“God Is with Us”: Christmas 2024
By Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
In his 1944 Christmas message—released as World War II entered its final terrible months in Europe—Pope Pius XII offered these words:
The Church has the mission to announce to the world . . . the highest and most needed message that there can be: the dignity of man, the call to be sons of God. It is the powerful cry which, from the manger in Bethlehem to the furthest confines of the earth, resounds in the ears of men at a time when that dignity is tragically low.
The holy story of Christmas proclaims this inviolable dignity of man with a vigor and authority that cannot be gainsaid – an authority and vigor that infinitely transcend that which all possible declarations of the rights of man could achieve.
Christmas, the great feast of the Son of God who appeared in human flesh, the feast in which heaven stoops down to earth with ineffable grace and benevolence, is also the day on which Christianity and mankind, before the crib, contemplating “the goodness and kindness of God our Savior,” become more deeply conscious of the intimate unity that God has established between them.
The birth of the Savior of the world, of the Restorer of human dignity in all its fullness, is the moment characterized by the alliance of all men of good will. There to the poor world, torn by discord, divided by selfishness, poisoned by hate, love will be restored, and it will be allowed to march forward in cordial harmony, toward the common goal, to find at last the cure for its wounds in the peace of Christ.
Today, exactly 80 years later, the world is infinitely different and implacably the same. Different in its marvels of medicine, technology, and science. Different in its deliverance of many millions of people from illness, illiteracy, and poverty. But the same in the millions more who are homeless, or persecuted, or refugees, or locked in poverty, or killed casually on an industrial scale by abortion and war. Times and circumstances change. Human nature doesn’t. The world still needs—urgently needs—“the birth of the Savior” and “the cure for its wounds in the peace of Christ.”
Christians, in other words, followers of Jesus Christ, celebrate December 25 not as just another secular holiday, but as the birthday of mankind’s Savior; the Restorer of whom Pius XII spoke. It’s the birthday, in the words of St. Leo the Great, of life itself.
We live in a special time, a holy time, in the Christmas season, and it has very little to do with holiday sales. Sharing presents with friends and family is a wonderful tradition that springs eagerly from our hearts. But the noise and distraction of mere things should never drown out the quiet voice of God’s love made flesh in the birth of Jesus. Bethlehem, for each of us individually and the world as a whole, is the beginning of something entirely new and utterly beautiful if we ask God for the purity of soul to possess it.
For Mary, there was nothing sweet or easy about being pregnant when she had never had intimate relations with Joseph. Nor would Mary’s story have been easy for her betrothed. No matter how great his faith, no matter how good his heart, Joseph still probably struggled with very human temptations to doubt. In fact, Eastern Christianity captures Joseph’s confusion powerfully in many of its icons of the Nativity. The icons often portray Joseph apart from the manger scene, with his back to the mother and child, deep in thought.
Yet, the reality is this: God loved us enough to send us—through the faith of Mary and Joseph—his only Son. He loved us enough to take on our poverty, our indignities and fears, our hopes, joys, sufferings, and failures—and to speak to us as one of us. He became man to show men and women how much God loves them. He was born for that purpose. He lived for that purpose. He died and rose again for that purpose.
Jesus is Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” Jesus is Yeshua, which means “God saves.” When Jesus later proclaims in his public ministry that “I am the way, the truth and the life,” he’s only restating the miracle that begins in Bethlehem. Our redeemer is born in a stable; he’s born to deliver us from sin and restore us to eternal life. This was the meaning of the birth on that first Christmas.
It’s never too late to invite Jesus into our lives. Surely this tired and complicated world never needed him more. So may God grant all of us the gift of welcoming the Christ Child into our hearts. May he bless us abundantly this Christmas. And may he guide us with his love throughout the coming year.
Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., is the archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia.