Christmas Message

" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and thenWord was God. He [Jesus] was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through Him [God], and without Him, nothing came to be. What came to be through Him was life, and this life was the light of the human race: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. . . .The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through Him, but the world did not know Him. He came to what was His own, but His own people did not accept Him. But to those who did accept Him, He gave the power to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name . . . And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we saw His Glory, the Glory of the Father's only Son, full of grace and Truth.  -- [John 1:1-18].


Sometimes, as blind human beings, we wonder where Jesus came from? We understand that Jesus was part- human, part- Divine. We celebrate Jesus' birth at Christmastime. And we celebrate His return to His Father at His Easter Resurrection.

We forget, however, that Jesus was there all along, "in the beginning" with God, even all the way back to Creation.

This is clearly the meaning of " As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end."

Each year, as we enter the Christmas season, and as the current year wanes, we human beings -- blind and frail -- often fear that the world is coming to an end. Recently, a friend said to me, "I no longer recognize our world today."

We debate whether today's persecution of Christians is worse than it was, than even in the early days of the Church. Pope Francis himself has stated that today's persecutions are far worse than in Biblical times. The Knights of Columbus this year successfully lobbied to designate current Christian persecutions as a "genocide".

Despite the birth, at this time of year, of "the Light of the human race", are we really plunged into darkness?

What I have to focus on these days is that "the light shines in the darkness", and, "the darkness has not overcome it." And, if anyone speaks against the Source of this Light, then perhaps it is because "the world did not know Him."

I see around me plenty of  people who misperceive Christianity. Public figures who say that the Christian "backward" thinking must be abolished and that we Christians must be "re-educated". ["Deep-seated religious beliefs have to be changed."]

I have come to the point where I am not sure if the phrase "Catholic haters" means "Catholics who hate", or "people who hate Catholics".

If people want to deconstruct and denigrate Christianity, the least they can do is to get it right.

 I  dream of a day when the whole world understands that Christianity is all about Love, not hate. . . when we realize that the First Commandment is to love one's neighbor as oneself. And that violent actions in the name of Religion, do not arise from God; because War is not Love.

I dream of a day when we truly live out the Scriptural admonition that "there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, but Christ is in all of us."  People who misunderstand Christianity see only division. But Christians have always understood that human unity, in, with and through God, is what we work so hard, our whole lives, to achieve.

I dream of a day when, as Pope Francis said, we Christians are not engaged in those gotcha moments, when we gloat in catching another's transgressions. Christians believe that we need to "first take the plank our of our own eye, as we fail to see the speck in our brother's eye." -[Mt. 7:5].

I dream of a day when the world sees that, as Mother Teresa said, "God has not called me to be successful. He has called me to be faithful."  The lure of this world's extravagant riches is, to a Christian, worthless and even, disgusting. We need wealth to live, we do not need to live for wealth.

I dream of a day when the world understands that Christians are not "status quo" but actually anti-establishment -- seeking Peace where there is war; ministering to the poor, when the world seems to idolize wealth; working to end divisions, rather than conspiring to multiply them; worshipping God and His Plan, rather than worshipping human celebrity.

I pray that in our world today, the Logos (the Word), the Wisdom, the Prince of Peace, our Wise Counselor,  the Son of Man, the Lamb of God, the Light of the World, and our Teacher may truly come to save us all.

[Related Posting: "Myths About Christianity", 11/15/16; "Got Faith?", 11/28/12].

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