As we celebrate
Christmas 2019 it is with gratitude that we can reflect blessings received
since last Christmas. This is the case, when we have suffered loss, hardship or
illness in our own lives, because “Jesus” (Heb. “the one who saves”) is also
“Emmanuel” (Heb. “God with us”). He shares our joys and hopes, our anguish and
sorrows. By becoming one of us Jesus gave us the possibility of knowing a God
who, led by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call “Abba! Father!” (Rm 8: 15) We are,
also, invited to share in the divine
life and its mission of salvation: “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you,
may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as
we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so
that the world may know that you have sent me and have love them even as you
have love me.” (Jn 17: 21-23)
This annual
celebration builds on memories of previous years. We are mindful of the
relationships that have formed us and this motivates us to be our best selves with
others. We welcome the messenger of peace and ask that his gift of peace,
offered to us after the resurrection, be in our hearts, our families and our
world: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who
announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to
Zion, ‘Your God reigns’.” (Is. 52: 7) If we cannot exult in our own deeds we
can still rejoice in the Lord because our future is guaranteed in Christ Jesus:
“For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of
their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.” (Is 9: 4)
The challenge
for all Christians today is to go forth as “missionary disciples.” That is, to
encounter Christ and to make him known. We do not seek to impose our beliefs on
others. Rather, having had our lives transformed we wish others to share in the
joy of knowing Jesus Christ: “For the love of Christ urges us on, because we
are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died
for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for
him who died and was raised for them.” (2 Cor 5: 14-15) The joy and love we
experience in Christ opens us to dialogue with others so as to share this Good
News. This gift holds out the promise of the wonderful liberation of God’s saving
love to all. Our society struggles with loneliness, addiction and mental
illness – surely, it remains in need of such love!
The Christ child
did not stay as an infant in the crib. Likewise, we should not remain as
infants in faith content to be fed with milk and not solid food (cf. 1 Cor 3:
1-3). Christ is also for us Jesus of Nazareth who went about healing and doing
good. None of us will experience the “perfect Christmas” but we can encounter
the mercy and love of God that makes us whole: “Those who are well have no need
of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous
but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5: 31-32) If we are yet to encounter and
experience Christ in our own lives, in this way, let us open our hearts to him
this Christmas so that we can say: “Were not our hearts burning within us while
he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”
(Luke 24: 32)
I wish you all a
happy and holy Christmas and a peaceful New Year. Fr Marcus Francis
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