Christmas 2025
INTRO:
Did you know it is roughly one hundred miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem?
According to GOOGLE maps it would take about 34 hours to travel the distance on foot, not counting stops for rest – nor does it consider bandits in the desert and a woman at full term pregnancy???
But this is the journey that Joseph and Mary make.
But MARY & JOSEPH in traveling for the census put their HOPE in GOD!
And they know that to GOD they count!
And they relied heavily upon God in their dangerous traveling.
How many of you have relied heavily upon God this year. We do it all the time. I would like to suggest that we all rely on God to help us see better, to see people with kindness, charity, and without judgement.
Scripture scholars remark that Christ’s birth helps us to begin to look at others differently and to look at the world with redeemed hope.
Just hear the Gospel of His birth… people, shepherds, angels, and kings came to see and to look at the baby with wonder, respect, and awe. The same should be for us looking at those around us.
Remember when we were children we gazed and looked upon all the colors and lights on the Christmas tree. We loved doing that!!!
Well, that is a symbol of what we are to always do; not so much look at the colors on our trees, but to look at all our brothers and sisters, seeing beauty, as everyone did at Christ’s birth.
We are the followers of JESUS who need to look at all people as our brothers and sisters today:
Of accommodating the impoverished
Of acceptance of those who live life in an alternative lifestyle
Or with a creed different than ours.
Christmas calls us to live our lives, like Jesus, becoming considerate and accepting all people, looking at them with love, respect, and acceptance.
Yes, JESUS’S birth does that to us and to our eyes.
CONCLUSION
We come to this Christmas Mass to honor and give praise to the SAVIOR…. To the ONE who taught us how to live well in His image …. And most beautifully we come to receive Him in nourishment so that He can lead us to live better lives.