Christmas 2017 Come Christmas! No one is ever really ready for Christmas. If we were really all prepared: If every gift we had contemplated had been obtained; If every present was beautifully beribboned; If all the goodies our friends deserve were baked and cooled, and stored just so; If each and every person we love was gathered for our celebration; If we never snapped at someone we care about, nor stopped short of being all that we could be; If our minds were 100 per cent loving and our hearts were 100 per cent generous; They truly would be ready —and truly we would not need Christmas quite so much. So come, Christmas, most needed of seasons. Come with the reminder that love does not depend on Perfection but on willingness to risk connection. Come into the unready manger of our hearts That we may feel the warmth of new life And give flesh to the promise of hope That cries to bring healing into our world. Come Christmas! Come, Love, Come, Hope. Be born in our unready hearts On this silent and holy night. [M. Maureen Killoran]