile human life, the tiny infant in the womb – – remains the most pressing issue of justice and civil rights in our beloved country.

We need support poles and decking to give our faith life some structure. Those are other sacraments, including reconciliation/confession, and devotionals such as praying the rosary, the Angelus, Divine Mercy chaplet or morning and evening prayer.

When we got off the plane, we found out a snowstorm had canceled all the flights to the East Coast.

What shall we make of the burning Holy Land, during a Christmastide when we celebrate the angelic announcement of a messianic birth that marks the inbreaking of the peaceable kingdom of Isaiah 11:6-9?

The point of religious art and imagery is not so much to give us a perfect, historically accurate picture of events that occurred in the life of Jesus.

It’s all about accompaniment, this declaration, but — both theologically and pastorally — some will doubtlessly find it confusing and yes, messy.