HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE and the MAGIC of THE THRESHOLD

 

There are moments that happen that change how you look on life and on what is and is not possible.  

  

You are never the same afterwards.  

 The Nativity was one of those times.

 There is even a word for this situation: “Liminality.” 

“Liminality” is the word for the threshold moment: 

from the Latin root limin, meaning the centerline of the doorway.

  

Liminality is the moment of crossing over. 

It describes the transitional phase of personal change, 

where one is neither in an old state of being nor a new, 

and not quite aware of the implications of the event. 

All the stages of life include liminality. 

Life is nothing but moments of crossing over. 

Liminality is why we celebrate Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve but not other holidays’ eves.

We celebrate Christmas Eve 

because Jesus is traditionally thought to have been born at midnight.  

And we celebrate New Year’s Eve because midnight is when the year changes. 

Christmas Eve is a threshold moment.

We can choose to stay on the other side of the moment, 

refusing to enter and accept what gifts await us.

After all, for most of the world there is still no room in the Inn for He who breathed the world into existence.

Christmas Eve is the time to reflect on what awaits us beyond whatever threshold we choose to cross ...

to reflect on what thresholds we thought would always be there but now are gone, 

along with the mortal hearts that waited for us beyond them.

Whatever you believe, 

it can be a healing thing to take Christmas Eve to reflect on all the gifts given to you this past year

and on what needs exist in your surroundings that you can be an agent of healing by meeting. 

Christmas Eve revives the wonder of childhood 

where snowflakes sing on their way down to the ground, 

where faeries ice skate on bird baths, 

and magic waits for us to open the door of our hearts to let it in.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE, 

MY FRIENDS!

Pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem
Sempiternam
Requiem

***

Merciful Jesus
Who takes away the sins of the world
Grant them rest
Everlasting
Rest