“Be Christ’s Gift to Others”
Father Peter Fitzgibbons
December 24 – 25, 2019
Isn’t the church beautiful. I appreciate all the work by the Sacristy elves and angels who came and decorated the church so beautifully.
I hope you have a manger at home; it’s a visible representation of scripture. We have the nativity story all here…compressed. Scripture tells us the wise men entered Joseph and Mary’s house. They did not enter the stable and were never at the manger. They arrived at Joseph and Mary’s house a couple of years after the birth of Christ, so the wise men were never at the nativity. We combine the birth of Christ and their visit because of the short Christmas season.Christ came down so that we could go up. Since the birth of Christ, we have not had to look up to heaven. We see Jesus, Our Lord in the nativity, and we see Him in the Blessed Sacrament. We have a bit of heaven here on earth. And you have His love in you when you receive Holy Communion. Every day is Christmas for Catholics.
Christmas is wonderful. It’s a precious time. It reminds us of our past Christmases. I remember when I got my first transistor radio; I was 12 years old….AM was big back then. My brother actually gave it to me., and it captured the joys of my childhood. But, we are not supposed to experience Christmas as a child again…it should be better. Yes, it’s different as we grow in God’s love. If Christmas has lost its magic for you, you may not be looking for it. It can be found again…trust me. Christ wants to give it to us more than we may want to receive it…but to have that wondrous gift!
I can only preach from my experience, because that is what I know. I have eaten Christmas dinner out of a bag and out of a can. Tasty!. I have spent more Christmases in hospitals than anywhere else. Thankfully, not as a patient…not yet anyway. They were all wonderful…but different.
As adults, we get to experience the joy and wonder of children opening their gifts of love even though they may like the wrapping paper more than the gift itself. When you give them gifts, you are teaching children about love. This is the beginning of their experience of God’s love and the ways in which He expresses it. I’m glad to see Luke here; he’s burning the midnight oil. He may need a cup of Expresso to stay awake. Gradually as children grow and by their parents’ example and the teaching by those around them, they begin to know the source of all those expressions of love which is love itself. So great a gift is God’s love. And, over time, it gets better and better. Through their family, friends and the Church, children learn the five W’s: Who, What, When, Where, and Why. Christmas is like the Mass; it’s not a “What”, it’s a “Who,” and when we get close to the Who, we understand the Why.
- Who – our Lord, Jesus Christ
- When – the Romans kept very accurate records and were very good at it. So, we know when Jesus was born; we didn’t just make it up to tick off non-Catholics
- Where – Bethlehem in Judea
- What – His incarnation; God became man, and love became visible. The gospel tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now, we never have to look up to heaven.
The Blessed Mother, Saint Joseph, and the shepherds looked down at Heaven. Saint Joseph was the first person to hold Heaven in his hands. Here in the Catholic Church, we can look at Heaven on earth, Jesus Christ, in the most Blessed Sacrament. At Holy Communion, you receive a bit of Heaven into your soul. Everyday is Christmas for us Catholics. A Savior is born, and we have Heaven given to us by God. How wonderful. Recently, I was listening to Christmas carols on the radio…that’s all that is on now. And, some of them just drive me up a wall, like “I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”…no, I just want to shoot that!
Funny story…The last time I was overseas, Michael Jackson was singing Christmas carols over the audio in our Mess Hall. Finally, I went to the Mess Sergeant and asked him if he knew who was singing and what he was charged with. The sergeant said “I’ll take care of it, Sir.” Good thought! We never heard that again.
The other two W’s, the Who and Why, are an ongoing mystery and never change. We grow to appreciate them more. The first three W’s we have memorized, but the Who and Why goes deeper. As we grow and extend our love in God, we lose the wonder and awe that we experienced as children at Christmas. If you are married, your love for your spouse is different than it was on your honeymoon…it’s a deeper love. Likewise, we are supposed to mature in our love for God….to grow in His love. Sometimes, as adults, we would like to go back to our childhood and experience the Christmases we had growing up. That wouldn’t be bad…my nurse is here, so close your ears…I’d get mince meat pie, turkey, and dressing. It’s not recommended for me now, but it was so good! We look at that happiness in the rear-view mirror. But, just because we grow up doesn’t mean that happiness has to end. It can get better; it can mature and go deeper into the mystery of God’s love. Understanding who He is, which is love incarnate, and why He came is the beauty of Christmas, and it unfolds all the time in every Mass, every day.
Life goes on for all of us – you probably didn’t expect to be in Albemarle, NC on Christmas Day in 2019 – No, none of us really expected to be here unless you’re in the Federal Witness Protection Program – it came as a surprise to all of us. A lot of things have changed in our lives. Last year, I had more hair and more weight. I also had a twin brother. Does that make this Christmas worse than last year? No. It’s just different, and different can be better. Through that difference, God teaches us things.
I have spent more Christmases in hospitals than anywhere else, and I will probably be there tomorrow. Nobody wants to be there…the staff do not want to be there on Christmas Day, and the patients certainly don’t want to be there. Who the heck wants that! Sometimes, we look for what’s in it for us at Christmas….where is my happiness. But the gift of Christmas is what? Those of you who are parents know. It’s seeing the joy on our children’s faces when they open their gifts of love. You love the squeals of happiness. That’s what we are called to be… that part of our mature faith at Christmas so that we become Christ’s gift to others. Sometimes it’s hard to see that. I have spent Christmas in many different places and situations, some of which I cannot tell you about. So, wasn’t that terrible? From a selfish point-of-view, many times you think, yes it was terrible…I want to be with my family…poor baby! Military vehicles have no heat or air conditioning; they are hot in the summer and cold in winter. And if you like that, it’s great. When I was in Korea riding around in one of those vehicles, freezing my you-know-what off, guarded by a bunch of stinky paratroopers which was only fitting because I was stinky too, it didn’t seem like a lot of fun on Christmas. Yet, it was. I once said to a bunch of men who were missing their families, you are your gift to others. This will be a time when you make others envious, because you were here in this moment. As our love and faith matures, we know that He loves us and wants us to be there for others; to be Christ for others. Instead of Christ coming for me which He has done every day of my life, He now wants me to become Christ’s gift for others….to bring them joy and comfort.
Because of our love for others, we go deeper into the mystery of Who and Why. Your love is transformed, and you see the love of Christ in the face of others, in the face of children, and in the face of those who bring joy. The fruit we receive from growing in God’s love and understanding the Who and why doesn’t end at a certain time. Anywhere, anytime during the season, during the year, be Christ for others.
This Christmas has been different from my previous 65 and, if my nurses are correct, I can look forward to another 30. Will they be different? Yes. I may be in a nursing home for old priests, but they could be better. Someone will be at my bedside helping me with Mass, and the other priests may say ‘Father, we love you, but please no more stories about the military.” Or perhaps a nurse will come by with a shot of Vitamin A and say “night-night, Father.” But, that will be my best Christmas. My best Christmases are in front of me…I hope. But, it’s up to me. It’s up to all of you what you want your Christmases to be. Our Lord affords us an open heart and offers Himself to us to experience His love…the Who…to come to know the Who which is love incarnate and why He came. This could be the best Christmas of your life so far. My happiest Christmas will be the one before I see Him.