Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Christmas is such an important feast day, that the Church says you cannot celebrate it on just one day, so we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord for a whole week. Our prayers at Mass especially reflect this as we say the prayers of Christmas day throughout the whole week.
As a Church and as individuals, we prepare ourselves for Christmas throughout the four weeks of Advent. Sadly, some individuals spend that time preparing their home but not their heart for the coming of the Christ child. Why is this?
We live in a time when a significant part of the Christian world has lost its hold on the faith, where family life is often distracted and struggling to find a center, where permanent commitment of any kind is becoming an exception, where anxiety and depression has taken a hold of so many, especially our young, where violence, fratricide and retribution often fill the news, where war and terror have so many in the world living in turmoil, where consumerism dominates daily living and the pursuit of pleasure and superficial joy blocks the vision of the kingdom of God and its eternal rewards.
Indeed, we live in an environment in which the faith is often challenged, where Christian living and values are considered politically incorrect by many, where the value of life is diminished in so many ways, and where the Church is not held in confidence by many, and its wisdom is often ridiculed and dismissed as irrelevant.
Given all of this, Christmas is the greatest reminder, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that the answer to the world’s problems and our own needs as people of faith, is found in one person, the person who is at the center, the very heart of all reality, the one who is to come, has come at Christmas and remains with us, especially through the Eucharist. All created reality takes its meaning, true meaning, from Him, Jesus Christ.
The confirmation or meaning of all our choices in life comes from knowing, loving and serving Him. There is no substitute, no way around it. Jesus Christ comes today, and everything is affected by it, as we can never think the same, be the same, or love the same.
We celebrate Christmas for a whole week, so that we can let it soak in, deeply. This year, let us recognize the arrival of the King of Peace and celebrate it like we have never before. Let it mold our lives more as we recommit ourselves to Him. There is no thing, possession nor person in this world that can take the place of knowing Christ, born to us today, and loving Him from the heart of who we are. It is what we were made for. There is no shortcut to happiness that can be recommended, no substitute or fast-track plan that will fulfill us.
Let us beg that our celebration of Christmas this year, our recalling of the birth of Christ, will not only open our hearts up more fully to God, the King of Love, but that it will also make us more and more willing to love as He did.
Our anxieties in life have a solution, and it is only Jesus, and our drawing closer to Him who seeks us. We are God’s greatest desire. He wants nothing from us, but just wants to be with us, to accompany us in life, until we return to Him at the end of our lives. That’s the whole reason God became man, and hence we have Christmas.
Yes, the confirmation or meaning of all our life’s choices comes from knowing, loving and serving Him. There is no substitute, no way around it. So come let us adore Him, today and every day, especially on Sundays as He asks us to gather in worship to be fortified and built up in grace and virtue through our reception of Him in the Eucharist, the greatest gift He gives us. Yes, we are loved and cherished beyond all reason, unconditionally and undeservedly by our loving Father. May this Christmas renew in us our commitment to be His true disciples
Please know of my daily prayers for all of you. It is such a great joy to be your Bishop. Please pray for me, too. I love you and look forward to continuing to work with all of you to make God’s presence known in our parishes and our beautiful diocese. May God bless each of you! A blessed Christmas to all of you and your loved ones.
Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA
Bishop of Metuchen
Christmas is such an important feast day, that the Church says you cannot celebrate it on just one day, so we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord for a whole week. Our prayers at Mass especially reflect this as we say the prayers of Christmas day throughout the whole week.
As a Church and as individuals, we prepare ourselves for Christmas throughout the four weeks of Advent. Sadly, some individuals spend that time preparing their home but not their heart for the coming of the Christ child. Why is this?
We live in a time when a significant part of the Christian world has lost its hold on the faith, where family life is often distracted and struggling to find a center, where permanent commitment of any kind is becoming an exception, where anxiety and depression has taken a hold of so many, especially our young, where violence, fratricide and retribution often fill the news, where war and terror have so many in the world living in turmoil, where consumerism dominates daily living and the pursuit of pleasure and superficial joy blocks the vision of the kingdom of God and its eternal rewards.
Indeed, we live in an environment in which the faith is often challenged, where Christian living and values are considered politically incorrect by many, where the value of life is diminished in so many ways, and where the Church is not held in confidence by many, and its wisdom is often ridiculed and dismissed as irrelevant.
Given all of this, Christmas is the greatest reminder, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that the answer to the world’s problems and our own needs as people of faith, is found in one person, the person who is at the center, the very heart of all reality, the one who is to come, has come at Christmas and remains with us, especially through the Eucharist. All created reality takes its meaning, true meaning, from Him, Jesus Christ.
The confirmation or meaning of all our choices in life comes from knowing, loving and serving Him. There is no substitute, no way around it. Jesus Christ comes today, and everything is affected by it, as we can never think the same, be the same, or love the same.
We celebrate Christmas for a whole week, so that we can let it soak in, deeply. This year, let us recognize the arrival of the King of Peace and celebrate it like we have never before. Let it mold our lives more as we recommit ourselves to Him. There is no thing, possession nor person in this world that can take the place of knowing Christ, born to us today, and loving Him from the heart of who we are. It is what we were made for. There is no shortcut to happiness that can be recommended, no substitute or fast-track plan that will fulfill us.
Let us beg that our celebration of Christmas this year, our recalling of the birth of Christ, will not only open our hearts up more fully to God, the King of Love, but that it will also make us more and more willing to love as He did.
Our anxieties in life have a solution, and it is only Jesus, and our drawing closer to Him who seeks us. We are God’s greatest desire. He wants nothing from us, but just wants to be with us, to accompany us in life, until we return to Him at the end of our lives. That’s the whole reason God became man, and hence we have Christmas.
Yes, the confirmation or meaning of all our life’s choices comes from knowing, loving and serving Him. There is no substitute, no way around it. So come let us adore Him, today and every day, especially on Sundays as He asks us to gather in worship to be fortified and built up in grace and virtue through our reception of Him in the Eucharist, the greatest gift He gives us. Yes, we are loved and cherished beyond all reason, unconditionally and undeservedly by our loving Father. May this Christmas renew in us our commitment to be His true disciples
Please know of my daily prayers for all of you. It is such a great joy to be your Bishop. Please pray for me, too. I love you and look forward to continuing to work with all of you to make God’s presence known in our parishes and our beautiful diocese. May God bless each of you! A blessed Christmas to all of you and your loved ones.
Most Reverend James F. Checchio, JCD, MBA
Bishop of Metuchen
