A time to recognize Christ born in our lives
Christmas — when you hear this word, what flashes through your mind? Shopping, traffic, obligations, meals to plan, places to go, people to see, gifts to wrap, houses to decorate, trees to trim, etc., etc! Wait a minute — what happened to the real reason we celebrate Christmas? What happened to the birth of a child, the Christ Child, whose presence on this earth has changed the course of all human history? We must change our focus.
Consider what this child means. For centuries, the chosen people had been waiting for the Promised One. The message from the Father was loud and clear: A Messiah would come. Yet, the details were not clearly defined. Would it be a person, a message, a messenger? Would Israel be freed of slavery? Would the Savior come from royalty, be a militant leader in charge of vast armies? Would the Messiah’s coming be a catastrophic event or a miraculous happening?
There were so many different expectations and interpretations of the messianic event that, when it finally occurred, many did not come to recognize what had happened. For the majority, it was something that they never could have imagined: A Child born into poverty of simple parents. A woman named Mary giving birth to a son while remaining a virgin — a miraculous occurrence. God was truly intervening in our human history; yet, it was only announced to Mary through the messenger, Gabriel.
The only family member present for the birth of the Child was Mary’s spouse, Joseph. The first to encounter the Infant were shepherds in the fields near the place where the Child was born. They had been informed by angel messengers.
What does this story tell us? We must be open to God’s presence in our lives. It can and usually does occur in the most unexpected and mundane situations. Our God is a God of surprises. This Christ was born and continues to be born into our lives again and again. He can be found in the midst of our soldiers in Iraq, among the people displaced by natural disasters, in the caring for our elderly and infirmed, in our own families and friends; in encountering a stranger or someone in need, in a moment of prayer or in attending a religious service.
Christ — some saints tell us — is closer to us than we are to ourselves. We must be receptive to His presence and try to overcome the distractions that veil His birth in our lives.
Christ seeks to enter into each and every generation. Do you remember the last time Christ boldly entered into your life and was born? Frequently, He uses His Church to come to us. One recent event when His presence was sensed not only by myself, but also a number of our diocesan faith community, was when we gathered for the Eucharist to celebrate the inauguration of our diocesan synod and the commencing of the 25th anniversary of our diocese.
The mood in the cathedral on that day, Nov. 19, was electrifying and extremely prayerful. So many of the faithful expressed to me at the reception after the Eucharist, “Emmanuel,” God is with us. It was a moment of Jesus being born again in our midst. A new beginning built upon the promise that Christ would always be with His Church for over 2,000 years and here in Metuchen for the past 25 years. Where do we go from here?
These are certainly challenging times for us here in the Diocese of Metuchen. As the People of God, we have the obligation to make Christ real, in a certain sense to be born again in our midst. My Sisters and Brothers, we have the mechanism to do this — the Diocesan Synod. We will be having Speak Up Sessions in all our parishes to determine where our focus on the Lord has been, is now and where it shall be in the future. We know His rich presence for the past, His abiding presence with us in the present, and His hopeful presence in the future.
Let us not miss this opportunity to birth Christ again in our own personal lives and in the lives of all our diocesan family. In January and February, these sessions will take place. All will be listened to. Please make every effort to attend and invite your relatives, friends, and neighbors who are Catholic but may not be practicing their faith to please come. May none of us miss this opportunity to recognize the Christ born in our midst. May we never be like those from the past who were too distracted with the things of this world and their own preconceived notions to recognize Jesus the Christ born in our midst.
May Christmas always bring to your mind the Christ Child and His message of love.
Most Rev. Paul G. Bootkoski
Bishop of Metuchen
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law