Happy New Year 2021! I am sure these words are welcomed by most of you and if you are like me, 2021 can’t come soon enough! 2020 was a very trying year for most people not only in our nation but in our world.
During our current pandemic, we have been reminded that throughout history, illnesses have always threatened mankind, but this threat has taken on a new danger of being more catastrophic by living within a very large global community. Luckily modern medicine and science have improved since medieval times, but we are always reminded that no matter how smart humankind becomes, we always face the inevitable END which “haunts” many an earthly mind: death. The pandemic of Covid-19 has been that “enemy lurking in the darkness” and many of us have either faced it ourselves or known someone close to us who has. For most of us, endings can be very scary or painful things and they often take many forms: loss of a job, death of a loved one, or a relationship break-up.
However, as people of faith, we are reminded that endings are never really just that entirely, but serve as new beginnings. One of my favorite prayers during the Catholic Funeral Liturgy is the preface which states: “Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven.” As Chaplain for Phi Kappa Theta, I wanted to share this message with you so that no matter what you have faced this past year of 2020, you may not lose hope.
Last week we celebrated Christmas, and even though our secular society wants us to shift our focus to the next commercial celebration, the Catholic Church is still celebrating the Christmas season with great joy and reminds us to keep our eyes fixed on the Christ child, Our Savior, who came as the fulfillment of God’s promise given to us over centuries through the ancient prophets.
Christmas is a reminder that despite all human failings which began with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they ate of the fruit of the tree and rejected the wishes of God, that God never rejected us. Christmas reminds us that God promised to save us from our sinful selves and ultimately from the consequence of sin, which is death, so that we may live eternally with Him in Heaven as He always intended. God, in taking human flesh, humbled himself to share in our humanity so that it may be redeemed in Him! That means we no longer have to live in fear and that God will always be with us, no matter what we face during our time on earth.
As many of you probably noticed recently, our secular news outlets were filled with stories of the “Christmas Star” (alignment of the planets Saturn and Jupiter) which appeared on December 21, 2020. I was one of the unlucky people whose skies were clouded during the anticipated great conjunction and I was disappointed of not being able to participate in the hype of the “historical event.” However, the disappointment of not being able to see with my own eyes the astronomical phenomenon that comes once every 397 years was soon transformed into the excitement of being a witness with eyes of faith to one of God’s special gifts. This 2020 “Christmas Star” message revealed not only the celebration of the birth of Our Savior 2000 years ago in a manger in Bethlehem, but served as a divine call from above to lift our eyes up to the heavens to find the hope and relief we seek in the God who never abandons us. What I find remarkable about the Christmas Star this year is not just the fact that it appeared, but the timing of its arrival.
Today, in our current American culture, our eyes are often times looking at a computer or phone screen trying to keep up with the daily news and tasks that consume our everyday life. This year, in particular, our heads have been bowed low from the burden of a year-long pandemic, political and ideological division, and the consequential heavy responsibilities which resulted and these have made us tired. And yet, in the cycle of God’s astronomical providence, a convergence of planets which was set in motion when the universe was created, happened to come together on December 21, 2020… a coincidence some people may say, but I believe and know that our savior, Jesus Christ was born as promised and is still present among us today to raise us higher than we can raise ourselves!
A Blessed Christmas and a Joyous New Year to you, my dear brothers of Phi Kappa Theta, and to your loved ones. Remember that as we begin this New Year, no matter what 2021 brings, keep your eyes always fixed on the heavens whence comes our saving help!
Rev. Msgr. Glenn L. Nelson (Northern Illinois University, ‘09)
+ Bio
The Reverend Monsignor Glenn L. Nelson, graduated from Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, IL with a Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education for the Hearing Impaired in 1987.
After teaching and interpreting for the Deaf in a public school for two years, he quit his job and entered St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, IL for studies to become a Catholic priest where he earned a Bachelor in Sacred Theology and a Masters of Divinity degree in 1993. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rockford in Illinois and after serving in various priestly capacities, Msgr. Nelson then completed his Post-Graduate studies in 2000 at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a Licentiate Degree in Canon Law.
Msgr. Nelson became a member of Phi Kappa Theta while serving as Pastor at Christ the Teacher Parish/Newman Catholic Student Center in DeKalb, IL. Msgr. Nelson currently serves as Vicar General/Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Rockford as well as Director for the Deaf Apostolate. Msgr. Nelson also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Catholic Office for the Deaf and is honored to serve as National Chaplain for the Phi Kappa Theta Fraternity.
