It’s tough to reconcile John Donne and Thomas Merton’s view that we live for others, with Simon and Garfunkel’s musical preference for uninvolved isolation. (Listen to the words; “I am a Rock” is not about monastic or cloistered life.)

The variety of social service agencies across the Rockford Diocese highlights the fact we all have limitations. Because not every agency can be good at everything, cooperative efforts arise as the various churches, United Way agencies and others that coordinate and unify rather than duplicate and divide.

St. Vincent de Paul Societies, Lutheran Social Services, Home of the Sparrow, Jewish Federation, and many more operate independently and yet cooperatively.

Christmas, too, is a unifying force, whether in the faith-filled reverence that focuses on the birth of Our Lord, or the 10-week long commercial season whose messages tell us what we and others don’t know we need but still must buy. (Before we gripe about Christmas ads too much, remember they keep the political ads at bay until after the holiday season is over.)

To those who say “Put Christ back in Christmas,” we say, “He never left.” In fact, He is here all year. At Christmas, He is the unifying force, even when only represented by his surrogate, Santa Claus.

Faith-based social service agencies also neatly coalesce around the Christmas story to heighten awareness about those in need. Can anyone really imagine celebrating an arbitrarily selected day in the fourth week of December without the joy and meaning of Christmas?

Whether it’s collecting and distributing toys or clothes, ringing a bell at a red kettle, attending midnight Mass, singing carols, or serving dinner at home or a shelter, Christ is there with us and has not left Christmas.

Catholic Charities is the grateful beneficiary of many holiday gifts. Generous hearts open up to us and the people we serve all year. But at Christmas, the giving and the receiving are special.

High school students step up to deliver food, meet families, wrap gifts, load and unload trucks. They learn about hidden communities that have regular needs, but who also want, indeed need, to give something to others.

Parishes hold giving-tree events; donors deliver gift cards and cash; shopping malls and family-owned stores trust that their generosity will place the material side of the Christmas spirit in the hands of those who need it.

It is the community, coalescing around Christmas with the poor and the marginalized, the prosperous and altruistic, that reminds us that no man is an island.

That’s why we sing “O Holy Night,” “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” and “Joy to the World.” No islands here, only people standing united to bring the fullness of giving to everyone who has a need to give or receive. For us, every day is a chance to celebrate Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all, and thank you, from your Catholic Charities.