Christmas message of Fr. Michael Brehl, C.Ss.R., Superior General
Brothers and Sisters in Christ our Redeemer,
Greetings from Rome as we prepare to celebrate Christmas, the great feast of the Incarnation!
For many of us, Christmas will be different this year. We are all aware of the restrictions we face. We know too well the many losses we have suffered during this pandemic. Some of us are discouraged and anxious. Some have even talked about ‘cancelling’ Christmas! Brothers and Sisters, we could not cancel Christmas even if we wanted to do so! Emperors and dictators, wars and plagues, all have tried to cancel Christmas in ages past, and they have never succeeded. Because Christmas doesn’t depend on us. It depends on God – it is God’s initiative!
This Christmas we need to open our eyes to opportunities that perhaps we have overlooked in the past. Our celebrations will be simpler, maybe even quieter and smaller. But God comes to us in our broken world today, just as Jesus Christ was born in a very broken and suffering world over 2000 years ago.
God visits us today in our families and in our communities. God comes to us in the persons, we know so well, and in the strangers who may come to our door seeking help – in the poor and in migrants, in children and in our elders. And through us, God will also visit others.
This Christmas, Pope Francis invites us to dream anew the dream of God and to see this world as God sees it – not with our eyes, but with our hearts.
This Christmas, may we recognize what is really most important of all – that Jesus comes as our Redeemer, and as our brother, and that we are all brothers and sisters to one another.
Please remember to pray for one another, and don’t forget to pray for me.
May you enjoy a blessed and joyful Christmas wherever you may find it!
