Christmas message:
We can live as people of hope

		Notes from the  Vicar General  Msgr. Paul J. Swain

The frantic pace of these pre-Christmas days can get to us. Christmas cards are coming in and I have not started mine. Gifts are arriving and I have not yet darkened the aisle of a store.

These are little things. There are many people who have real worries and significant needs for whom these days are difficult.

There are those with memories of loved ones, now gone, with whom Christmases past were shared. There are those with memories of traditions which age or sickness now make impossible. There are those with dreams of all the things they would like to do, but because of financial or personal reasons they cannot.

In this time of frenzied activity, of parties and decorations, and of sadness and loneliness, it is important to take the time to prepare ourselves spiritually. That is one of the purposes of Advent, to recall what the message of Christmas really is.

Thank God for good choices

As we experience the challenges in the Church these days, that message can bring perspective and hope. The extraordinary resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law in Boston is a source of sadness.

Certainly there is the sadness experienced by the victims of the horror of sexual abuse. There also is sadness for a dedicated churchman who has been a leader for justice and peace in so many ways, especially for the immigrant and the poor.

Cardinal Law played a role in my becoming a priest. I attended a seminary operated by the Archdiocese of Boston for second career candidates, Blessed John XXIII National Seminary. At the time, most other seminaries would not accept older candidates like me.

In my first year of studies, Cardinal Law was advised to close the seminary because it was a drain on archdiocesan finances. He appointed a committee many cynically thought was a set-up. It was not. The committee, after meeting with the seminarians ages 30 - 60, some widowers, from all walks of life and from all over the country, became convinced of the unique value of the seminary.

Cardinal Law saved the seminary and became personally involved to help strengthen it. It flourishes today, with two seminarians from our diocese. Because of his decision, we will have three priests we might not otherwise, including me.

Own up to poor ones

That is not to excuse, or to minimize the pain of victims. It is to say that we all make choices in life. Some turn out well; some do not. May we rejoice with thanksgiving to God for our good ones. May we own up to and seek forgiveness for our poor ones, from which can come healing and reconciliation.

Christmas is about love, the love of God for us despite our human frailty. It is a love so great that God sent his Son to be one with us. He came to live among us, to show us the way in word and deed.

It is a love so great that he died for us sinners. His Resurrection gives us hope in times of controversy and division, loneliness and sadness. Jesus came to us in a makeshift nursery among straw and animals that we might have hope.

Trusting in Him, whose Church it is, and whose disciples we are, we can maintain perspective and live as people of hope, amidst the frantic pace. Merry Christmas.

Christ's message of peace:
Proclaiming it in mission lands

		Propagation  of the Faith  Msgr. Delbert  Schmelzer

"You shine on those who sit in darkness and death's shadow, and guide our feet into the path of peace." (Luke 1:79).

More than a year has passed since the people of the United States experienced that attack on the World Trade Center and on other parts of our nation.

In that time, we have also dealt with sniper attacks in the area around Washington, D.C., terrorist cells right within our own country, anthrax scares, and constant terror alert updates.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, we face the threat of war with Iraq and learn of North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons.

Understanding grows

Through all of this, many of us have now come to understand, possibly for the first time, what millions of people in developing nations - in the missions - endure for their lifetime.

We think, for example, of Sudan. A decades-long civil war in that African nation has left thousands dead and many more wounded. Families have been shattered as parents are killed and children are forced to face life alone - even at Christmas.

Missionaries bring light

But there is light in the darkness of Sudan and in many other countries because of the Catholic Church's missionaries.

In Sudan, sisters from neighboring Uganda bring help and hope that comes from knowing the love of Jesus to families and to children.

"We brought all we have to serve the poor here," explains Sr. Rita. Adds Sr. Domenica, "Pray for us - and pray for peace."

In the Diocese of Wau in Sudan there is suffering from the ongoing war. With the government making the law of Islam the law of the land, religious freedom has been seriously curtailed.

At various times, missionaries have been expelled from serving the poor, especially in southern Sudan. "The people can't really go outside the parish grounds because it is too dangerous," Bishop Deng explained. "They can't even farm the land."

Strength from faith

But Bishop Deng remains optimistic - focused always on the hope and the peace of Jesus Christ. "If this is what God wants for us at this time, this is what will be," he said, adding that he has always thought of the time when there would be peace.

In the meantime, the Catholics of Wau and their bishop draw strength from their faith. "We cannot go forward without prayer and the Eucharist," he explained.

Many conversions

Even with the suffering, they are welcoming many to the faith as conversions to Christianity increase in this troubled land.

Seminary enrollment is on the rise. "By the grace of God we have 25 new seminarians and many young women preparing to become religious sisters," Bishop Deng reports.

Help from the Society of the Propagation of the Faith supports those seminarians and religious novices and also helps with catechetical programs - teaching others about Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

Support missions

This Christmas, won't you give a gift, through the Propagation of the Faith, to Sisters Rita and Domenica, to Bishop Deng in Sudan? By supporting their work and witness you will in fact be making a difference - bringing Christ's light to the darkness - for the suffering poor of the missions.

This Christmas, let us join in prayer with Catholics worldwide in gratitude for the greatest of his gifts to us, his son. We also ask the Lord to keep us in his care and to offer his light - and his peace - to a world so in need of him.

Thank you and may the Lord grant you and those you love many blessings at Christmas.

Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer is director of the Propagation of the Faith for the Diocese of Madison. Contributions to the Propagation of the Faith may be sent to: P.O. Box 44983, Madison, WI 53744-4983.

Christmas graces us:
To share Christ's love and peace

	Guest commentary  Fr. Don Lange

When I was a freshman in high school, my youngest brother was born and his angelic presence made every day seem like Christmas.

As I gazed at his tiny exquisitely formed and hands and feet, fresh from God, his infant innocence reminded me of the Christ child. His presence of love inspired me nobly to want him to grow up to make the world a better place by touching it with his unique gift of Jesus' love and peace. And he did!

Great gift of love

Surely, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds responded with an even greater awe and reverence as they gazed at the Christ child on that first Christmas. For Christ was the Father's great gift of love to us.

In John 3:16 Scripture tells us that "Yes, God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not die but may have Eternal Life!" As St. Augustine wrote, "God became man so that man might become God!"

Receive Christ

To celebrate Christmas, we must receive Christ into the crib of our heart so that through the Holy Spirit, he can grace us to give God's love to others as he did. For Christmas is the season of giving. We can give Jesus' love to others in many ways.

Give Christmas love

Since Christmas bring families together, we can respond to God's great gift of Christmas love by worshipping as a family and thanking God for the blessing of family, friends, and the gift of Jesus. We can offer the gift of quality time and make ourselves more present to the presence of God in the Mass or in our family.

The love of Christmas can inspire us to write, call, or pray for a forgotten, wounded, or lonely person. It can also move us to do a loving deed in the parish, family, or place of work.

One family whom I know gives their aged mother a calendar on which they write visits, telephone calls, or other acts of love they promise to share. This helps their good intentions to become "flesh."

Take children to crib

Parents can give their children a priceless gift too when they take their children to the crib. They can tell them the Good News that the Christ child was born to bring peace to our families and to the human family.

For each child has a unique chance to receive and touch the world with Christ's peace and love. Christmas invites us to show our children and others that the peace and love of Jesus can be enfleshed in these and other ways.

Enrich the world

May our Christmas be filled with the joyful love of Mary and Joseph and the angel's joyous song of peace. May we receive the peace and love of Jesus in the crib of our heart so that during the coming year we can enrich the world with touches of Christmas peace and love!

Fr. Don Lange is pastor of St. Bridget Parish, Ridgeway, and of Immaculate Conception Parish, Barneveld.

Experience Christmas ever new:
Gaining an appreciation for life

		Grand Mom  Audrey  Mettel Fixmer

I picked up a story on the Internet this morning. It told about a Christmas program put on by a kindergarten class.

Each of the children was given a large letter to spell out the words Christmas Love. The little girl holding the letter M, however, held it upside down with great pride, totally unaware that it appeared as a W.

This brought a great many chuckles from the parents and older children, right up until the final letter was in place. That's when a stunned silence greeted the new message: CHRIST WAS LOVE.

That is the true message of Christmas we have learned over and over. It continues to amaze me how something as old as Christmas seems fresh and new every year.

Finding new meaning

Each year that we live and grow we find new meaning in the birth of Christ. We go from early childhood, where Christmas is all about receiving, to adolescence, where we begin to discover the joy of giving. It is in the bigger, life-altering moments, however, that we are really hit with profound insights.

How clearly I remember the first Christmas that I had become a mother. Our son, Rob, was born on Nov. 25, so motherhood, with all its pain and joy, was a fresh, new experience.

The entire manger scene took on a richer color and meaning for me. I marveled that Mary could have pulled this off in a stable without all the sanitary conditions I had enjoyed. I felt privileged to share in her experience.

So it was with each new change that life brought: establishing our own home, instructing our children in the true meaning of Christmas with Advent wreaths, manger scenes, and carols. Then becoming grandparents and the tradition of the grandchildren gathering around as Bob read aloud the birth narrative from the Bible.

Despite all the chaos of preparations and shopping and Christmas programs, we did our best to keep Christ in Christmas.

Appreciation of life

This year, once again, our Christmas will take on new meaning as we deal with our own mortality. Just a few days ago I was released from University Hospital with a repaired heart and a renewed appreciation of life.

Right up until Nov. 26, the date I was scheduled for my angiogram, I had insisted on postponing the exam. After all, it was two days before Thanksgiving, and I was planning to serve 25 guests! And anyway, I was perfectly healthy!

My family would not allow me to put it off, so I reluctantly agreed, providing I would be home that same day. When, in my half-doped state I heard the cardiologist say, "Looks like we have 75 percent blockage in one large artery, and 90 percent in this little branch. We'll have to do an angioplasty, and insert a stent to hold that open."

"Mhmm," I said, "When?"

"Right now," he said.

"Does that mean I won't get home today? I have 25 guests coming for Thanksgiving!"

"Right. And you will be alive to see them," he said.

Loving care of family

Thanksgiving went smoothly in the capable hands of my daughters, who allowed me to merely preside over the preparation of the stuffing from a chair in the kitchen. The loving care from my family was the finest gift I could imagine.

Although the doctor had explained that I might suffer a minor heart attack because they had been unable to get the catheter to turn the right angle corner into the small branch, which was 90 percent occluded, I was hardly prepared for awaking at 1:45 a.m. Saturday morning with a truck on my chest.

This was it! The heart attack I feared I might not recognize. I recognized it.

Like a Hollywood drama

The scenes that followed held all the drama of a Hollywood thriller. Bob called 911, and he no sooner unlocked the front door when a police officer was at my bedside, holding my hand and saying comforting words. Within the next few minutes, the ambulance arrived and the paramedics set to work moving me out.

My prayers were not the usual ones; I made up my own. They were like, "Lord, I don't want to die! Do you hear me? Pay attention! I want to go to Hawaii! I've got a lot more work to do."

As they carried me out into the night air, I was aware of the flashing lights on the police car and ambulance and the succession of family cars arriving.

I thought how wonderful to know help and care were so close, and I was most grateful for the morphine drip that the paramedics started in my arm before we even pulled out of the driveway!

I was taken first to the local hospital, but prepared to be transported by helicopter back to University Hospital. The news that the ensuing snowstorm prohibited flight merely added to the drama. They sent another ambulance instead.

Endless flow of love

The five days I spent in the ICU I recall as a wonderful tribute to the health care we enjoy today. The calls, visits, cards, and flowers seemed an endless flow of love. No doubt about it, I was carried along by the prayers of my family, friends, priests, and my entire parish.

This Christmas, I am living proof of that kindergarten message: CHRIST WAS LOVE. And still is!

Merry Christmas!

"Grandmom" likes hearing from other senior citizens who enjoy aging at P.O. Box 216, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538.