December 3, 2012
Twinkling lights. Christmas carols. People happily scurrying to and fro on holiday errands. Snowflakes providing a gentle and scenic backdrop. The scents of pine and homemade cookies. Festive cards sent from old friends.
While Advent and Christmas may have at least a touch of Norman Rockwell for most, it isn’t the case for everyone. Loss (of a loved one, a job, etc.), depression, geographic separation from family and a host of other life situations leave a lot of folks unable to get into the expected holiday spirit.
“For some, Christmas equals depression, not joy and love,” said Father Joseph Ciccone, CSP, director of the St. Thomas More Newman Center at The Ohio State University in Columbus. “They are just not in the holiday mood, but they want to celebrate the Lord’s birth and seek his healing, just without all of the hoopla.”
So, where can they go to honor the Lord’s birth and seek God’s healing during Christmas and Advent?
The Newman Center in Columbus has been offering its Blue Christmas Mass for the past seven years, according to Pastoral Associate Rebecca Bass. Everything from the atmosphere to the greetings and the music are carefully planned to create a quiet, reverent and welcoming place of comfort.
“Instead of ‘Joy to the World,’ we might sing ‘Silent Night,’” said Ms. Bass, also a member of the center’s 15-person reconciliation team that plans the Mass. “The lights are lower and there are more candles, so there is a different feel when you walk in the door.” Special attention is also paid to the wording of the liturgy’s greeting, homily and dismissal.
Blue Christmas Mass attendees also have the option of writing prayer intentions on cards which are brought up with the offertory. After the Mass, people have an opportunity to gather in the lobby to visit with each other as well as reconciliation team members and pastoral staff. A local nursery donates poinsettias for each household present at the Mass, which includes a prayer card that welcomes them to come back to the center.
Some 200 people attend the Blue Mass each year – not the usual Christmas Eve crush seen in many churches, “but it is very meaningful for the people that do come. We call it a Liturgy of Hope. I have seen people at that Mass receive the Eucharist with tears in their eyes,” Ms. Bass said.
Reconciliation is a major part of Paulist spirituality and ministry, and the Blue Christmas Mass (as well as the well-attended Advent penance service the reconciliation team offers earlier in December) is a way for the center to live out that pillar of the Paulist charism, according to Ms. Bass.
“Reconciliation is not just reaching out to people who have left the Church,” she explained. “This is a ministry of healing where people can experience a community of care and support. They can give voice to the things that are happening in their lives and bring them before God and his love, compassion and healing.”
The Blue Christmas Mass, Father Ciccone said, is a reminder that, “we can still minister to people during this important holiday, being particularly sensitive to the people not in the regular, expected holiday spirit.
“People need to know that God became fully human in Jesus and therefore fully understands the breadth of human experience,” he continued. “If people are not in the traditional holiday spirit, they can still feel the comfort of God and experience the depth of the Incarnation.”