As we began our spiritual preparation for Christmas with the first weeks of Advent, we prayed these words in the preface before the eucharistic prayer:  “When he humbled himself to come among us he fulfilled the plan you formed long ago and opened for us the way to salvation.”  Throughout human history we have looked for and seen the result of those who were considered saviors and great leaders.  Some have been outstanding while others have done horrible damage to our fellow human beings.  Today is a celebration of the birth of the greatest savior who ever lived, Jesus Christ.  All during Advent we listened to the prophets proclaim hope to the people of Israel in exile, exile caused by their sinfulness and lack of awareness of their need for God.  Only Jesus opens the “way to salvation.”  He saves us from all that separates us from God and one another.  He did not come in pomp, circumstance and popular acclaim.  His birth was in a stable, a very humble place to be born.  The proclamation of his birth was spoken by angels to shepherds who came to see the child who was the source of this good news.  The Magi followed a star to find the Christ child and bowed down in homage and presented he who is the ultimate gift to all people, with their own gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  But the birth of Jesus was not good news for all people.  As far as Herod was concerned this child was a threat to his position and authority.  We know the horrible suffering and sorrow he caused with the death of the Holy Innocents.  As it was in the past, so it is today.  Many people are filled with true joy and gladness while others do not fully know or experience the importance of what Christmas celebrates for themselves personally or the history of the human race.

To truly appreciate what Christmas is all about we need to see our own personal need for salvation.  What is it I need to be saved from?  I need to be saved from the feeling of not being loved.  Love is a pure gift.  No one earns or deserves love.  Then it would not be love.  Certainly we do not earn, deserve, or command the love of God.  God did not come to overpower us with his love, but to radically transform us.  Experience has shown us that we are changed to the very core of our being by those who love us and those we love.  They become the center of our lives and are with us wherever we go.  To sacrifice for them and to give generously to them is a joy.  Christmas is our time to look at how God wants to be the very core and center of our being and how we are the center and core of who he is.  After all, he has created us in his own image.  He wants us to know he loves us exactly as we are at this very moment.  Jesus was not born into a world that eagerly accepted his presence.  His obscure birth is now known by countless people throughout the course of history.  Today we give thanks that we are part of those who know.  Even more, we give thanks that we are so loved by God.  His is the gentle, constant, compassionate, patient, life-giving love that saves us from the temptation to think we have lived in vain or that our life does not really make a difference.

Jesus brings us into the life of God and life with one another. His love is for all people.  To accept that love is to be grateful that all people are loved and to see them as loved by God.  The foundation of the peace Jesus came to bring is love - his love for us which leads us to love one another.  How can we not love those God loves and accept that same love from him.  His love is not exclusive, but inclusive.  Merry Christmas is more than a seasonal greeting.  It proclaims that the way to hope and peace has come into our world in Jesus and that we want to be part of that hope and peace.

Merry Christmas!

Father Walden