This Is No "Once-Upon-A-Time" Story

There is a particular moment of the Christ­mas celebration that, for me, says it all: Picture the late afternoon family liturgy on Christmas Eve.

Always a bit chaotic, the children dramatize the Gospel account of the Na­tivity, and everyone gets into the act. There's always room for one more angel or an extra shepherd.Parents and grandparents are the costume-makers and angel wing-adjusters, dressers and drivers, prompters and even paparazzi. Despite all the din, the message is clear. The Christmas story is not meant merely to be told. It must be enacted!

This is what our children show us every Christmas Eve. Every one of us must take our part to incarnate God's love in the world.

Acting in God's name

Never is that awareness more important than during difficult times. Historically, we surround the telling of the Christmas story with warm and rich sentiment. But the stark profundity of the Christmas experience is how deeply God is listening to the hurts of our humanity.

God hears the cries of the poor, the lonely, the forgotten and the forsaken. God's light enters into the dark places, the forlorn stables and the abandoned corners of our lives and our world.
And how God chooses to do this is most remarkable of all. Together, you and I are the actors and agents of God's healing and luminous love into the world! In the words of the old Appalachian carol, God is calling you and me to "go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere." Tell the world - show the world - that Jesus Christ is born!

The Christmas story is not one of those "once upon a time" stories. This story leaps off the pages of Scripture and into our hearts. The Word must become flesh! It is God's great imperative: "Incarnate my love into the world, and do it especially for the poor. My love desires to become food for their hunger and hope for their despair."

Need for calm

For the hundred thousand of us American Catholics who are part of the Catholic Church Extension movement, Thanks­giving, Advent and Christmas comprise an integral sacred season when we especially open our hearts to accept the invitation to play our part in this Divine Drama.
We let the stories from our home missions leap off the pages of Extension Magazine and into our hearts. And not unlike our children's efforts to enact the Christmas story, we choose to become angels of glad tidings during these hardscrabble times and shepherds in the night watch of economic downturn, bringing a message of hope and healing to the poor in our country.
The times may be chaotic, but the message is still bright and clear: Jesus Christ is born, and God's love continues to be made flesh through the work of our home missioners and your generous support of them.May God bless you and your family this Christmas season.God's call is clear: "Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills, and everywhere!"

As always, thank you for your support of Catholic Extension's mission.