On behalf of Deacon Tony and the parish staff I wish everyone a very Blessed Christmas.

Christmas is a time of peace and love and joy and it’s also a time to remind ourselves to always be faithful to one another. How often have you told someone you promise you would do something for them? Today we not only celebrate the birth of Our Lord but we celebrate the fulfillment of a promise. What does it mean when you say I promise you to someone? How often have you made a promise and not followed through? I - promise - you - Three - very -  powerful - words. A promise is a binding declaration we need to honor or we lose all credibility - and our trust is lost. We read in Isaiah that God made a promise to our ancestors long ago to restore Jerusalem and to send us a savior. It was a declaration by God that our salvation would be restored. Today God fulfills that promise as we read in today’s scriptures - a child is born to us - a son is given to us who is Christ the Lord and upon his shoulder dominion rests from David's thrown and his kingdom = which is vast and wide. It is because of the fulfillment of this promise that we cannot be silent - for God has entered our world. This is an amazing event that has taken place. It highlights a newfound relationship with God. A relationship that has gone from one of - desolation to one of - great joy.

In the Acts of the Apostles, we read about the love God had for King David stating he’s a man after my own heart. As we look to the Old Testament, we read how the Lord first sent the prophet Samuel to the town of Bethlehem to anoint a king from the house of Jesse. When Samuel arrives, he has Jesse and his sons purify themselves so they can join in the sacrifice. However, every time Samuel decides which of his one Sons should be king, the lord refuses him by stating God does not see as man sees but he looks into the heart. Samuel finally asks Jesse if he has any other sons to which he replies only the youngest who is tending the sheep. Samuel says send for him. When David is brought in - the lord says anoint him he’s the one and the Spirit rushes upon David. God then says to Samuel he who will carry out my every wish he will keep his promise and he will honor my will. Mary is also someone after God’s own heart as she replies to the Angel Gabriel - behold - i am - the handmaid of the Lord - may it be done unto me according to your word.

On Christmas we journey back to the town of Bethlehem to the house of David - where our messiah and King is born and who - like David is anointed by God the Father. In Bethlehem we experience as Mary and Joseph had, a town of humility and love. It is there we find ourselves - kneeling before the manger in prayer and poverty and supplication as we ask God to bring us closer to him - as we honor his son. In Bethlehem we can renew ourselves - by living out our lives as the holy family had so we too can journey through salvation history and witness - this baby - this savior - this redeemer - who has come for his people - as God had promised. I came across a story of a priest in WWII, Fr Alfons Wachsmann of Germany, who honored a promise he made to God - when he took a stand against the nazi regime in 1943 and was arrested by the Gestapo and sentenced to death. This is a letter he wrote his sister: Dear Maria

I have great anxiety about how you will spend Christmas Eve. Twenty five years ago we lost our father at Christmastime and just two years ago God called our beloved mother home. This Christmas you will be deprived of your brother - who among all people has loved you. For me - the frame of the Christmas Season - is defined by the walls on my prison cell. Never have I knelt at the manger - in such poverty as I do now. Everything has been taken away from me, my home, my honor, my life, so I kneel at the manger with him who had no place to lay his head, who as a friend was condemned to death and who poured out his blood… as a sacrifice for the salvation of his people. As gifts I bring to the manger - cold and hunger - loneliness and forlornness. Shining chains are my only ornament. I want to give my life to the service of the King of Christmas - who saved me with his precious blood. With tears of penitence I want to wash away everything that turned to guilt and remorse in me. It is - in this Spirit that I’m going to make my pilgrimage to the manger.  

I hope through grace to celebrate Christmas deep within my heart as never before. No gift or festive meal will distract me. No candle will gleam. No fir tree will emit its fragrance, Only the infant Jesus in the Eucharist - the glorious reality of Christmas - will fill me with eternal light and with the warmth of his compassionate love. I shall recite my breviary - ever so slowly - ever so inwardly, that I shall taste the sweetness of her every word - I shall say my prayers - recite my rosary and read holy scripture as I pray the peace of Christ will be my portion and his grace will be my glory, I am without bitterness and bear everything with the patience - only Jesus can give. I hope my prayers and the prayers of others will be heard. I hope to intone the Gloria at the altar - one more time. I wish you the grace of Christ so you may drink with me the myrrh which Gods love offers us this year. Be assured I am always with you and I implore God - hour by hour to reward you bounteously for everything you have done and bore for me in loyalty and love. You are the only one who has never failed me, so I send to you rich blessings on your heart as the thorny crown of sorrow entwines our hearts inseparably. Your brother Fr. Alfons.

Fr. Alfons was a priest who remained faithful to his promise to God. Though there are not many people who experience the same kind of abandonment Fr, Alfons experienced, people still experience desolation during Christmas - whether it is going through divorce or financial hardship or family disputes or illness or separation from loved ones - people often experience much hardship during this season - but I think Fr Alfons has much to offer us - during our times of desolation as to how to approach the manger.  Fr Alfons turned to prayer, reciting them - more slowly and inwardly. He really reflected on them and prayed that - the peace of Christ will remain with him. Hopefully you and I can call out to our lord - in the same way, The Son of God didn’t come to us as a king or as royalty or in a castle but as a man of simplicity and poverty. He came to us in all humility wrapped in swaddling clothes. Imagine - how he allowed himself to be bound by these wrappings - limiting himself to have to trust Mary and Joseph to protect him during this vulnerable time. Isaiah tells us that - we will be given by a new name pronounced by the very mouth of God for God delights in us and we shall be a glorious crown in his hands and like a royal diadem held by God. Can you imagine being held by God?  in John 3;16 we read: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him - will not perish but have eternal life and in John 10:10 - I came that you may have life and have it more abundantly. Two amazing promises he has given to us and two amazing promises for which we should be most grateful. Like Fr Alfons - we need to go to the manger in humility and - we need to be willing to give our life for the service of others. 

Christmas is a time for us to celebrate with family and friends but it is also a time for us to fall on our knees and to give our hearts to God and it is a time for us to keep our promises.  May God Bless you during this most holy season.
 
Fr. Tom Farrell