Christmas Eve is, in a few ways, better than Christmas itself – not in every way, especially given the hordes who clog up all of the roads and public transportation as EVERYONE rushes to get home and be with family, of course, but in some ways, it certainly is. There is still a lot to enjoy about Christmas Eve, especially as we gear up toward the Midnight Masses that will take place around the world tonight.

The best thing about today, though, has to be the sense of anticipation, and of hope.

And hope is something we need by the SPADEFUL these days.

Lads, we’ve been through Hell itself for the past 2 years. We’ve seen every comforting illusion we ever believed in about our governments, our institutions, and even our own families stripped bare and destroyed. Every one of us has been pushed and challenged and hurt in ways that we couldn’t imagine before January 2020.

Our governing institutions have betrayed and abused and persecuted us – they continue to do so, in fact. The people that we thought were our kin and our neighbours have turned on us, telling us to get the not-vaxxes and screaming us down if we refuse. Those that we counted as friends have turned their backs on us, because we refuse to comply with The Message, and obstinately deny The Narrative.

Because we insist on following what our eyes and ears tell us, we are mocked, derided, spat upon, hated, and shunned.

Unfortunately, this is how it has to be. Those of us who insist on following the Truth, wherever it leads, however uncomfortable it happens to be, don’t get a choice here. That was the deal, and remains so to this day.

Tomorrow we will celebrate the apotheosis of that deal, where Truth itself became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory – to paraphrase a well-known line from the Gospel.

And with that Truth came the promise of peace:

This, then, is the meaning of Christmas – of peace, and reconciliation, between and among those who seek the Truth. We may have disagreements among us. Some of them may well be quite severe. But ultimately, we’re all pointing in the same direction – the one indicated by the Star in the heavens that led the three wise men to a tiny newborn child in a manger.

Happy Christmas to all of you, my brothers, and peace be with you and your families. The Prince of Peace was born among us more than two thousand years ago, and we rightly celebrate that wonder and the joy that came with it.