THY
KINGDOM COME
His Eminence The Lord Cardinal
Donald Wuerl
Archbishop of
Washington DC
Cardinal
Priest of ‘San Pietro in Vincoli’
His Eminence The Lord Cardinal Donald Wuerl
CHRISTMAS 2012
HOMILY
Merry Christmas! Jesus
has the perfect gift for all of us – Himself. Will
you accept it?
It is a common problem: you want
to give something special, something just right, but what do you give to the
person who already seems to have everything?
Eventually though, the answer
presents itself to believers and nonbelievers alike, and there is still time to
give it today and every day: you give them the gift they cannot buy for
themselves, that which they cannot even obtain unless it is
given to them. You give them the gift of self, the gift of love. Love is
something that must be given – it cannot be taken and it is not automatic, the gift of self in
love is a choice and it must be freely bestowed.
The gift of love is the best gift
to give and to receive, and for it to be perfect, it must be the most perfect of
loves, the love of God. On this Christmas Day, the Lord makes a gift of
Himself to us, and to help us see that He comes not to overpower us, but as
a gift, a gift of
love, the Almighty comes to us as a newborn baby and in a family. He
presents us with this gift of His love so that we might rejoice in it and share
it with others as a family, just as Mary and Joseph shared the infant Jesus
with the shepherds.
Jesus, who is Emmanuel,
God-with-us, comes as a little baby in poverty and need of help. The gift
that He asks for in return is our love and our gift of love to
others, helping Him in the work of salvation.
Both those who are faithful and
those strongly influenced by secular materialism often come to realize that
material things ultimately leave them unfulfilled, and that the best present is
the gift of love. The need and desire for love is inherent in the nature
of the human person. Everyone wants to be loved and wanted. We thrive on
love, and when we do not have it or give it, our lives wither.
One of our challenges in the New
Evangelization is to help people to see the connection between the love they
naturally seek and the Lord. God is Love, but so many people fail to see
this – the many past messages of faith have been crowded out by the messages of
an aggressive secularism, materialism, and individualism, such that many
erroneously believe God and His Church have little to say to them today.
Even many previously catechized Catholics believe this and so they have left
their faith behind.
Thus, we need to re-propose to
them the truth: that Jesus Christ is the answer, that the gift they really need, the
true and undying love they seek in their restless hearts, can be found in Him,
in the little child of Bethlehem, as discovered by St. Augustine, who had
himself been a fairly worldly man until his conversion. Helping others to see
this connection between love and the Baby born in the stable, that God is Love
and the Church is the instrument of His love, is key to
succeeding in overcoming the many misconceptions and misunderstandings that
people have about God, the Church, and the Catholic faith.
Love is the transcendent common
language of mankind, it is how we can reach the fallen away and the
non-believer. There is nothing more powerful than love – it was through
the power of love that the universe was created and death was defeated, so it
will be by and through love that people will be transformed. Even the
secular materialist knows that love is the most important thing in life – it is life – but they
keep going down the wrong roads to find it. We need to help them find the
right road.
Christmas is an ideal moment for
evangelization. In Jesus, instead of fleeting worldly “riches,” all of which
will one day be reduced to dust, we can receive the blessings of an entire
kingdom, a kingdom of eternal life and love and a spiritual home, the Church.
Although we may have already
bought various gifts to place under the tree, it is not too late to give the
most perfect and everlasting gift that one can give, the gift of the love of
our Lord Jesus Christ. When we go to Mass we can take others with us – to
go see Jesus in person and to receive Him, either in the Eucharist or
spiritually. For our brother and sister Catholics who have left, we can
ask them to come home, and for non-Catholics, we can invite them to join the
family gathered around Mary and Joseph and the Babe lying in the manger.
+ CARDINAL DONALD WUERL
Archdiocese of Washington DC
25th December 2012
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