This past Christmas, the season was a little short. Advent was short, and I was feeling a little stressed. There were so many things to do to get ready, just sacramentally and in the church for Christmas, and then there’s the family gatherings. There’s Christmas cards. There’s all the gifts to think about, so there’s a lot of things. Everybody feels stressed, I think, around Christmas time.

I mentioned this to a friend of mine. Then on Saint Nicholas Day, a gift appeared, and it was this cup. “Keep calm and just breathe.” I love the cup, and I love the saying, and I might add, keep calm and just breathe with the power and the peace and the strength of God’s spirit.

Today, as I listened to the readings, I couldn’t help but to think of this little gift, this cup, because it reminded me that in some way, God reached out to show compassion to me through my friend and this very simple gift. So, every time I use it, it reminds me of what the readings tell us about today, and that is we have a loving, caring, and compassionate God.

Today, the readings remind us that Jesus makes visible God’s compassionate mercy and love. If we are to truly follow Jesus, then we know what we must make visible for God in our own lives: compassion, compassion to our brothers and sisters, compassion to all God’s creation. So, the challenge I think for us today is to remind ourselves, or to ask ourselves, Are we keeping our hearts open and aware of the things that are happening around us, to the people around us, so that we can go and live God’s compassion?

I’d ask you to think about this in the days ahead and the week ahead. Is there someone that you know that perhaps through a word, or maybe some kind act, you might be able to help make visible God’s compassion for them? I think about my cup and what it reminds me of, something so simple, keep calm and just breathe, and that’s what we’re called to do for each other by our compassion, by making God’s compassion visible to help each other keep calm and just breathe, with the power, the grace, and the peace of God’s spirit.