Although still in a pandemic, some are quite relieved to see 2020 pass. Perhaps 2021 will be better. No matter how we feel about putting up a new calendar and bidding farewell to the old one, we need to remember that 2020 was a year of the Lord, a year of grace, even if we did not perceive it as such.

In a New Year’s Eve sermon, Karl Rahner wrote: “We can take leave of this year gratefully and entrust it to the grace and love of God, the love of the God who is eternity and who preserves for us for our eternity what we are taking our leave of today and tomorrow. What we give in gratitude, God receives in grace, and what is so accepted by him, is redeemed and made holy, blessed and set free.”