Praise be Jesus Christ!
Dear Cathedral Family,
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, Upon David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice, both now and forever.” (Is 9, 5-6)
Have you ever visited a friend whose child just came into the world? Do you remember your feelings and emotions? How much joy did this child bring? A newborn child is so innocent and defenseless. During Christmas, Jesus comes and gives himself into our hands. He relies on our willingness to take care of Him. For this reason, Christmas is always so incredible! We can really keep the Child Jesus in our arms, who greatly entrusts Himself to us.
This joy of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ was foreshadowed by the joy of King David, ancestor of Jesus. It was the joy which he experienced when he brought the Arc of Covenant to Jerusalem. He had made an incredible feast. King David came dancing before the Lord. A celebration was held for a few days, and David then sacrificed thousands of burnt offerings, blessed people and distributed among all the people, the entire multitude of Israel, to every man and every woman, one loaf of bread, one piece of meat, and one raisin cake (2 Sam 6;9) Each person of Israel was a part of his rejoicing! Why did David make such a huge celebration? Because the presence of the Lord was among him and his people.
A Child is born to us; a Son is given. The promise of the Messiah is fulfilled! In a few days will be Christmas day. Many of us will come that night to church for the Vigil Mass, which is awesome. But I would like to encourage us to rejoice for the birth of Jesus not only in the Christmas Season. Jesus is a source of joy for every day of our life. Rejoicing and worshiping God are very important things throughout our lives. Let us listen to a few words of Saint Paul to the church in Philippians:
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near. Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God thatsurpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”(Phl 4,4-7)
Advent, which is coming to a conclusion, is a liturgical season in the Church which is not only time for preparation of Christmas, but also the time for waiting for the second coming of Christ. St. Paul said: “The Lord is near.” It is true. Nowadays, we can see so many scary and frightening things in the world, but we place our hearts in the heart of the Child Jesus, so our hope and joy are immortal. If we carefully follow the history of Israel, we can notice that Jesus came during the worst moment of history of this nation. Israelites lost their independence and were occupied by Roman imperium. Taxes were huge, spiritual leaders were hypocrites, the lives of poor people were miserable., and in this very difficult time the Messiah came and he changed everything. Nowadays, it could be seen as similar because the world looks so hopeless. There is so much evil and sin. Many faithful are looking for God’s presence and help. However, God is with us, and His birth is constantly the source of our joy. We can be happy because of that not only in the Christmas Season but also each and every day. We receive bad news daily, and we can feel sad thinking of that. For us it is much easier to be overwhelmed by bad things rather than to remember about the tidings of the gospel. Why, when we are asked about some memories, we usually first recall evil ones rather than good ones? We need to improve our ability to rejoice because we have a good reason for that – the Birth of Jesus Christ. He was born for us, to change our life for the better. We must develop our skills for recalling and considering all good things which God is doing for us. So, when the Christmas season starts, please let us keep Christ in our hands, hug him with our arms, and let him live in our heart. Amen.
In Jesus,
Father Dawid