Merry Christmas.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year. It recalls the birth of Christ, our Savior, two thousand years ago in the poorest of circumstances in an out of the way place, called Bethlehem, in Palestine. But Christmas is much more than the birth of the baby Jesus a long, long time ago. Christmas is about your rebirth when you let Jesus into your life and accept the gift of new life He offers you.

People sometimes make the mistake of thinking of happiness as getting what you want, and they transfer this attitude to Christmas. This is a very lop-sided attitude to Christmas, however. Even if you have everything you want in terms of money and things, that will not make you happy. It may just do the opposite. Money and things are important to live a decent, human life-style. But they are not all important, and will never satisfy our deepest, human needs which are spiritual. Time and time again, parents have approached me after Christmas feeling stressed and worn out because they couldn’t satisfy the wants of their children in spite of doing their very best to cater to those wants. The spirit of Christmas, however, is much more about fulfilling your deepest human and spiritual needs than catering to your wants.

The gifts that Jesus offers you this Christmas cannot be bought at any price because they are invaluable. They are not toys. They are the gift of Faith, which gives meaning to your life; the gift of Hope, which endows your life with purpose; and the gift of Love, which enables you to love the way that Jesus loved you. These three gifts are interconnected ( you cannot have one without the other ), but the greatest of the three is love. Jesus offers you these gifts, which cannot be merited, free of charge. All that He requires of you is a humble and grateful heart to be renewed or reborn spiritually by them.

Christmas thrives where there is love for Jesus is love incarnate ( in the flesh ). His gift of love brings peace and joy to all people of good will as it did on that first Christmas Day in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. May your Christmas be one that brings you peace and joy, and may you pass it on to others.

Merry Christmas!

Fr. Hugh Duffy