Waiting For Midnight On The Anniversary Of The Most Wondrous Night Of Them All

By Judi McLeod —— Bio and Archives December 24, 2018

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Waiting to pray the last “Unfailing Christmas Prayer”’, started on the Nov. 30 Feast of St. Andrew, at Latin Midnight Mass tonight.

‘Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God! to hear my prayer and grant my desires through the merits of Our Savior Jesus Christ, and of His Blessed Mother. Amen.”

It’s 10 years on from my Christmas Eve in North Easton, MA. at the gravesite of Rosary Priest, Fr. Patrick Peyton (C.S.C.). Christmas Eve 2008 blew in as a cold and windy day with epic Massachusetts-style snow and sleet. Ten years later, I find myself wondering if the wind of today is blowing the tiny flags on the graves of brothers and priests who served their countries in War time, at Holy Cross Community Cemetery at Stonehill College in North Easton. It was to say fervent prayers for my adopted Mother Bobbi and friend and Book Editor Michael Vallins, both fallen seriously ill, that brought me to the graveside of Fr. Peyton, but also searching for hope that the one month earlier election of Barack Obama as President would not mean the end of America. Eight Christmas Eves were to follow with Obama in the White House and all hoping and praying for for better days to come, survived each and every one. God Willing, we will survive Obama’s self-assigned role as covert “Resistance” Leader on this and every other Christmas Eve, even though just refusing to climb onto the Hate Trump Train finds so many of us estranged from our own families. It is on Christmas Eve when so many of us stop to count our God-given blessings.

In my own case, there are many blessings to count. Canada Free Press is not all about Yours Truly, but all about its faithful readers, all about its courageous writers, all of those who find us, intense suppression by social media notwithstanding. Thank God for all of those who work late into the night hours trying to spread messages of truth; those who love their country and who Keep the Faith no matter how challenging and discouraging the times. I will not name them for fear of unleashing the trolls—temporarily— hidden under bridges this and every Christmas Season. Canada Free Press is also the many commenters in its Comment Section, where a faithful little Louisiana lady, by the name of Totsy, keeps it from being trolled to death, not only at Christmas, but each and every day of the year. Surrounded by the political purveyors of visceral hate, as long as we always stick together, we will always get by. No Fake News can ever change the words on an engraved Holy Land Stone that my Florida friends Kathie and Joe sent me: “For unto us a child is born, a Savior who is Christ the Lord (Luke: 2:11), imprinted with this message: “May the love of that first Christmas be with you always”. It’s 10 years on since my North Easton visit to the gravesite of Rosary Priest Fr. Patrick Peyton when I wrote at the end of my column ‘Rosaries in the Snow”: “It’s Christmas 2008 and Jesus Christ is King!” Ten years later, It’s Christmas 2018 and Jesus Christ is King! God Bless You and Merry Christmas Everyone!