“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”

Today at Holy Mass we hear in the second reading from a letter to the Hebrews…..”In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being”…God is constantly speaking to us…He does this through the events of our life each day…He does this through his Church…He does this through prayer…He does this through the Scriptures…But as this letter read today at Mass states……Today God speaks to us through the birth of his son…..God manifested this encounter with the human race in the form of an innocent child…..This encounter invites us…It does not command us through force or by means of earthly power….St John tells us in the Gospel today….”And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth”………Jesus very clearly tells us that he is the Truth…Anyone who thirsts for the Truth will find at the end of their search Jesus Christ and his Church…..What are the things that “get in the way” of that search?

“A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, and adore the Lord. For today a great light has come upon the earth”

The Nativity Scene is a microcosm of the world…Kings were there and so were the poor…They all were searching for something to give them fulfillment…Also present in the Nativity of Our Lord was a family, which is the smallest cell of every society…..We all come from a family and because of the importance of family, this is what the devil has attacked directly….Families have broken down in America and as a result our country is falling apart…Because families have broken down, so may people are wounded…..Like walking corpses…When I walk to my office in New York City, my heart weeps at what I see…The “walking wounded”….So many of Americas problems can be solved so simply…By looking to what we see today in the Nativity Scene…A father and mother devoted to a child……From this scene comes the cure for all our problems……Jesus came into a fallen world - And that is why he came and walked among us……Human beings were made by God and are made for God…To deny this is to deny reality and when we make this choice - To deny who we were born to be…Something breaks within us…Today is a reminder once again…That God has not given up on the human race…A child was born for us…As a reminder - Once again - God reaches out to us....…As a father I want to teach my children the importance of reaching out to others…This is fundamental to the life of a Catholic…We must live our faith with concrete actions…..On my street where we live there is a man who lost his wife and recently his daughter passed away as well…He is retired and taking care of his son…..I always send my children to his home with food on Sundays….To teach them, that we must love our neighbors…Its so easy to not “see” those right in front of us who are lonely and hurting…Anyway, back to my story…The highlight of my Christmas last night was seeing my two sons give my neighbor Christmas dinner…My son Matteo, who is seven years old after he gave food to our neighbor gave him a hug…Our neighbor is a retired police office - A "tough guy", who presently looks like a biker, he has a long white beard and has a lot of tattoos…When my son gave him a hug, he almost started to cry….That was the highlight of my Christmas so far….. “He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him”

”The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”

The second reading from Mass today tells us that God is constantly “reaching out” to us…..Today he comes to us in the form of a child….My son reached out to our neighbor who was alone last night on Christmas Eve…That encounter was also a sign, that love is stronger then death…That light will always defeat the darkness….That we are God’s people and we have something very important to do….To be bearers of the Light…As St John tells us in the gospel today…..”A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world”…..We are not the source of the Light but when we graft ourselves into the life of Christ, he shares his Light with us and in turn we must then share that Light with those around us, in concrete ways with our own two hands…..…..“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”