Christ the King 2020 Edition

This weekend is the feast of Christ the King AKA the last week of the liturgical year. 

We somehow made it through 2020, y'all. 

As has become custom for me at this time of year, I like to do an annual round up of my year and we all know that 2020 was a doozey. 

But in many ways, this year was one of my most full and productive, surprisingly. Just like the years about a decade ago that I thought would be terrible because of the endless weddings or vocation woes or jobs that I just tolerated, God brought joy and goodness from those periods of suffering. This year's suffering has been on a much larger scale, of course, but I have seen goodness and change flourish and emerge, despite the hardships. 

To be a Scripture nerd for a second, during the time of the Babylonian Exile- a period where the Jews were being invaded and captured by Babylon which was a time of great turmoil for the Jews- they produced some of their most beautiful poetry and psalms and grew closer to their Jewish faith and their God. It is recorded in the Wisdom and Prophetic sections of the Old Testament. 

While this year of 2020 will go down as one of the strangest in our history, it also produced many movements and work that will hopefully carry through to make change in this decade to come. 

Here are some of my highlights:

We started the year so optimistically...roaring 20s indeed!

January and February were "normal" with trips to VA beach and Texas with friends. 

The last flight I took  the weekend that the world shut down. Clearly, there was no one on it. 

Week 1 of remote learning and not the last.

Attending Palm Sunday (and all Masses from March-June) from home.

Birthday 2020...and pretty much how the rest of 2020 looked from Zoom.

Finally getting to bust out of the upper room and get to the beach with a couple of friends. 

Black Lives Matter protests in Richmond- summer 2020

Mini-road trips to DC around VA in the summer...

I became a part of so many projects! Virtual Retreats for Liturgy Training Publications and starting my own podcast to name two!

Oh! And I moved to a new neighborhood and a new apt!

Going back to school in person and more local getaways distanced with friends. 

Halloween was much smaller this year, but still fun with some of my core people...and we didn't get to celebrate my dad's 70th as we had originally planned, but I still got to drive to Ohio to be with family.

Oh, and we got a new president after a historic election!

Honestly, the year was strange and isolating at times, of course, but a lot of good things were produced as well. I know that we have all experienced this year differently and I continue to pray for our health and our country. This year was a lot, but we learned and grew a lot. I've learned more than ever that we can only plan so much. I have no idea what to expect in 2021, but I hope to continue a lot of the growth that was started this year. 

Peace,

Julia