Lest we forget what Christmas is all about:
"It
is amazing how wonderful God’s love is for us! He is not just a
distant principle, philosophy, cosmic fix, or a simple solution to our
personal pain. He is not just an important cog in the wheel of time, a
doctor to cure our ills, a sympathetic listener to our daily troubles or
sorrows, or a kindly observer with good advice in times of need. He is
not just a good teacher, a lively companion, a best friend, or a dear person
that we could touch and know. He is far more. He--our dear Lord
Jesus Christ--is the most dear, most precious, most beloved, and most lovely
thing of all times and all places, and He is closer to us than our own breath
and our own mind and soul. And He is near, so very near, because He
came to earth just to be with us, to enliven our hearts and minds, to soothe
our pains and sorrows, to solve our confusion and our doubt, and to directly
impart love into every sinew of our being from head to toe, and from psyche
to spirit. He is the immanent, perceptible, immediate, and accessible
God for us, right here and right now. And He is born on earth for each
soul to turn from death to life and live with Him forevermore.
"At His birth He
draws together all of the elements of Creation to be in one chorus of
blessedness and thanksgiving. He brings the whole of the Bodiless
Powers and angels to come and worship Him, along with the pure sweet fruit of
Israel and humanity, the Virgin Mary, the mystic kings and Magi of the world
looking for hope and wisdom, the simple shepherds in the fields keeping
nightly vigil, the elderly Joseph as the faithful guardian to the Virgin, and
the active bright grace of God the Father and the Holy Spirit to all come
together into the cave in Bethlehem to be with Him, for He is 'God with
us.' We are invited too. We are now present too. In
Him there is no exclusive time and place, for all of us here have been
invited to sit with Him together in our Humanity, and thus to share
mystically in His Divinity by adoption in an active and living theosis.
In this sharing is the fulfillment of our nature to become truly children of
the Most High God. The Dayspring has sprung, the Light is shining
bright, the night of darkness has passed, and we are to become now in
fullness the Image and the Likeness of God. It will take work, it will
take time, it will take much cooperation and intent to change and repent.
It will take great courage to enter the humble doors where He lives
eternally, but He has come to call us. Let us leave the vain conceits
of worldly thought and reach up towards Heaven. This is a call to come
to His love, great love indeed. Let us respond now sweetly back in
earnest love."
