From Fr. Michael:

 +Dear Brothers and Sisters of the LCG:

 The mystery of this season never ceases to amaze me, for it is all about God ever drawing nearer to us and making us sharers of a love-life that never ends. The Child born to us is that we may be born of God, persons filled with God’s own divine life and love.

 Our Christmas celebration takes place when light and warmth are at their lowest ebb, at least in this part of the world. The winter solstice is about to happen or has just done so and the cold freezing air stops us from going out without protective clothing. Is it an invitation to stay home, to become ever more aware of just how close the divine presence, even closer to us than we are to ourselves? To abide in Christ even as he abides in us is to know true warmth, to live in a light that never fades, to realize who we truly are as God’s children.

 May your Christmas allow you a living and abiding sense of this living Presence, of a love that has no end. May you be Christ’s living members in today’s world, sharing with all a joy this world cannot give.  Wishing you an abundance of this joy and love, Michael of Gethsemani

And from the LCG Advisory Council a blessed Nativity of Christmas light to all LCG members and friends:

 A Prayer by Thomas Merton

 In one sense

we are always traveling,

and traveling as if we did not know

where we were going.

In another sense we have already arrived.

We cannot arrive

at the perfect possession

of God in this life,

and that is why we are traveling

and in darkness.

But we already possess Him by grace,

and therefore in that sense,

we have arrived

and are dwelling in the light.

But oh!  How far have I to go to find

You in Whom I have already arrived!

Peace and Joy,

Robert