The Lord Is Close to the Brokenhearted: Five Years of Encouragement at Blue Christmas Masses

The Blue Christmas Mass is a tradition begun in 2011 at Our Lady of the Woods Chapel by Fr. Ronald Knott, chaplain at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky. It was the result of an article he wrote for The Record which noted that for many the Christmas season can be more depressing than uplifting. "Not everybody finds this time of year to be a happy time. People lose relatives, parents lose children. For a lot of people there is a great deal of sadness. Some people, because of their personal experiences, just dread the arrival of the holidays. Then they go to Midnight Mass and that kind of rubs it in. The Blue Christmas Mass is more meditative and reflective. It is not festive, there are no trumpets playing Joy to the World." This book is a collection of Fr. Knott's homilies given at the past five Blue Christmas Masses. He offers them as a comfort to those who find Christmas a painful time.