Christmas Wishes From Mission India
Dear friends and benefactors,
For many in the world, Christmas begins on Black Friday and ends on Christmas Day. But the Catholic Church teaches us that December 25th is the beginning of the Christmas-tide not the end.
On December 26th, while the rest of the world begins preparing for the next big party – New Year’s Day – the Church continues to sing “Gloria in excelsis Deo” until Epiphany.
This Christmas, we cannot hope to have “a merry little Christmas” without turning our attention to the Child Who is born to us. Christmas is nothing more than this; Christmas is nothing less than this. All else is like cotton-candy, a sugar that dissolves on the tongue.
My dear friends, the celebration of the Christ’s Nativity represents a beginning for each of us. It is a time to begin our lives anew and become like little children, rediscovering the innocence and wonder that we used to know from our youth.
Christmas is the culmination of Advent. And we know that things of great value only come over a great period of time, of suffering and preparation.
Two thousand years ago, the almighty arrived on earth in the humility and poverty of a tiny helpless babe, born in a stable. So simple was this first Christmas. It really makes us wonder whether our Christmas has become needlessly complex. Perhaps we are too preoccupied with lights and music to recall the simplicity of the First Christmas.
Every year, the world does its best to remove Christ from Christmas. Their goal is an earthly one: more profit, more sales. Their stomachs remain full while their souls are hollow. How sad!
My dear friends, let this not be said of us and our Catholic homes. Let us renew the stable of our heart to prepare for the coming of the Infant King. There is but one gift the Christ Child desires from us: to willingly desire Him!
One of my favorite Christmas hymns is “In the Bleak Midwinter.” Hidden inside is a meditation of pro-found significance. Consider these final words:
What then can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
What, then, can I give Him? I will give my heart.
May you attain, dear friends, the gift of a merry and blessed Christmas. I sincerely pray that our Savior might be born anew, by His grace, in your souls.
May God bless each and every one of you this Christmas season. Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Through the Mystery of the Nativity,
Fr. Therasian Xavier
SSPX India
