I'd like to read to you Archbishop Benjamin's
Christmas letter to the diocese. A few introductory
comments first. We rejoice when a child is born.
I remember each time when my children were born.
Of course, there was no, we were talking about
this yesterday, leave for fathers, paternal leave.
I went straight to work. These births always
happen in the middle of the night, and one is
exhausted, but you return to work with a different
mind, a different approach, an energy that just
keeps you going until you completely crash, but
it's because of joy. I'm looking forward to more
births. But today we celebrate a birth completely
like ours in that Jesus was born from a mother
and he became a human. He became a man like unto
us in all things except for one, the sickness
of sin. In another way, completely unlike us
in that he had no earthly father. His father
is the father. the Almighty God, and we call
Jesus the Son of God. And he has all the power,
all the glory, all the honor, all the holiness
of his Father. And St. Paul tries to point this
out to us. He says in the fullness of time, God's
Son was born in a certain day, a certain time,
a certain hour, a certain place in Bethlehem.
locating it in history. And after that, everything
changed. And St. Paul goes on to say he was born
of a mother, born under the law, that is the
Jewish law. And we, because we have been united
to Jesus in our baptism, he calls us sons. He's
speaking to men and women here. Because the son
is the one that has all... the prerogatives,
all the inheritance of the Father. You are all
sons. And he says, therefore, because of that,
short little epistle, but maybe you caught the
therefore. Live like sons. Live like Christ.
Here's what our bishop says. Once again, We gather
together at the cave to wonder at the mystery
of the pre -eternal Son of God coming into creation
as a little child. The earth opened wide its
mouth and received the one who filled its darkness
with light. We are called in our celebration
to open wide the caves of our heart. The Messiah
comes into the world in a rather matter -of -fact
way. by his mother giving birth, except for the
angels singing to the shepherds and the magi
being led by a star, nobody knew. Nobody came.
That reality is the reality that comes down to
us this day. The child we proclaim and celebrate
today can only be seen by those looking for him.
So we have this marvelous gospel, if I might
interject. Herod looking for wrong reasons because
he's threatened. The Magi looking because they're
led by divine inspiration. Let's never forget
that Christ takes the initiative and looks for
us. He comes to us and we search him then and
for his peace in our hearts. The child we proclaim
and celebrate today can only be seen by those
looking for him. As we ponder the cave, the child,
and the miracle of God made man, may we be found
looking for him. The Lord himself, quoting the
words of the prophet Isaiah in the Gospel of
Luke, says that he came to the world to proclaim
good news to the poor. To heal the brokenhearted.
To preach liberty to captives. To give sight
to the blind. To comfort all who mourn. This
season is so difficult in our contemporary culture.
Everything has screamed at us for months. Christmas
is coming. Get your shopping done. Be happy.
What's for Christmas dinner? And so on. Yet.
This season is also when suicides spike, when
broken families have no one to gather with. Seasonal
affective disorder afflicts many people. And
when we are dealing with COVID and threats of
lockdowns and quarantines, there are people hospitalized,
people dying, people lonely, not to mention those
hungry, homeless, and destitute. Some just want
to go home for Christmas. Some are afraid to
die. Some are afraid to open their own caves
to the child. Brothers and sisters, we have become
sons of God. And we have all the blessings of
the Son of God, which he has by nature. We've
been given them potential by grace. We have work
to do. The miracle is twofold. The child comes
into the world for the person that is poor. broken
-hearted, captive, blind, and mourning. That
person, of course, is me. Each of us has brokenness
in our lives that can only be healed by the child
being born in us and growing within us. But he
did not just come for each of us. He came to
become us. We can turn to him in our loneliness
and destitute condition because he is already
there waiting for us, broken, lonely, and destitute
himself. The cross is the revelation of that
and God's transformation for us. When we enter
into the child who has no form or beauty, as
Isaiah said, we ourselves are clothed with form
and beauty. My beloved flock, May the child come
into the world this day, heal every brokenness,
cure every ill, and give the form and beauty
of God himself to all who come to worship him
in this broken world. May the hope given to us
this day never fade away, no matter the difficulties
facing us. May the gift that is placed in our
hands this day always be received as the only
gift that matters. Christ is born. Amen.