Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel, Buon Natale, Frohe Weihnacten! A blessed and happy Christmas to each and every one.
During the holidays, families often watch classic movies, like the “Miracle on 34th Street.” I always find Christmas shopping challenging. Years ago, I went into Macy's on 34th Street in Manhattan and asked a saleswoman: I’d like to buy a gift for one of my brothers. What do you recommend? She took a flashy tie off the shelf.
I said: how much? The reply: $100. I hesitated: I would like to see something cheaper? She showed me another gift. I said: how much? That's only $75. I finally said: you don’t seem to understand. I want to see something cheap. And she handed me a mirror.
Seriously, every year we relive the wonderful Christmas story.
--A baby in a trough.
--A mother holding the child in her arms, as her husband Joseph stays near.
--Angels singing, and shepherds running over the hillside to tell the child they love him.
The Gospel according to John summed up this magnificent story in a single line: The Word became flesh.
That single line takes us back to the beginnings of the human family, in Genesis: man and woman walked with God, had friendship with God and one another. But somehow they lost that friendship, they fell from grace. Genesis describes very simply yet very powerfully that fall: they hid from God; one blamed the other.
But God did not leave us to ourselves. Remember the words of the prophet Isaiah: Can a mother forget her child? And even if she should, I will never forget you. And so continued the story of our salvation. In the midst of Israel’s triumphs and tragedies, fortunes and misfortunes, fidelities and infidelities to the covenant, God never reneged on his promises. And so the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
The word of God for the Christmas liturgies is like a prism through which is refracted the multiple facets of this great mystery of the Incarnation.
Isaiah proclaims glad tidings: the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Paul writes that the grace of God appeared in Jesus Christ who made us “heirs” to the promise of eternal life.
In the Gospel according to Luke, the Virgin Mary gave birth to her son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.
And the Gospel of John sums up the meaning of Christmas: the Word became flesh. That is God’s greatest gift to us.
Some of us may be stressed out from holiday activities, and wondering if a so-called “perfect gift” is really what someone needs or wants.
Marian Wright Edelman, a children’s advocate and author, got it right when she wrote that the best presents she received as a child were not wrapped in pretty boxes or found under the Christmas tree.
From her father, she received the gift of a love of reading. For him, books to improve the mind were more important than buying toys.
From her mother, young Marian received the gift of a passion for children’s rights. Her mother asked her to share her room with a child whose own parents weren’t able to care for the child – this was one of nearly a dozen foster brothers and sisters.
And from a neighbor, young Marian received the gift of courage not to be afraid when something important or good just had to be done.
Marian Edelman writes in her autobiography:
“I carry with me and treasure the lessons in life my parents and caring neighbors gave me throughout my childhood. And may these memories give me the strength to give a child a true gift – time spent with them, time spent sharing some of the great lives of mentors who have enriched, informed and helped shape my life.”
Yes, some gifts really can transform the lives of people: gifts of teaching, of listening and supporting, of sharing time and experiences, of compassion and forgiveness and affirmation and support. And this kind of gift-giving begins in our own families and workplaces and communities. Enduring gifts that we can always give to one another.
Now back to Christmas: the Word became flesh. That changed our destiny forever. Christmas means not simply God in Bethlehem centuries ago, but God within us. We carry within ourselves Emmanuel, God with us. How? By virtue of the life-giving waters of baptism.
We gather to proclaim the awesome Word of God, to celebrate the presence of the living Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity, in this liturgy. For we are by grace what Jesus Christ is by nature: sons and daughters of God, heirs to the kingdom of God.
And that great truth of our faith, God within us, ought to challenge us always to be a good-finder: looking for the good in ourselves, in other people, in every situation.
Look for the good in ourselves! Remember that magnificent hymn of the Virgin Mary: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. Because the mighty one has done great things for me. Mary rejoiced in the gifts God gave her, and so too should we rejoice in the gifts God has given us.
Look for the good in others! Someone wrote that people in many ways are like wild flowers. If you have ever studied a wildflower, you see the delicate veins; the fragile petals; the beautiful blossom. If you turn the flower to the sunlight, you discover its special symmetry. The wildflower has a beauty all its own. So do people.
And finally, look for good in all situations of life. When one door closes, another door inevitably opens if we pay close enough attention. \
And who is the ultimate good-finder. God so loved us that he became one of us.
Yes, Jesus had a unique relationship with God. He was one with God. A God-man. A healer, a teacher, a peacemaker. Think of all the people in the Gospels that Jesus met: the blind, the leper, the lame, the sinner, the forgotten. Jesus found goodness in all of them where many didn’t.
The promised Messiah has come, he is in our midst sacramentally and mystically, and he will come again in power and glory at the end-time.
Pray this Christmas season that the Lord will help those who doubt to find faith; those who despair to find hope; those who are weak to find courage; those who are sick to find health; those who are sad to find joy; and those who have died to find eternal life in God.
And here is our Christmas challenge:
What better season for wrongs to be righted;
and friends reunited; for new dreams to start….
What better season for mending and healing,
for saying and feeling what’s in the heart.
What better season for love to keep glowing,
for hope to start growing, for troubles to cease.
What better season for sharing and giving,
for once again living in joy and in peace!
