These Young Friends

As we begin to wrap up Christmas decorations, finish those leftover cookies, and write the final thank you notes, many of us are grateful that the normal routine of Ordinary Time is here. Celebrating the Incarnation is something joyous that we all look forward to, but our celebrations carry with them much traveling, cooking, and work around the house. The adults are ready to move on.

Children, on the other hand, are less willing to wave goodbye to their favorite time of year. It’s not just going back to school that saddens them. Nor is it the fact that no gifts remain under the tree. There is something about the mystery, the comfort, and the joy of Christmas that they will miss singing in their hearts.

In his 1994 “Letter to Children,” Blessed John Paul II recognizes how special Christ’s birth is to young ones. It is “the feast day of a Child,” and so children know that it is their feast day too. He wrote:

In what happened to the Child of Bethlehem you can recognize what happens to children throughout the world. It is true that a child represents the joy not only of its parents but also the joy of the Church and the whole of society.