Well, it's Christmas
again, another Christmas is upon us. Since October and November, we have seen
stores put up their special displays and begin their Christmas specials. We are
encouraged to buy, buy at every turn. Our children have to have the latest electronic
gadgets and adults the biggest television sets… Our lives seem to be on a
treadmill of rush, rush, rush and buy, buy, buy! We don't seem to have time for
conversation, slower dining room eating or just plain relaxing...
Emotionally,
too, many people place all their hopes on this one holiday. We have in our
minds an idealized version of a "perfect" family and
"perfect" relationships. We probably think that this one holiday can
make our lives so much happier, and perhaps this is not to be so, [I mean] the
joy and the effort to live a Christian life are for the entire year.
My brother, my
sister, Jesus is the reason for the
season and sadly our society and ourselves sometimes are focus on the wrong
things, material things, possessions, designer clothes. As Catholic though, we
have been preparing ourselves for this night through reflection, prayer and preparation
for the Christ Child, Today and tomorrow we must make an effort even greater
for keeping track of what's important: Jesus himself.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great
light,
we just hear at the first reading. What brought on the light in darkness? The
answer is easy: For to us a child is
born, to us a son is given.
If we place all
our hope in material things and fairy tale visions of a perfect Christmas
without Jesus, the Prince of Peace, we
will be really disappointed. Just look at the amazing images we're given in
today's readings: first there is the image of the deep darkness of ignorance[1].
Then we are given the image of the great light for an announcement[2]
and then the Luke's Gospel story with one of the most beautiful phrases in the
whole gospel: The glory of the Lord shone
around them. And suddenly there was
with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
"Glory to God in the highest[3].
This is the true
meaning of Christmas that God became a human being, that He took on human flesh
that night so he would live as one of us, be crucified and rise from the dead
to save us from our sins.
We say again and
again that Christ is the Light of the World, but is he really our Light? Do we reflect
his light and love in your lives?
My brother, my
sister, whether you come to church frequently or not and especially if you only
come on Christmas, pray for faith
tonight. Pray that the Christ Child may come into your heart, transform it
and give you a new life in Him. Pray for his Light to fill you with peace. Pray
for his Light to have you reconcile yourself with estranged relatives, friends
and neighbors.
When you receive
Christ in communion tonight, pray for his grace and strength to do whatever he
has called you to do. Pray this week that you may bring Christ's light and love
into other peoples' lives, that you may reconcile with those you have had differences,
that you may help someone through a difficult period in their lives or that you
may be a "non anxious" presence for those who worry constantly or are
distressed.
Whatever your
Christmas is like, Jesus understands it and you fill it with his presence.
There is no joy so great that Christ cannot raise it to greater heights, there
is no disappointment so bitter so profound that he cannot come into it with the
love he offers of eternal life and joy.
This is
Christmas, the celebration of the birth of hope and joy in the Savior who is
come and no one and nothing can stop. You are seeing and experiencing a great
light tonight, let it shine in your heart and free your passion to be a
Christian in a very broken world.
Merry or not at
Christmas we always get a present: Christ's presence where we really are, and
our hope of being where he is ■
