After packing away the last of the Christmas decorations today, I thought about a Christmas past when I was asked to give the homily in our church on the Sunday after Christmas, a notoriously poor attendance day. The basic theme of my “message” was this: We can’t pack up the spirit of Christmas (joy, peace, love and hope) along with the decorations and condemn that spirit to the attic of our hearts.

My wish for 2016 is that somehow the true message of Christmas is not relegated to a dusty storeroom where we will resurrect it for a few weeks next December. The attics of our minds and hearts are not  appropriate places for the peace and love and joy and hope that are the true qualities of a celebration of Christmas.

May you all have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Duke