Christmas 2021

I'd like to read to you Archbishop Benjamin's

Christmas letter to the diocese. A few introductory

comments first. We rejoice when a child is born.

I remember each time when my children were born.

Of course, there was no, we were talking about

this yesterday, leave for fathers, paternal leave.

I went straight to work. These births always

happen in the middle of the night, and one is

exhausted, but you return to work with a different

mind, a different approach, an energy that just

keeps you going until you completely crash, but

it's because of joy. I'm looking forward to more

births. But today we celebrate a birth completely

like ours in that Jesus was born from a mother

and he became a human. He became a man like unto

us in all things except for one, the sickness

of sin. In another way, completely unlike us

in that he had no earthly father. His father

is the father. the Almighty God, and we call

Jesus the Son of God. And he has all the power,

all the glory, all the honor, all the holiness

of his Father. And St. Paul tries to point this

out to us. He says in the fullness of time, God's

Son was born in a certain day, a certain time,

a certain hour, a certain place in Bethlehem.

locating it in history. And after that, everything

changed. And St. Paul goes on to say he was born

of a mother, born under the law, that is the

Jewish law. And we, because we have been united

to Jesus in our baptism, he calls us sons. He's

speaking to men and women here. Because the son

is the one that has all... the prerogatives,

all the inheritance of the Father. You are all

sons. And he says, therefore, because of that,

short little epistle, but maybe you caught the

therefore. Live like sons. Live like Christ.

Here's what our bishop says. Once again, We gather

together at the cave to wonder at the mystery

of the pre -eternal Son of God coming into creation

as a little child. The earth opened wide its

mouth and received the one who filled its darkness

with light. We are called in our celebration

to open wide the caves of our heart. The Messiah

comes into the world in a rather matter -of -fact

way. by his mother giving birth, except for the

angels singing to the shepherds and the magi

being led by a star, nobody knew. Nobody came.

That reality is the reality that comes down to

us this day. The child we proclaim and celebrate

today can only be seen by those looking for him.

So we have this marvelous gospel, if I might

interject. Herod looking for wrong reasons because

he's threatened. The Magi looking because they're

led by divine inspiration. Let's never forget

that Christ takes the initiative and looks for

us. He comes to us and we search him then and

for his peace in our hearts. The child we proclaim

and celebrate today can only be seen by those

looking for him. As we ponder the cave, the child,

and the miracle of God made man, may we be found

looking for him. The Lord himself, quoting the

words of the prophet Isaiah in the Gospel of

Luke, says that he came to the world to proclaim

good news to the poor. To heal the brokenhearted.

To preach liberty to captives. To give sight

to the blind. To comfort all who mourn. This

season is so difficult in our contemporary culture.

Everything has screamed at us for months. Christmas

is coming. Get your shopping done. Be happy.

What's for Christmas dinner? And so on. Yet.

This season is also when suicides spike, when

broken families have no one to gather with. Seasonal

affective disorder afflicts many people. And

when we are dealing with COVID and threats of

lockdowns and quarantines, there are people hospitalized,

people dying, people lonely, not to mention those

hungry, homeless, and destitute. Some just want

to go home for Christmas. Some are afraid to

die. Some are afraid to open their own caves

to the child. Brothers and sisters, we have become

sons of God. And we have all the blessings of

the Son of God, which he has by nature. We've

been given them potential by grace. We have work

to do. The miracle is twofold. The child comes

into the world for the person that is poor. broken

-hearted, captive, blind, and mourning. That

person, of course, is me. Each of us has brokenness

in our lives that can only be healed by the child

being born in us and growing within us. But he

did not just come for each of us. He came to

become us. We can turn to him in our loneliness

and destitute condition because he is already

there waiting for us, broken, lonely, and destitute

himself. The cross is the revelation of that

and God's transformation for us. When we enter

into the child who has no form or beauty, as

Isaiah said, we ourselves are clothed with form

and beauty. My beloved flock, May the child come

into the world this day, heal every brokenness,

cure every ill, and give the form and beauty

of God himself to all who come to worship him

in this broken world. May the hope given to us

this day never fade away, no matter the difficulties

facing us. May the gift that is placed in our

hands this day always be received as the only

gift that matters. Christ is born. Amen.