Here we are just past Christmas, very near New Year, at the end of another very challenging year, hoping next year is better and smoother. This is a hope that is especially salient given the past couple years, but it’s always the hope: that the coming year is positive, is prosperous. Every Christmas season we should feel renewed by the birth of Jesus and feel hopeful for the coming year.

In the first reading John speaks to those who have been with Jesus from the beginning. They recognized Jesus’ divinity from the start and have followed him. They are devoted to Jesus and realize that the things of the world are transitory but that Jesus is forever. Their focus is on eternity and on Jesus rather than on the things of this world. In the Gospel we hear about Anna who spent her whole widowhood in the temple prophesying the coming of Jesus. She told everyone she saw about the child from Nazareth who was filled with Wisdom and the favor of God upon him.

We’ve just come from Christmas, where the focus should be on the birth of Jesus, but the focus more and more seems to be on the worldly aspects of gifts. Our Christmas focus should be on the birth of Jesus. We should be like those in First John, focused on Jesus from the beginning, following him from the start, and more focused on eternity. We should be more focused on what’s in the manger than on what’s under the tree. We should be like Anna with our whole focus on Jesus, the baby born last week, and the one who will redeem us. Our greatest Christmas gift is the gift of God. Our greatest hope for the new year is redemption.