PASTORAL MESSAGE
Nativity 2010

by Father John Tomasi

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ represents for us the fundamental expression of God’s love flowing into this world.  We live out our lives in a constant state of change and transition, yet God’s outpouring of grace never changes nor wanes.  And, from conception in our mother’s womb to the very last breath we take in this world, we are faced with either accepting or rejecting God’s will for us.  

How a person lives and what a person does in this life has much to do with how he or she follows the commandments of God.  Our Lord commands us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Do we obey this?  Consider the proverbial saying, “As the twig is bent, so the tree is inclined.”  It should motivate each of us to ask: “What is my personal inclination?  How have I been bent?  Do the commandments of God resonate in my heart?”  

If we are honest, we will admit that we have been nurtured in a society that prides itself on rugged individualism.  The idea of overcoming the harshest of difficulties is preeminent in our thinking.  In our youth we learned that George Washington never told a lie and that Abraham Lincoln was born in poverty and yet became President of the United States.  These great American heroes lived during difficult times and helped to solve tremendous problems in life, such as forging and preserving a new nation.  To this day, the concept of rugged individualism lives on in the hearts and stories of this great nation, even as its citizens must come to grips with moral turpitude and declining standards of justice.
 
The ability to overcome problems is still seen as a primary element of greatness.  We salute prominent athletes, actors, and politicians, but often become disillusioned when they let us down in some unexpected way.  Tiger Woods, for example, once considered a golfing icon became a person with a lot of problems.  The news media discovered and exposed his misconduct in marriage, and now that he is divorced, many hope that he will return to the status of super golf-hero.  Another example is Mel Gibson, whose life has fallen apart in many ways and the media seems to love it.  Mr. Gibson was once regarded as a religious person trying to serve his Lord, and now is considered a derelict by many who used to love him.
 
Unfortunately, striving for rugged individualism can give a person the wrong notion of what it means to be human.  Human beings were created to be completely dependent upon God.  In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul writes, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”  [Gal. 2:20].  From the moment we awaken in the morning, to the laying down of our heads at night, we live, breathe, and reside in the Love of God!  How then do we awaken from our prideful, rugged selves to become human beings that live to serve God?
    
The answer is actually quite simple: we must believe in God’s love—and in faith, we must trust Him.  It is a very difficult thing for some people to have a deep faith in God, Who is “everywhere present and fills all things,” (see My Life in Christ, by St. John of Kronstadt, Pg 184).  While we are in this world, we see the God’s handiwork in everything.  If we have a heart that is warm towards God, we will have a warm heart towards everyone, whether family, friend, stranger, or foe.  Discernment comes from God and is cultivated in love.  We maintain our faith through love and love through faith.  Because God is the first Cause and He first loved us, we have the capacity to love Him and to love those He sends our way.  

May God bless each of you in this Nativity season with His abundant wisdom, grace, and love.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. [I Cor. 13:11-13]

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