"A Christmas Tree Blessing"
The heavens are the work of your hands, the moon and the stars you made;
the earth and the sea and
every living creature came to be by your word,
And all of us as well.

Bless our Christmas tree
May this tree bring cheer to our homes
Give light and beauty to all of us and to our world. May lighting this tree bring hope and promise to our world.

This simple blessing of the Christmas tree raises for us the hope of Christmas. As well, the stories of Christmas remind us of God's enormous love for all of us. And our children's Christmas pageant will warm us and remind us of the birth of Jesus, God's son. All of this puts the following question to us, "Do you really believe that God is watching us?"

I have learned something over the past year. You may know this already, but I have had to learn it over again. I have lost my aunt and my mother this year. As well, this has not been the best year to be a priest and a pastor in Boston. What I have learned again is that we do need to work at "being of good cheer."

How easily we say, "Happy Thanksgiving," or "Merry Christmas," or "Have a good day," yet it takes effort to keep up our spirits, to look for the good around us, to avoid being cynical or negative or angry all the time. The acts of virtue: kindness, courage, temperance, fortitude, and so on, these take work. What is easy is to give into complaining, anger, and self-centeredness.

I came across an article called "Watch for Angels" by Fr. Robert Maloney, C.M. that appeared in "America" magazine last month. Angels are God's messengers, what the Catechism calls, "divine providence." We know about angels like Gabriel who appears to Mary. He is a messenger from God. And Michael who appears as God's help to us in the battles of daily life; and Raphael, who is the healer. And I learned that angels are present in Judaism and Islam and other religions as well.

So as you draw near to Christmas; be on the lookout for angels who help us. Some of them come to us with a message (like Gabriel) and give our lives new direction; others come to us as companions (like Raphael) and aid us through the rough spots; still others come to us to protect us (like Michael) and to fight on our side. The basic message of every angel is this: "The Lord is with you, the Lord loves you, listens to you, speaks to you. The Lord even sends his angels to strengthen you. God has a personal providence in your life," so says Fr. Maloney.

Now I am going to give this article about angels to the people who are studying to join our church. I want to see how they with new eyes and ears for our faith respond to such stories. We, who have been faithful for a while, can take such things as angels for granted. Maybe even laugh about them. But what if God's messengers are real, and we do not know how to see or hear God's messages to us? Now, that's a question for Christmastime!

- Msgr. Frank Kelly