Christmas is a week from today. Christmas in the midst of the pandemic. In all the years, in all the decades I've lived through, nothing quite compares with this year. Though some good things happened in my family, overall it was a terrible, unpredictable, uncertain year that most people want to see behind them.
And if this year wasn't crazy enough now it seems a foreign government, an elite and very smart group of cyber experts, have hacked sensitive information from American government agencies and corporations and who knows what they'll do with the information they've stolen. The scary part is no one knows what they'll do next. No one. Most probably nothing, we pray it was just some good old espionage and nothing more sinister than that. Yet American Intelligence Agencies said, "the cyberoffensive was a grave risk to the federal government."
Churches should beware....if government agencies and corporations can be hacked so easily, with all the money they spend on cyber security, so can church databases. So many scams to beware of. I hope churches have cyber protections in place because there are cases where "bad actors" (from all over the world), freeze computer systems and ask for ransoms.....
Is this a crazy world or what? And yet in the midst of the on going uncertainties we live with in the modern world, faith is essential for believers. My faith and my prayer life got me through this difficult year. Catholic TV programming and the televised Mass was a great help in keeping me focused and spiritually-filled. The internet and you tube videos, especially those from Word on Fire were helpful.
So I will pray as other people of faith will pray that 2021 will be a better year. We pray vaccinations protect us from the coronavirus and our lives go back to "normal." I can't wait to go shopping without a mask.
And so as we leave this strange and absurd year behind us, let us be filled with Christian hope. Let us find renewed purpose in Christian values, charity and faith.
Merry Christmas and a Happy Blessed New Year!! Let's remain in hope and pray the lights don't go out!
NJA
