As We Prepare for Christmas...

by Fr. Tom Collins

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, it is helpful to note that the tendency of our secularized age to marginalize or even eliminate Him from the celebration of Christmas is nothing new. In Bethlehem, He was marginalized and consigned with Mary and Joseph
to a cold and crude stable the night of His birth. And King Herod sought to have Him killed. And Jesus, Mary and Joseph ended up as refugees in Egypt.

As we prepare to celebrate the Birth of the Christ Child, we should keep in mind that He reveals Himself as He really is to the pure of heart (e.g., Mary and Joseph), to the vigilant (e.g., the shepherds carefully watching over their sheep), and to those sojourning as humble pilgrims seeking the integrity and splendor of truth (e.g., the Magi). 

May these attitudes become more deeply infused into our lives and relationships over the coming days, so that the light of Christ may radiate more gloriously from our hearts and homes, so as to
draw more souls into a sanctifying fellowship with the redemptive humility of God, revealed to us in the Christ Child. 

Have a blessed and joyous Christmas!