On Christmas Eve a few years ago, I tuned in to a radio broadcast in which the question was posed to a group of people, “What is the most generous thing you have ever done at Christmas?”

A high school student within the group quickly responded: “Last Christmas I was volunteering at a nearby nursing home. As I was delivering papers to the patients’ rooms, I heard one elderly woman call out in German, ‘I am so afraid. Help me. I am all alone.’

“Since I was studying German in school, I stopped, went into her room, sat at a chair next to her bed, took her hand in mine and said in my poor German, ‘Don’t be afraid. You’re not alone. I am here with you.’ Then I stayed in the room a few minutes holding her hand until she fell asleep.”

The student reflected for a moment and then said, “I think that was one of the most generous things I have ever done at Christmas time.”

Jesus coming among us
“Don’t be afraid; you are not alone. I am here with you.” Those words of that young volunteer capture the meaning of Christmas and the joy of the Incarnation. Our generous, loving God has sent his only Son into our world to take on our humanity and to become the Word made flesh. Jesus has come among us! It is Christ taking our hands and lives into his own: “Do not be afraid; you are not alone. I am with you.”

As we gaze at the manger scene during this Christmas season, the message of Christmas is very clear: God has visited us in Christ Jesus. We are not alone. God is with us. There is no need to be afraid.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me.
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate,
Liturgy of the Hours, I, p.1671

I pray this feast of the Incarnation will help you experience and share the generosity of God in Christ. May you and all your loved ones have a very blessed Christmas season and the new year 2010 be filled with grace and peace.  Bishop Alphonse Sowada joins me in offering our blessings to all of you.