Merry Christmas

I am sometimes called to hospitals in the middle of the night. It is something I respond to with great haste and humility though I am never sure what will await me. No matter the situation, it is always a profound privilege and blessing to meet people in times of need. They are a gift to me as well.

A few weeks ago I arrived to baptize a newborn child at risk of dying. His mother, weak from the delivery, and still in her bed, asked that her bed be wheeled directly into the intensive care unit so she could be close to her newborn son and present for his baptism. Once her bed was positioned closer to his incubator, she sat up and reached into the incubator and took his hand in hers as we prayed and celebrated his baptism. I was struck by the peace and serenity on her face as she tenderly looked into his eyes and studied his every move. The nurses also paused and joined in prayer for this tiny child, only one hour old and yet already making a difference in the world. He had managed to touch our hearts and to challenge our faith. His mother seemed to be pondering not only her new child but the meaning of her own life now that he had entered it.

A newborn child is always something to behold, a marvel of creation, a miracle, an experience to treasure and a great mystery. This mystery often draws us closer to God as we contemplate the meaning of our lives as well. Each life is indeed a miracle and demands to be pondered in the context of our relationship with God and one another.

As we come to another celebration of Christmas, we are once again challenged by the birth of a Child at Bethlehem. The miracle of God entering the world as a child is not inseparable from who we are and why we have been created as well. In this mystery of love, we find we are definitely linked together with Christ in God's divine plan and purpose for the world that began on that first Christmas night.

Christmas is here again and many come to hear the Good News. Not long ago, I recall hearing a story about how much Pope John Paul II particularly loved celebrating Christmas Mass. As a young priest and bishop in Poland, during times the local church was being persecuted, he would sometimes even preach outside the cathedral in the open air, in part to ensure the message of Christmas was proclaimed boldly. He encouraged the people to never stop pondering the meaning of their lives within the context of the Child-Jesus at Bethlehem. One particular homily offered the following thoughts with respect to how we might approach the meaning of Christmas:

“Like those who came first, we come to contemplate and to bow down and acknowledge God in the mystery of the Incarnation; and when we come we find ourselves. Contemporary people in this last quarter of the twentieth century, whose human dignity has been ignored and infringed in so many ways, come to Christ's stable in Bethlehem to ask who they are and what they are in the world, bringing with them their existential anxiety. And when they come to Bethlehem, like each of us they find the reply in the manger on the straw. "I have given them power to become children of God." This small, weak infant, who was born and forced to stay outside the town in a stable, has given this power and he still gives it to us who live in the twentieth century and whose dignity and essence have been so compromised that we no longer really understand that we were made in the image and likeness of God. However, this truth alone gives mystery to our human existence, and only in this truth do we find the answer to the question of who we are and why we are alive.” (Fr. Karol Wojtyla, Wawel Cathedral, 25 December 1976).

As we celebrate this wonderful season of Christmas, may it inspire your faith, provide you hope, and bring you closer to God. I offer particular thanks to all who helped us prepare our chapel and liturgies for the Christmas celebrations. Let us remember to keep one another in prayer.

— Fr. Pat