Christmas Day, 2021

Friends,

There is a common saying, “Treat others as you would want them to treat you.” This saying encourages respect for others, love, goodness, and peaceful co-existence. We tend to remember when other people were kind and loving to us. We also remember treating others with love, integrity, and mercy. Furthermore, we also remember critical historical events in life.

Today, we remember and celebrate the birth of our Lord. An event of grace and God’s goodness to us. The birth of Jesus Christ is an event that changed the history of the world. God who initiated the event reveals goodness, light, and peace. He has treated us the way we want to be treated; with love, honor, and mercy. Jesus Christ dispels hatred and brings respect, goodness, and peace by becoming human like us.

As believers in God, let us follow the footsteps of the Lord, who brings peace and his light. Let us adore him; the Word made flesh and living among us even in our crisis of life. Living among us, God is speaking a language clear to us, for “in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son” (Hebrew 1:1).

The birth of Christ unfolds our human history and constitutes the central reality of existence. John acknowledges that “all things were made through him, and without him, nothing came into existence. In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:2). Thus, the challenge that faces us is to pattern our lives by this remarkable story of love, goodness, and peace. Treating others as God has treated us with love. And even as we continue to live in bad times and environments, let us construct our Christian identity around this event of Incarnation. In doing so, we shall therefore experience good tidings of God’s goodness and peace.

Joy and peace! Merry Christmas.