In stores across America, Christmas reds and greens have morphed into hearts and shamrocks. Easter pastels are beginning to appear on some shelves. Clearly, there’s something about us that makes it difficult to live in the present moment. Even the liturgical year propels us forward to the next thing.
Christmas continues every time we reach out to someone suffering; every time we welcome the stranger, accompany the sick, or feed the hungry. It continues when we choose to see Christ in the poorest among us.
Jesus entering the world as a little baby in need of everything is a sign of God’s solidarity with every person in need, longing for love and a helping hand, Pope Leo XIV said at Christmas morning Mass.
The question at Christmas is not about whether God will act for us. The babe born of Mary is the answer: God has given everything. The question is really about us. Will we receive Christ?
All four Gospels acclaim St. John the Baptist and set him apart from others. From before his birth, he was chosen by God to announce, baptize and identify Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah.
Each day is like Christmas when Christ is born anew in our heart, mind and will when we take on a Eucharistic pattern to our life.
For me, spending Christmas in Bethlehem is a way of standing in solidarity with the Christians who remain, holding onto their faith in the face of extraordinary challenges.
A Christmas creche conveys the “message of peace and love that Jesus left us,” the pope said Dec. 7 during a meeting with the artisans, volunteers and government representatives responsible for the Christmas decorations in the Paul VI Audience Hall and in St. Peter’s Square.
