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December 21, 2008

Cardinal George offers Christmas greetings

Cardinal George sent this letter to all parishes for distribution at Christmas:

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Christmas is remembered and celebrated in many ways. As a child, it’s the surprise and the gifts that mark the day. As a young person, it’s the planning that goes into each gift as, for the first time, you can spend your own money to buy gifts for others. As a parent, it’s the delight and happiness of children that leave the strongest impression. As an older adult, it’s often the unity of the family that brings the most satisfaction. All of these are good, but each is only a part of something bigger. The more basic question is: what does Christmas mean to God?

St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews tells us that “in times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things, who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being.” At the beginning of the Gospel according to St. John, we hear that God’s eternal word took flesh and became light for the world, so that all could come to comprehend who God is and what is our destiny in God’s plan.

Christmas, therefore, means we are to fit the bits and pieces of our lives and our experiences— the surprises, the generosity, the happiness, the unity — and the sin as well — to take all these and fit them into God’s plan for us, revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God and son of Mary.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we live by his light in the midst of the darkness of our own sins and the sins of the world. The world doesn’t like to be exposed, as either partial or sinful, and resists the light now as when Jesus was born. But nothing the world can offer is eternal, nothing lasts forever, except the Word of God made flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Today, Christmas celebrations will be more modest in many homes and memories will be different from other years. But what is done in and with and through Christ, the eternal Word of God, will be done well and will last forever.

I hope that some time in the future, we will recall that this was the Christmas we came to understand how God is always with us, in good times and in bad, in darkness and in light, so long as we remain one in him. This will then have been a truly blessed Christmas.

You and your intentions will be remembered in my Christmas Masses and prayers; please keep me and the needs of the Archdiocese of Chicago in yours.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Chicago