One of my earliest Christmas memories is waking from a nap one afternoon and walking into the living room to see the Christmas tree for the first time, decorated and lit in all of its glory.
To my four-year-old stature, the tree looked immense, all glittering and colorful in the fading light of a late December day.
I remember being filled with awe and joy at the beauty of what I beheld.
When I ponder that memory, I think of the Scripture passage from Isaiah 9:2, which we read at Christmas Eve Mass: “A people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, light has arisen.”
The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ is the most beautiful fact of human history, as we behold God tenderly loving us through the advent of His Son.
The light of the Lord has burst into our world and the beauty of His radiance dazzles us with joy and awe, spiritual gifts of power and grace, of which my delight at the Christmas tree is a faint foreshadowing.
Celebrating Christmas
At Christmas, we celebrate the Word made flesh, God becomes man, the divine entering human history, the eternal passing into time, the infinite mystery made manifest, the invisible becoming visible, God coming to wrestle back His creation from the power of the Evil One, the Savior coming to the rescue of the lost, Jesus born in a manger.
He enters quietly, unobtrusively, unnoticed, powerless, and vulnerable, a tiny baby, looking like any other, and yet with an identity and destiny which would forever change the course of human events.
Days, years, and centuries have come and gone since the birth of Christ, empires and nations have risen and fallen, the grand sweep of history has molded and shaped the course of the world, billions of people have been born, lived, and died, and for those who do not know or believe in Christ, our lives on this planet may seem a random collision of events, a collection of experiences which we must give some meaning to or simply a nihilistic existence which fades into nothingness.
Power, wealth, comfort, and success may be temporary baubles which pacify a restless spirit facing the void, but all of it, all of the striving, the suffering, the seeking, the longing, the possessing, the satiation of desire ultimately mean nothing without faith in Jesus Christ.
The power of Christ
Because of Jesus, we know that history is moving toward its ultimate conclusion when all evil will be conquered and the Son will hand the Kingdom over to the Father.
Because of Christ, we know the power of divine forgiveness and the promise of eternal life.
Because of Christmas, we have become beloved children of God, with a mission to know, love, and serve the Lord in this life and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
In the Incarnation, God breaks into the world, in order to repair, restore and save all of us whom He made in His image and likeness.
In the resurrection, the Lord breaks out of the world, in order to create a path for us into the fullness of eternal life.
As the late Cardinal George put it, “If the earth is our mother, then the grave is our home and the world is a closed system turned in on itself. But if Christ is risen from the grave and the Church is our mother, then our destiny reaches beyond space and time, beyond what can be measured and controlled. And therein lies our hope.”
Because of Christ entering into time and space, our ultimate destiny lies beyond the limits of this world.
Somewhere on the other side of the stars lies the glory of Heaven, where all pilgrims have come home, the saints make merry, the Blessed Virgin smiles on her children, and the radiance of the Most Holy Trinity is the sleepless lamp of the new and eternal Jerusalem.
Our Catholic faith is the anchor that gives us the imperishable hope that, if we love and serve the Lord in this life with all of our strength and might, we too will live forever in that glorious place!
Heaven in our hearts
When a four-year-old gazes at a Christmas tree and really sees it for the first time, when we watch children open their gifts on Christmas morning, when we sit down with family and friends for a Yuletide feast, when ancient grievances are forgiven and fears laid aside, and most especially when we receive the Sacred Body of Christ in the Eucharist, and know our sins to be forgiven in Confession, Heaven pulses in our hearts and our souls are captured by these gracious hints of the glorious world which awaits us on the other side of history.
In the birth of Christ, God’s light has shone upon us and we are made radiant in its brilliance.
I would like to think that I was enraptured by that light when I woke up from my nap 55 years ago and was awed by the beauty of Christmas.
A blessed and glorious Christmas to all of you. May you know the love of Jesus and the promise of Heaven!