The celebration of Christmas is, for most people, very welcome each year. 

 

Each Christmas season there is a usual widespread and undeniable warmth of emotion among so many, along with a desire to be with family and friends that is all part of the run-up to Christmas Day. Even for those without faith or religious practice, the holiday is looked forward to as, in the words of the famous Christmas carol, “the most wonderful time of the year.” At the end of 2020, it seems to be even more anticipated than usual.

 

But after the year we have just been through, we should feel a call to a deeper reflection this Christmas. 

 

Many people feel like they are staggering to the end line of this year. We frequently hear in conversation and in the press about the desire to “get back to normal.” And in some ways that seems to be the way that many people are looking at the just-approved vaccines being made available. Take that injection and we can return to 2019.

 

But is that really enough to treat and cure that sense of unease, of something not right, that so many feel? We are so divided as a people, and sometimes even within the Church, that a greater healing is needed. Many find it difficult to look at the future with the same confidence and sense of purpose that we have had in the past.

 

That is why this year, Christmas is even more needed than in a long time. Specifically, the story and message of Christmas tell us who we are and why we are here. They give us a sense of purpose for our lives. Even more, they give us hope that cannot come from even the best of this life.

 

We are reminded by St. John that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life” (Jn 3:16). 

 

Our celebration of Christmas is not simply recalling a story. It is to remind us that the child in the manger was truly the Son of God.

 

In being born in Bethlehem, Jesus took on the fullness of our nature. He shared body and soul with us so that we might share in His divinity. 

 

Christmas showed that God’s love for us is not only real, it is deeply personal. Every person, every baby, every elderly man and woman at the end of life — all of us — share something with Christ because of what took place at Christmas.

 

Still, the hope that flows from Christmas goes even further. The birth of Jesus is His real entrance into our life and our existence. But His coming will reach its full meaning in Jesus’ death on the cross three decades later. Then, as St. Paul tells us, “God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rm 5:8).

 

The birth of Jesus was not a reward for our goodness. That had already been lost by our sins. Rather, the birth of Jesus is an act of love that begins again God’s plan to free us from those sins.

 

This is the vision we need to turn to. This is the faith we need to take deeply to heart once more. Do we need to get back to what we consider normal? The story of Christmas tells us that God offers us so much more. That is what gives us a purpose to our lives.

 

A Blessed Christmas to one and all!