I watch the broadcast of the Christmas Midnight Mass from Rome every year even though I am not a Christian and we celebrate Christmas as a purely secular holiday.

I got started doing that when my son was a baby and it was a nice peaceful way to end what was usually a busy and frazzling day.   As time went by, life got less frazzly, but it has remained a peaceful way to end the day.

I must admit it was odd last year not to see the poor old failing Pope still hanging in there.   No way to know how long the current one will last, or what direction the church will go when it comes time to pick his successor.

I read a book not long ago that claimed that there are documents that prove that the man we’ve come to know as Jesus survived the crucifixion and lived many years afterwards.   I have a feeling that if such documents exist, there are just too many people with too many good reasons to keep them under wraps.   But what would happen if it turned out that the story that’s been told for thousands of years isn’t true after all?

I suspect most Christians would continue to believe it anyway; that’s the nature of faith.

I don’t believe the story, but I still enjoy watching the pageantry from Rome.   I suspect that won’t change for me, either.   So in a few hours I’ll settle back and spend a “calm and bright” hour to end a peaceful day.

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