When the kindness and generous love
of God our savior appeared,
not because of any righteous deeds we had done,
but because of His mercy,
He saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom He richly poured out on us
through Jesus Christ our savior,
so that we might be justified by His grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
(Mass at Dawn, Christmas Day, Titus 3:4-7)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
The calendar seems to move more quickly with each passing year. Thanksgiving runs into Christmas and before we know it, Lent is here. We have our long to-do lists, holiday preparations, parties, gift buying, and family traditions that are crammed into precious few days. These are all good things, of course. They are important to us and make the season special and memorable.
And yet, we also find that we are harried and rushed. The pressure is on to have a Christmas that is just right. Our merriment turns to frustration when we discover that the light set doesn’t work, only after we’ve strung it around the perimeter of the house. The gift we absolutely have to have is out of stock. The mad rush to the hardware store is followed by a trip to the mall, then to the supermarket, and on and on. The question of whether we will get everything done on time weighs heavily on us. At the end, we are too exhausted to fully enjoy what we have prepared to celebrate.
Others, of course, are experiencing far more dire concerns. With deteriorating economic conditions, families have seen their investments shrink, and many families in the area are struggling to make ends meet. A report this week showed that in the region 25 percent more households this year than last have had their utility service terminated for lack of payment. New Jersey and Pennsylvania are running out of money to pay unemployment benefits, so dramatic have job losses been. Winter has not officially begun, yet requests to Catholic Charities for assistance for food, clothing, rent, mortgages, and utilities are up sharply, already threatening to deplete available funds. Sadly, economic conditions have forced some of our sisters and brothers in South Jersey to choose heat over medication or rent over good meals and gifts for their children.
We are now just a few days away from Christmas, the commemoration of Jesus’ birth and the pivotal moment in human history. My prayer for all of us is that we can pause long enough in these final days before Christmas to reflect prayerfully on the meaning and implications of this momentous event.
Pope Benedict XVI said in his encyclical letter, Spe Salvi (In Hope We Were Saved), “We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God, and grown accustomed to it, have almost ceased to notice that we possess the hope that ensues from a real encounter with this God” (3). Is it possible that our familiarity with the traditions of the season have dulled our appreciation for what it is we celebrate?
When friends and relatives come to visit this year, notice the joy and the expressions of love that are exchanged at the front door. Are we ready to greet Jesus in the same way when He comes? What will be our reaction when we encounter God Himself in the person of Jesus on Christmas day?
The Incarnation is not a theological concept or an obscure philosophical idea, but the reality that God entered human history as a man in the person of Jesus to restore our relationship with Him and to accomplish our salvation. Jesus, true God and true man, was born into our human misery and sin to transform it, to dispel the darkness of the world, and to assure us — despite the frustrations, disappointments and struggles of the present — that we have a future, a future of hope. We have this hope because the unity of the divine and human natures in Jesus calls to mind God’s will for us to be partakers of the divine nature and to be fully united with Him one day.
Hope, then, is not wishful thinking or wistful imagination. Hope is beginning to experience in our present time and in an imperfect, incomplete way, what our faith assures us we will enjoy perfectly in the life to come.
In Spe Salvi, the Holy Father says, “Faith is not merely a personal reaching out toward things to come that are still totally absent. It gives us something. It gives us even now something of the reality that we are waiting for, and this present reality constitutes for us a ‘proof’ of the things that are still unseen. Faith draws the future into the present, so that it is no longer simply a ‘not yet’” (7).
Jesus, who has already come into our world, and who remains in Word and Sacrament, in the believing community, and in our neighbor, continues to strengthen us and draw us into a growing realization of our destiny! In a time of change, in disappointment, in suffering, in the hardships that confront us daily, there always is our constant: Jesus, our hope.
May Jesus fill you with hope and love as we celebrate His birth!
Fraternally,
Most Reverend Joseph A. Galante, D.D., J.C.D.
Bishop of Camden