The Importance of Tradition.

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It is by tradition that we know who we are.  It is our traditions with our families that teach us who we are as a family.  It is the traditions that surround sports teams that inform us who we are as fans. It is traditions of patriotism that teach us who we are as a nation.  It is through religious traditions that we learn who we are as Christians. Further, it is by the traditions of the Church that God remains present in our lives day in and day out.  We do not simply move through the world aimlessly without direction or purpose.Nor do we go through life with the mission of defining ourselves or making ourselves.Rather, we go through life asking God to reveal to us who we are, who He created us to be, and what He calls us to do.

Some of these traditions include the practices that fill these days at the end of the year and beginning of the next.  From midnight Mass to carols and Christmas pageants to water, chalk, and drawing on the house, God enters our lives through this Holy season.

God is not a mere concept or abstract reality, He is a person we are to encounter.  By use of the elements He created, wine, bread, water, oil, chalk, and incense, He enters into the created world.  At the birth of Jesus on Christmas the invisible God enter the visible world.  And through the Sacraments and Sacramentals, He remains in His world.  At evening prayer on Saturday afternoon, we bless the water for epiphany and during the Masses of Epiphany we bless the chalk.  Take these elements, these Sacramentals home with you.  In bringing them into your homes, and by the prayers you will pray as a family, you will invite God into your home, your family, and your life.  The chalk will be the visible reminder that you have given your home to be a dwelling of the Most High God while the Blessed Water will will your home with His Grace and Presence.  Be Traditional, Be Catholic, Be Holy!