Merry Christmas!
On Christmas we celebrate the Love of God who comes down from the highest heaven to make his home with us here on earth.
The Child, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid tenderly in a manger by his mother, is the Love who created the universe, the Love who created each one of us, and the Love who still moves the sun and moon and sustains everything that lives and has breath.
Jesus is born in the dark night, in the poverty of a stable, to a poor mother and her husband. The only ones who know are the simple shepherds out in the fields who hear the angels singing high above in the heavens.
This is more than an ancient story that we remember once a year. It’s a story that you and I are now a part of.
Christmas is the feast of divine love! The Christmas mystery is the mystery of God’s love for you and me, and for every person.
God who is Love comes down to us in all humility, exchanging his divinity for a share in our humanity.
Jesus comes, just as the prophet Isaiah promised he would, like “a great light” breaking into this “land of gloom.” He comes to light our path through this world of darkness.
And in his glorious light we see our life’s true worth. We see why we are here, and who we are made to be!
You are precious to God! That is the meaning of this holy day. Love came down from heaven for you.
Jesus takes on our likeness so that he can be near to us in our hopes and dreams, in our joys and sorrows. He takes on our likeness, so that we can become like him.
Jesus is born a child of Mary, so that we can be born again as children of God.
This is what Christmas discloses: that God desires you to become his beloved sons and daughters. We should let that truth fill our lives.
This wondrous God, whom the prophet called “Father-Forever,” loves you with a love that is beyond all telling, a love that begins in his own heart and calls you to a love that will never end in heaven.
We need to take the spirit of Christmas into our hearts, and accept the beautiful gift of our Savior’s love.
The first Christians used to say, “We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.”
We too need to know and believe in God’s love for us. He loves the world so much, he loves you and me so much, that he sent his only Son to save us from our sins and free us from death.
Jesus made his whole life a gift, an offering of his love for you. On Christmas day, he is born for you and is laid in a manger. But when he is grown, he will lay down his life for you on a cross.
He comes to live and die and rise so that we might have a new life through him. This is how much your life is worth to God.
And this wondrous love asks for an answer from us.
We all have things in our lives that we regret, the bitter fruits of selfishness, sin, and weakness. God knows our limitations. But Love has come down for us, and now the darkness is passing away, the true light is already shining, showing us the way forward.
“For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us,” the prophet said. In the Child we meet in the manger, our sins are forgiven, every burden of the past is lifted.
If we believe in his love, if we follow in his footsteps, he will give us the power to become children of God, to live and love with joy!
My Christmas wish is that you will know and believe in God’s love for you!
Like the shepherds, let us hasten to the manger to welcome the Child with reverence and thanksgiving.
One of the saints used to greet the morning this way: “Blessed be this new day, which is Christmas for the earth, since Jesus wants to live it in me again.”
Jesus wants to be born in your heart and mine, just as he was born of Mary. Through you and through me, he wants to meet the people of our time, to love them and serve them and save them. Love comes down from heaven so that we can love and be loved.
Pray for me and I will pray for you.
And in this holy season, surrounded by the light of Love, let us ask the Virgin Mary to help her Son to be born in all of us once again.
