From the beginning, God created the human family to be a “domestic church,” a sacred place where he could dwell, a place where he could reveal his love and by his grace, bless and care for all of his children.  The human family is meant to be a school of love where all human persons learn how to live in love and grow into a love that gives itself freely in service to others.  The family is a place of light where we learn to know Jesus as the “light of the world” and to know ourselves as “children of light.”  The mystery of Christmas is a mystery of the human family, a mystery of light!

     Pope Francis speaks to us about the effect of Christmas for our families in his exhortation, The Joy of Love:  “The incarnation of the Word in a human family, in Nazareth, by its very newness changed the history of the world. We need to enter into the mystery of Jesus’ birth, into that “yes” given by Mary to the message of the angel, when the Word was conceived in her womb, as well as the “yes” of Joseph, who gave a name to Jesus and watched over Mary. We need to contemplate the joy of the shepherds before the manger, the adoration of the Magi and the flight into Egypt, in which Jesus shares his people’s experience of exile, persecution and humiliation…We then need to peer into those thirty long years when Jesus earned his keep by the work of his hands, reciting the traditional prayers and expressions of his people’s faith and coming to know that ancestral faith until he made it bear fruit in the mystery of the Kingdom. This is the mystery of Christmas and the secret of Nazareth, exuding the beauty of family life!” (Amoris Laetitia, 65)

     “The covenant of love and fidelity lived by the Holy Family of Nazareth illuminates the principle which gives shape to every family, and enables it better to face the vicissitudes of life and history. On this basis, every family, despite its weaknesses, can become a light in the darkness of the world. ‘Nazareth teaches us the meaning of family life, its loving communion, its simple and austere beauty, its sacred and inviolable character. May it teach how sweet and irreplaceable is its training, how fundamental and incomparable its role in the social order.’” (AL, 66)

   Our families are meant to be places of light and love.  With the birth of the Christ child on Christmas day, all human persons can know the light and receive the power of eternal life, for the light has a human name, a human body, a human family and is a part of human history.  Jesus is the light of the world and enlightens every human life.  Throughout the season of Advent we have been preparing for a “coming”, for the fulfillment of a promise of new life and for the gift that brings new hope to everyone.  John the Evangelist proclaims the good news:  “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” (Jn 1,9)  God has sent a light into the world, a new power for life that will give light to the entire world.   This light is a “true” light and will not disappoint us.

     The gift of Christmas is a gift of new life.  John unwraps this gift for us in these words, “But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.” (Jn 1,12f)  God is the giver of this gift.  No human person or scientific discovery can promise us this “power source.”  If we accept the gift of God that is presented to us on Christmas morning, we are plugging into a power source that gives us new life, fills our family homes with light and allows us to live always in the light.

     Perhaps we can all remember the joy of receiving a gift on Christmas that was the “perfect gift” for us.  This perfect gift was a sign of the love of the giver for us.  It demonstrated a love that knew us and our deepest desires and cared enough to give us something that we truly needed.  How much more is our joy this Christmas morning as we receive once again the gift of God in the child Jesus!  God’s gift is a sign of his eternal love for us.  It is a gift of light, of power and of new life.  Make sure this Christmas that you do not leave this gift unnoticed and unwrapped among your other gifts for no other gift can give you greater joy.  May God bless you and your family with true and lasting joy this Christmas!