Why is it that we tend to make New Year’s Resolutions that make us crabby? You don’t like treadmills – do that! You don’t like salad – eat lots more of that! After all, as Catholics, the whole year is not meant to be a season of penance (though I’m not one to knock healthy habits). Perhaps we could resolve to add more of something to our lives that we enjoy and ought to do more.
My kids like fire. Actually, to be honest, everyone in my family likes fire. When it snows and the kids have exhausted themselves trying to build snowmen in the front yard, my husband eventually takes them to the back part of our property and builds a cheerful fire. With hands wrapped around steaming cups of hot chocolate, this little fire suddenly becomes the center of a small celebration of winter, family and the joy of outdoor exertion.
But I have realized that we don’t need to gather kindling every time we want to celebrate. This fall, I discovered a pair of polished brass candlesticks at an antique store. They reminded me of church candles and glowing dinners on BBC period dramas, so of course the candlesticks went home with me. Now, every time we have a little family celebration, we light candles at the table. Suddenly, we find that we have so much to celebrate: the sacraments, the feast days of our patron saints, holy days of obligation, “firsts,” Sundays, and large gatherings of friends and family.
We belong to a Church that anticipates the eternal joys of heaven through her celebration of those mysteries here on earth. Holy days are “mandatory” festivals to commemorate moments in the life of Christ and Mary and to rejoice with the communion of saints in heaven. When we go to Mass, especially on holy days and Sundays (each of which is like a mini-Easter), we are reminded that Eucharist is derived from the Greek word for “thanksgiving” and grants us a foretaste of the breathtakingly beautiful liturgy of heaven. In our family, reminders on my phone mark the days of my kids’ baptisms and the feast days of saints connected to our family. Our children don’t mind that the list of our favorite saints seems to keep growing! The Church values this spirit of celebration so much that she will even break from a Lenten fast to acknowledge the solemnities of St. Joseph and the Annunciation.
Some days, celebration is hard. In fact, celebration always requires something to be sacrificed in order to set aside the chosen day or hour for gratitude. This week, my heart is heavy with prayer burdens for dear friends. We received a medical bill that was three times bigger than expected. A toddler used defrosting blueberries to re-create a Jackson Pollock painting on a beige-cloth couch, and she painted herself with my nicest lipstick. Mac and cheese splattered the wall today, and a rock from a speeding truck nicked my van window. And yet it’s a feast day, a good day.
The liturgical year tugs at my soul to put tiredness and resentment at the feet of Christ and to pull out the fancy plates and re-present leftovers as a nice meal. The memory of a beloved saint who was known for his forgiveness helps me adjust my own perspective as I light the candles for our meal. My children’s eyes sparkle when they see that mom has moved beyond the accidents of the day to receive them with a smile. Joy is worth the little efforts to recognize that, in the eyes of God, today is extraordinary, not ordinary after all.
When we speak of evangelizing others for Christ, our hardest and most meaningful work begins in the evangelization of our own families. Celebration is the cultural expression of that task to share the Good News of our faith. Story, song, communal meals, prayer – these are the simple ways through which we lay claim our shared story in Christ and pass on that narrative and the hope of eternal life with God to our children. Celebration is also difficult to resist as an evangelical tool. The most cynical teen won’t complain too much about his favorite dessert being served on the anniversary of his baptismal day. Young children jump onto the couch to read a saint story with a parent. And a box of store-bought cookies or some candles at the table may be all we need to lift us out of the material realm and connect us to the heavenly one – at least for a few, needed moments.
Resolve to make 2019 the Year of Celebration for your family. I can’t guarantee that a spirit of celebration will bring you the trim figure and increased energy that the gym and kale salad resolutions may promise. However, as Catholics, we celebrate to remember, honor and love. Our spiritual festivals are a path to find hope, transcend our daily frustrations and recall that they have meaning in a larger journey, connect with each other, and reflect the perpetual worship of perfect joy in heaven. Light a candle, tell a story and embark on an odyssey of celebration in 2019 that will enliven your home with habits of gratitude for years to come.
Kelly Henson is a Catholic writer and speaker who explores the art of integrating faith into daily life. She, her husband and their four children are parishioners of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Greensboro, and she has worked for more than 15 years with teens, children and families as a missionary, youth minister and teacher. She blogs at www.kellyjhenson.com.