December 25, 2024

By Father William Muench
NCC columnist

Happy Christmas to you all! Christmas - our time to celebrate the birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We celebrate in faith God’s great love for us. God sends to our world His Son, Jesus, to live among us, to die for us, and to bring new life to us through His Resurrection.

The Birth of Jesus transformed our world. We are a blessed people; Jesus, the Son of God, is one of us. We are sacred people. Our life truly matters. Jesus was one of us.

Birthdays are such important celebrations for us all. You have probably noticed that our date of birth is used for identification by our doctors and pharmacists. I can remember as a child anticipating my birthday each year, and then I would want to celebrate my birthday for at least a week more. Even now on my birthday, I want to just shout to everyone that “this is my birthday.” I would like to tell everyone that the world became a better place on this day! I was born on this day.

I know I have told you before how blessed I was to be invited by Susan and Paul to be with them when their second child was born. His name is Will. For me, that was a very special day. I am certain that it was the most exciting day of my life. I was truly blessed to be there that day, now almost 28 years ago.

On Christmas, as I remember Jesus, I also remember being at Will’s birth, as he began his life journey. Holding that newborn child helps me realize that Our Savior came into this world in that same humble way.

People often ask me what prayers I said at Will’s birth, but I must admit I was so touched by all that was happening that evening that I didn’t say any prayers. I guess my prayer was the silent joy of being there.

I remember so well the love in that room that evening – the love of this young mother supported by her loving husband, the love of bringing a new child into their family. I want to tell you that I also realized the love that was evident in the care of the doctor and nurses.

I want to share with you, as I probably have before, something else I learned that evening. I was already aware – I learned it from many mothers – of the pain of childbirth, the pain mothers experience as they bring new life to this world of ours. That evening, I realized in a powerful way that my own mother had accepted this pain of birth to bring me into this world. I pray often in gratitude to and for my mother. She is with me every day, in each episode of my life, she made everything I have done possible by the suffering she endured at my birth.

So, each Christmas  as I pray at the Christmas creche, I remember again the gratitude I owe to my God and my mother. I thank Jesus for coming to our world, for giving us the confidence to walk in his way for all of this I celebrate with joy. I pray that our Lord Jesus continues to make our world what it should be. Lord, transform this world, make my world what it should be.  Bring peace to all of us. Please remove violence from the hearts of us all. I found such happiness being at Will’s birth; I believe the Lord Jesus whose birth we celebrate is our source of peace and joy.