“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Those words are the heart of Christmas. Those words are the heart of the Gospel.
God’s Love for the world, born on Christmas morning, is the source of our joy, the source of our hope, the source of our peace. God’s love for the world. The message of Christmas is Jesus himself. The helpless innocent child, born in poverty in a cold manger, given to us so that we might have life. God became one of us to save all of us. We are saved by Love.
As I think back on Christmases past in my life – whether as a child or a teenager, as a young adult and professional, and now as a priest – I have a great sense of peace and joy and happiness. What brings me that joy is not the remembrance of a special gift I received. What gives me joy and peace is the great feeling of love I remember. Especially being surrounded by a family of love, which I thank God for every day because many do not have that experience. Something we are all too aware of.
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” God is with us in the flesh. In Jesus, he searches for us when we are lost. In Jesus, he raises us up when we fall. In Jesus, he weeps with us and heals our wounds. In Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and we have life. Saint John tells us again and again in Scripture that God is Love. Love is born for us. God’s Love is revealed not by the march of armies or the blaze of trumpets. God’s Love is revealed in the cry of a newborn infant. In a most innocent and vulnerable way.
In this Christmas season, we celebrate the arrival of God’s Love. The best way to celebrate Christmas is to love as God calls us to love. Genuine love takes the initiative. It forgets self and goes beyond itself and reaches out to others. The spark of God’s Love is given to us in Baptism, and the Holy Spirit allows us to cry out like the Apostle Paul, “it is not I who live, but Christ Jesus lives in me.” The vulnerable broken Jesus living in us calls us to reach out in love and service and sacrifice to the those around us, our family, our community and to the poor of our day.
Yes, God so loved the world, and we are called to share that Incarnational and Sacrificial Love with others. This is the love that inspired Francis of Assisi to live in poverty and to honor God’s creation. This is the love that inspired Martin de Porres to serve the poor and sick arriving on slave ships. This is the love that inspired Katharine Drexel to walk away from a family fortune to serve the Black and Native Americans who were so often neglected. This is the love that inspired Servant of God Julia Greeley, herself a victim of slavery, to pull her little red wagon around the back alleys of Denver to serve the poor of her town. This is the love that inspired Servant of God Augustus Tolton, himself rejected and hurt by the Church, to give his life in service to the Church. This is the love that inspired Dorothy Day to welcome the homeless. This is the love that inspired Abraham Lincoln to free us from the sin of slavery and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to peacefully march for freedom. It is love that comes into the world that inspires us to march for life, and to respect the rights of the undocumented living in our community. During this Christmas season, we are called to celebrate and live the love of Jesus.
On that First Christmas Morning, God’s Love bursts into the world through an Immaculate Birth, thanks to the “yes” of a teenage Jewish girl named Mary. Mary’s soul proclaimed the greatness of the Lord. And so should we. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” We proclaim God’s greatness by sharing that Christmas Love with others.
Father Vincent G. Guest is pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, Camden, and coordinator of the Black Catholic Apostolate and Racial Justice Commission.
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