Christmas and New Year’s Rest?

I'm on vacation since I'm only taking care of Religious Sisters, right?

There seems to be a bit of curiosity about how the Holidays (specifically Christmas and New Year) differ at the convent from at a parish. The common assumption has been that I must have gotten a lot more rest this year than in past years. Foolish assumption! As I mentioned last time, there were great differences in that I was not having to plan and coordinate and attend every planning and coordinating meeting. That was nice, to say the least! But the “busyness” factor was still there for the Sisters, for they still had to do all of their “regular” tasks, plus all of their regular prayers, and then somehow find time to do a most thorough Christmas job of cleaning, decorating, cooking, visiting, hosting, choir-practicing, and everything else that goes along with proper preparation for Our Lord’s Birth. So you might think that they got a chance to sleep in a little longer or nap during the day or something along those lines. And, if they got to rest, yours truly would get to rest also. But that is not the way of the Sisters.

The prayer schedule for December 24th, the Vigil of Christmas, was moved forward a bit so that Compline (Night Prayer—the last prayers of the Divine Office said before bedtime) started at 5:30 pm instead of 7:00 pm. I suppose that was to allow us (yes, me too) to hit the sack early. Except that the Sisters had to be ready to greet the people arriving for, and then sing, the pre-Christmas Midnight Mass hymns, and I had to prepare for Mass. How much sleep could any of us possibly get?

Then came Midnight Mass. For the sake of those of you who have only experienced “Midnight Mass” starting at 8, 9, or 10 pm, let me explain that “Midnight Mass” was once celebrated AT MIDNIGHT, hence its name. I know that is a shock to many of you and perhaps even a relief to finally have an answer to the obvious question of, “Why is it called Midnight Mass if it doesn’t start at Midnight?” It used to. Everywhere. For Christ was born at Midnight. On Christmas Day, December 25. Not 7:35 am sometime in June or 2:47 pm on an unknown date in July. In the first moments of December 25, the Divine Infant was born, and the Church traditionally celebrated the First Mass of Christmas at that time. That Mass was, until recent times, the largest Christmas Mass at most parishes!

The older I get, the more I experience the difficulty of staying awake and alert enough to reverently celebrate Midnight Mass and still be able to be alert and reverent in the morning to celebrate two more Christmas Masses. But God is worth it! May I always be able to keep that schedule out of love for Him!

After the Traditional Midnight Mass (which, because we did not have 650 people to distribute Holy Communion to, lasted less than 2 hours), you might think that everyone immediately went home to get to bed. But no! The Sisters all disappeared as soon as Mass was done. You might think, too, that they went straight to bed. But, again, no!

Fr. Pillari, who gave a beautiful Christmas meditation at the Mass, had invited me and all of the “locals” to a gathering in the social hall after Mass. There were Christmas cookies and other snacks, as well as lemonade and other drinks for everyone to enjoy as they stood around talking and celebrating Christmas morning with each other. I don’t know how long the others “partied,” but I stayed for a while and then went to see if I could find the sand man. I was probably in bed before 3:00 am, so it was just a bit earlier than that same scenario as it used to play out at Epiphany.

The morning schedule allowed a little more sleep than normal for a later wake-up call, and the bell didn’t sound until 5:15 am, beckoning us to prayers at 5:45, and, to accommodate this late start, the Second Mass of Christmas was scheduled at 8:00 am, rather than the normal 7:30 am, and the Third Mass of Christmas wasn’t until 10:30. Back home, I had to wake up early enough to pray about half of the Breviary before the first Mass and the rest during Fr. Mangiafico’s Mass since I would not find time after those Masses were completed. Here, since nobody was heading out to spend Christmas Day with family (other than the convent family), the breviary Hours were spaced out as normal.

It turns out that the Sisters had not gotten much sleep, either, for when we were in the social hall after Mass and everyone thought the Sisters had turned in, they had simply gone to their own refectory for a special Christmas breakfast and games! I doubt they got even the little early-morning sleep that I did!

The best time for a Christmas nap would have been in the middle of the afternoon between prayer times, yet even that was given to others as a gift to the Infant Jesus. The Sisters and I went caroling (they sang, I smiled) at the local nursing home (remember the redneck Christmas tree photo?) to bring Christmas blessings.

There, we got an unexpected sermon by one of the residents. She was quite outspoken from the very beginning. “We are all kind of tired of all of the Christmas songs,” was her first remark before the hymnals were even opened. But she got into it as the Sisters sang the Latin version of Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. (Not really. Just seeing if you were paying attention.) She sang the old Carols with gusto and then, between songs, happily informed everyone how happy she was to have the Catholics there. She was Baptist, she proclaimed, but the Baptists started using the piano and guitars—and moving them right up front, no less!—and she wasn’t going for any of that stuff. “God bless the Catholics!” she cried, “Because you haven’t fallen for any of that nonsense!” She preached a lot longer than that, and it was a hoot. It also said a lot about the local Catholics, because the Filiae Laboris Mariae Sisters wouldn’t have been around long enough for her to see just their example, but the good example of the “normal” Catholic parishes in the area.

Skipping ahead to New Year's Eve and Day (I’m told that I write too much just as I talk too much), we gathered in the chapel at 11:15 pm for the Solemn chanting of Prayers for the End of the Year, with the Te Deum, followed by Matins, and completed with Prayers for the beginning of the New Year and the Veni Creator. Once again, after losing hours of sleep, we got to wake up late, at 4:30 am, since we had already prayed Matins.

Given a choice between attending a New Year’s party or this, I would probably have chosen Door Number Three: sleep. That is also why God, in His wisdom, made me a priest, and, beyond that, put me here, so that I couldn’t take the lazy way out! And for that, I am truly thankful.

As for the Sisters who have made this their chosen way of life and the lay people who willingly and without obligation choose to honor and adore Our Lord in these ways on these holy nights, even though they give up sleep, comfort, and money (think: tanks of gas and sometimes hours of driving—some with children in tow—in the middle of the night), I admire and respect you beyond belief!

Merry Christmas and Happy, Holy New Year!

With prayers for your holiness,

Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka

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For those who wish to ask for prayers, discern a Vocation, or make donations:

[The Sisters now have a website! https://filiae.org/]

This blog is not monetized, since the good Sisters give me food and shelter. But if you wish to support the Filiae Laboris Mariae Sisters under my spiritual care, feel free to send them a note to: St. Joseph Convent, 1250 Hackberry Road, Redfield, KS 66769. They constantly pray, and their benefactors will get great spiritual rewards! That is also the address you can send snail mail to me. I suppose you already know or can guess my gmail address with the F*****P**** in front of it!