In many ways 2025 was a good year for our faith community. There is much for which we should be grateful. Attendance has continued to rebound after the COVID nightmare, and this year we have fourteen adults and four young people in the OCIA process. This year’s ALPHA was the best attended in years, and Bible Study, after chugging along for years with a group of hardy regulars, has attracted some youthful energy. We continue to serve the poor and the unhoused through our participation in Chicago Help Initiative and our distribution of Chicago Shares food coupons.  We are still offering support to the refugee families that we helped sponsor and we have people actively engaged in securing help for individuals facing deportation. Almost all of our ministries are short-handed, but we are hoping to address that with a new style Ministry Fair in February. Our social events have been well-received and successful. You have been generous to the parish and to the Archdiocese. There were challenges, of course; but nothing that was insurmountable.
The end of the year is also a good time to count our own blessings and maybe include some that might not seem like blessings. One of the oldest symbols of the New Year features a tired, bent old man with a scraggly beard dragging a baby in diapers. This little cartoon goes back to Roman times when a parade was held on January 1. An old man and a baby would be at the tail end of the parade. This cartoon has remained popular because many of us feel that the previous twelve months have aged us quite a bit. Good things may indeed have taken place during the year, but there were also many unpleasant things that we would like to forget. Perhaps we experienced the death of a close friend or love one; maybe we experienced an embarrassment or humiliation that we wonder if we will ever live down; maybe our vacation plans turned into a disaster; perhaps we battled a serious illness; maybe we were out of a job and under financial stress. Our culture’s way of dealing with the year’s disappointments and setbacks is a wild party on New Year’s Eve. Get really drunk and forget all your troubles—at least for a few hours. But, of course, the memories do not disappear. They are still there on January 1, along with a headache.
I have found that a more productive way of dealing with past hurts is not to try to forget them, but to look for a hidden blessing in them. If we lost a close friend or loved one this past year, we might think about what virtue or personal quality made them special to us. What if we incorporated what we most treasured about them into our life and relationships—so that their goodness could continue through us? If we suffered a disappointment, an embarrassment, a failure, well, what did we learn from that experience? What did we learn about ourselves that will be useful in the future? What did we learn not to try ever again? Darkness is a better teacher than light. Failure can teach us humility and strengthen our relationship with God, because we now have concrete evidence that we are not all-powerful and all-knowing. If our vacation was a disaster, maybe we can learn to find more joy in the day to day and not load all our fun and happiness onto one two week trip. And if we battled illness this year, well, maybe the gift is coming to appreciate each day and focus on the things that mean the most to us.
Reflecting on the events of our life in light of the bigger picture is actually a tried and true way of praying. In the Gospel of Luke, after the shepherds have left the stable and all the commotion is over, the Scripture says that Mary “kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” Yes, giving birth in a barn is no joy and she was hardly prepared to entertain shepherds; but, on reflection, what a marvelous thing has happened that night. God had come to earth, and she had been privileged to participate.
So, as we approach the end of the year, do not be too quick to dismiss the bad memories of this past year. There might be a blessing hidden within them. Are there things that we should forget and not carry into the new year?  Sure they are: things like  grudges and resentments and r anger toward people who are long dead. These memories only hurt us and disturb our peace of mind. They pull us backward instead of propelling us forward. And, as a wise person once said, “If we come to the end of the year and we are still alive, we really have not had a bad year.”
                                                                  Fr. Joe