On behalf of Father Aristotle, Father Mauro, Mrs. Edwards, and all the dedicated the folks who keep our church and school running so beautifully, may God grant you a joyous, blessed, and faith-filled Christmas! We thank God that He so loved the world that He gave us His Son nearly 2000 years ago!
Today, as we look back at our Savior’s birth and look forward to His return, we might consider how wonderfully disruptive that first Christmas was. Nothing about the Christmas story is normal, natural, or expected. The incarnation completely upended Mary’s and Joseph’s quiet lives and forced them to give up all that they had planned. The angels told the shepherds to go on a journey that they were not planning. An “unexpected” Messiah and a “new” covenant challenged many of the rules and practices of the “chosen people” and their leaders. Since Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Christmas has continued to turn people’s worlds upside down.
As we celebrate Christmas in today’s world, we are also disrupted, not so much by the birth of our Lord, but by the “earthly” priorities of the season. We are consumed with decorating, card sending, shopping, wrapping, entertaining, traveling, cooking, baking, eating, and drinking. As we strive to meet the expectations and priorities of this world, we often fail to take the time to recognize our Lord's presence.
The shepherds, on the other hand, were open to the mysterious and exciting message of the angels that, “today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.” They could have easily said that they were too busy minding their sheep to go off on an adventure searching for a newborn infant. Yet, they dropped everything and headed to Bethlehem. Are we willing to drop everything to follow Jesus and to face the disruption that occurs when we make Jesus our priority?
The great gift of Christmas – Jesus Christ – has been causing disruption since He was born in that stable nearly 2000 years ago. This Christmas, long after the tree is down, the relatives have returned home, and the cookies are gone, the joy of the season will remain in us if we allow the infant Jesus to disrupt our lives and we make Him our priority.
Fr. Mike
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