The Light Shines In The Darkness

Mara Lee: In Newtown on Christmas Day, love and grief were mingled. At St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, hundreds of families filed into Mass, white-haired couples, a little girl with sparkly pink shoes holding her father's hand, teens with their heads bowed as they texted the last few lines before entering unter the banner that read:

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5

"We have not only witnessed one of the greatest tragedies in the world, but we as a community are called to do what we can to move forward," Monsignor Bob Weiss wrote in his Christmas message. "I have been asked so often how do we celebrate Christmas this year."

Frank Skrelja, who attended Mass at St. Rose, found the holy day both painful and a balm to his spirit.

"We celebrate the birth of a baby," Skrelja said, and that reminds him of the 20 first-graders murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School just 11 days earlier. "They were babies." He thinks of how their parents struggled on this first Christmas without them. "There's really no words."