God is with us, (Emmanuel)

Dear friends, I wish you all a Merry Christmas in advance. During World War II, plane travel and television were still in their infancy. One Christmas Day during the World War a young family – father, mother and children –was outside trimming a Christmas tree. Suddenly a plane passed directly overhead. The mother shouted to the children, ‘That is the plane your uncle is on. Let’s all wave. Maybe, he will see us’. The children jumped up and down, waved  frantically and shouted at the top of their voices. Seconds later after the plane had passed, the youngest child turned to her daddy and asked, ‘Daddy, how do    people climb up to the sky to get into the planes?’ Her daddy explained that passengers didn’t have to climb to the sky to get into the planes. The planes come down from the sky for the passengers to get into and take the passengers into the sky.

We may find this story as a beautiful illustration of what Christmas is all about. Christmas celebrates the fact that we don’t have to climb up to heaven to get to God. God has come down to us on earth to take us into heaven. He loves us so much! I remember an incident that happened to me while I was doing my study in one of the famous universities in India. One of my Hindu friends asked me, Father , I would like to become a Catholic. It was a shock for me, because conversion is prohibited in that state. However I asked him: Why do you want to become a Catholic? He said: I was searching for a loving and merciful God. I studied different religions and their sacred scriptures and  only in the Bible and in Jesus did I find a God who came to save the sinners like me. Yes, friends he is right! Some religions teach about god and show the ways to reach. Some religions believe in the incarnation of God. For example, the Hindu Scriptures describe ten incarnations of God “to destroy the sinners and to restore righteousness in the world whenever there is a large-scale erosion of moral values.

But the Catholic faith teaches us only one incarnation, and its purpose is given in John 3: 16: “God so loved the world that He sent His only Son so that every one who believes in Him may not die, but may have eternal life.” Jesus came, not to destroy the sinners but to save the sinners. We celebrate the Incarnation today as good news because we have a Divine Savior, who will liberate us from our slavery to sin.  So, when Jesus was born, the Angel appeared to the Shepherds and said: I have good news for you: A savior is born…He will save you from sin.
Today we come together to celebrate this good news: In Jesus we are a new creation, and in him we have new life and hope. Christmas celebrates the fact that the creator of the       universe comes to visit his creatures. He lives with them and tries to rebuild or reshape the lives of creatures. We know the real meaning of Christmas is Emmanuel, God-with-us – God coming down to us; God coming alongside us; God revealing Himself to us; God bringing us forgiveness, Healing, comfort, moral strength, guidance and peace. So, let us live in the presence of God always. Let us remember the famous lines of Alexander Pope: “What do I profit if Jesus is born in thousands of cribs all over the world during this Christmas, if He is not born in my heart?”

May God bless you.
-Fr Johnson