No.879: Last Week at the Farmhouse // The Weary World Rejoices

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Merry Christmastide!  During this joyous time of year, I’ve been thinking about Pope Saint John Paul II’s 2001 Midnight Mass homily entitled Proclaim Christ Child’s Message Of Hope Throughout The World.  I hope it fills you with hope, joy and peace as it did me.

Like the shepherds, we too on this wonderful night cannot fail to experience the desire to share with others the joy of our encounter with this “child wrapped in swaddling cloths“, in whom the saving power of the Almighty is revealed. We cannot pause in ecstatic contemplation of the Messiah lying in the manger, and forget our obligation to bear witness to him.

In haste we must once more set out on our journey. With joy we must leave the cave of Bethlehem in order to recount everywhere the marvel which we have witnessed. We have encountered light and life! In him, love has been bestowed upon us.

We welcome you with joy, Almighty Lord of heaven and earth, who out of love became a Child “in Judea, in the city of David, which is called Bethlehem” (Lk 2:4).

We welcome you with gratitude, new Light rising in the night of the world.

We welcome you as our brother, the “Prince of Peace“, who “made of the two one people” (cf. Eph 2:14).

Fill us with your gifts, you who did not hesitate to begin human life like us. Make us children of God, you who for our sake desired to become a son of man (cf. Saint Augustine, Homilies, 184).

You, “Wonder-Counsellor“, sure promise of peace; you, powerful presence of the “God-Hero“; you, our one God, who lie poor and humble in the dim light of the stable, welcome us around your crib.

Come, peoples of the earth, open to him the doors of your history! Come to worship the Son of the Virgin Mary, who descended among us, on this night prepared for down the centuries.

Night of joy and peace.

Venite, adoremus!

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Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ attending Midnight Mass.  There is something so beautiful about entering a warm chapel in the middle of a dark, cold night.  Our little Oratory was packed – standing room only! – and I felt waves of gratitude for the ability to celebrate His birth with all of these people right as the clock stuck twelve.  What a way to begin the Christmas festivities!

+ a wonderfully simple Christmas morning.  My kids always receive only three gifts each (along with their stockings), so I try to choose items very intentionally.  Some years are a bust, but I think I did okay this year!  Some hits: a personal Keurig machine, a leather jacket, a wood carving kit and book for inspiration, a wearable throw blanket, an old-school boombox for listening to music and audiobooks, and Legos.

+ picking up next year’s wrapping paper for 50% off.  I needed a few skeins of embroidery floss at the craft store and popped into Homegoods next door to check on the paper.  They still had a decent selection and I found four simple designs that will work for next year!  I saved $8.

+ taking inventory of all of my craft supplies.  I have collected a lot of items over the years and I think 2025 is the year that I use ’em or lose ’em.  I organized my rolling cart with materials and I’m excited to start making beautiful things.

Reading //

• Keeping a Long Christmas from Charles Coulombe at Crisis Magazine
• Making mixtapes from Austin Kleon // This is such a fun creative project.

New Additions to The List // 

• Saint Thomas Aquinas: The Person and His Work by Jean-Pierre Torrell
• The Domestic Revolution: How the Introduction of Coal into Victorian Homes Changed Everything by Ruth Goodman
• Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Virgin Mary: Unveiling the Mother of the Messiah by Brant Pitre
• The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen

Watching/Listening //

• Lessons 1-2 of the Introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas course from Aquinas 101 at the Thomistic Institute
• some of the episodes of Something Was Wrong Season 20 // This catfishing story was WILD.

Loving //

• this French holy card that roughly translates to: “The Christmas Lullaby: with Mary, let us watch over the child Jesus, let us sing His praises, let us admire His beauty, let us contemplate His grace, let us adore His divinity!”