Christmas Message to the Archbishop: God made himself lovable to us

It is difficult to love a God who lives in an unapproachable light.  It is with difficulty that we approach a God who remains tremendum et fascinans.  It is not easy to embrace a God who appears to us in a burning bush and whose presence is signified by thick dark clouds and flashing lightning and loud thunder on top of a mountain.  His glory frightens us, his grandeur blinds us.

And so God became a child so that we can accept him, so that we can approach him, so that we can love him, so that we can embrace him.

In the same way, according to the Preface for Sundays in Ordinary Time number 7, the Son of God Jesus Christ became man, he lived like us in all things but sin, so that the Father may love in us what he has loved in his Son, so that the Father can love us and embrace us just like his Son made man.

The story of Christmas then is this: in Jesus, God is made lovable before men; and in Jesus, man is made lovable before God.  This is the simple story of Christmas: all became lovable.

We have walked a few paces so that we can be with the archbishop in person, even just for a short while.  The archbishop came down from his residence to be with us in person, even just for a short while.  Is that big deal?  Is this important?  Yes.  Because by this simple act of coming together we have made ourselves lovable to each other.  By this simple gesture of being present to each other we are repeating the story of Christmas.

When you go home and you visit your parish priest, and you serve his mass, and he greets you and invites you for breakfast, you have made yourself lovable to your parish priest and your parish priest has made himself lovable to you.  It’s the story of Christmas retold before your very eyes.

When you stay home with your parents, with your brothers and sisters, and grandparents, uncles and aunts, when you eat together, talking, listening, when you set aside your cellphones so that you can be more present to each other, you are making yourself lovable to each other and by making yourself lovable to each other you are retelling the Christmas story.

We are made lovable, God, us and everyone else because of Jesus, and that’s the simple truth of Christmas.

Bishop Angel, in behalf of the community of St. Vincent Ferrer Seminary, thank you for making yourself lovable for us, and we hope that you appreciate this simple gesture of making ourselves lovable for you.  It is indeed a Merry Christmas!