All my life’s a circle

It seems many, many summers and Christmases have passed since we first heard that song: “All my life’s a circle.”  One D.J. on the B.B.C.,  used to deliberately say: “All my life’s a circus” just to get a reaction from his listeners!

We have completed another circle of life and so, here we go again,  untangling Christmas lights, checking bulbs,  thinking of presents and being caught up in what they call the “Christmas rush”  - whatever that is?

For some, because of illness or bereavement, it will be a serious reminder that life indeed is a circle from one season to the next, from birth to death.  

A circle has no beginning or end. It represents the eternal just as the Advent wreath does today, bedecked with the evergreen leaves and the candles of expectation and anticipatory joy.

A circle is formed only when the beginning point and the end point come together. Today, the first Sunday of Advent is an invitation to look at the end point and what it will look like when the circle of our lives is complete.

Fr. Michael McCullagh, C.M.

3rd December 2007