St. Teresa of Calcutta once said of Christmas: “We desire to be able to welcome Jesus at Christmastime, not in a cold manger of our heart, but in a heart full of love and humility, in a heart so pure, so immaculate, so full of love for one ano the r.”

The Christmas account of the Nativity of Jesus in Bethlehem is a fact. The meaning of the Christmas message, whether one believes in Jesus or not, does not change His message. The Love of God the Father and the action of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus the Christ, is not dependent on our belief but is Eternal Truth. It is a message of Love, Hope and Charity and this message is meant for one and all.

The Catholic Church has “delivered” the message of Jesus’ birth time and again, century after century, and we and the world never tire of it; we seek it and hope not only for it, but for the desire of this message by all peoples and in all times.

The message of Christ is this : You are loved, desired, wanted and valued. And while some may find this hard to believe, difficult even to accept, it is the message of God made man in the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Christmas is about the absolute truth that we, the human person, matters so much that God became one of us — and He became one of us for our sake.

And since the message of Christmas is about Love, in its purest and most complete form, we not only never tire of God’s message of Love but rather we take inspiration from it and therefore He becomes the prime mover, the motivating factor, of our Catholic faith and people . The gift of God’s Love in Christ made man inspires us, both individually and collectively as the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, in our efforts to be Christ - like in and through our lives. It inspires us as those who seek the common good; those who work for the excellence of the other through both words and deeds. While this might seem to some as “overblown,” it isn’t. For our faith teaches us that we who charge our lives with faith diffuse the faith in all aspects of our lives: as firefighters, police and military men and women who seek the safety and calm of others; of social justice workers seeking equality of all and hope that whether feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, educating the ignorant or defending the human dignity of all; by medical professionals, researchers, teachers, business leaders, parish workers and everyday people who manifest Christ’s love the essence of their lived faith, day - in, day - out.

Indeed, God came for us and when He did “...the angels sang, the leaders brought gifts and the workers came with their sheep.” All saw in Him the love of every human being. God Himself said in the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem that “every human life matters.” But not everyone agreed then, nor do they yet today. Herod did not see the image and likeness of Christ in every human being. He tried to kill the infant Jesus and so slaughtered the innocent; today that slaughtering still goes on in unborn innocent, in the unwanted handicapped or disa- bled, in the elderly who are placed in substandard housing or medical care, and in the forgotten human person who cannot be loved. But the message of Christmas is still timeless, eternal, and it must be proclaimed. In fact, the message of Christmas Love has imbedded in it a command to you and to me: Whom will you choose? Christ or the “Herod’s of the world?” In Choosing Christ’s message of Love we can join with the angels and the Wise Men and the shepherds and sing the glory of God in all our actions and lived experiences of faith, seeing that every human being matters, or we can choose to be a “Herod” and say only some human livers matter.

We have the Free Will to make of our hearts, as St, Teresa of Calcutta states, one that is pure and filled with love for one another, or we can build a heart that, like Herod, is filled with selfish desires. May the Lord of Christmas Love continue to bless us and keep us every close to His Heart so that our hearts become mangers ready to welcome H im and others in Christmas Love.