The Bishop's Perspective - Living with Joyful Hope

With every passing year of my life, Christmas seems to come as if by surprise. Even though I promise myself each year that next year I will certainly be more prepared, it still catches me off guard. Maybe the seemingly sudden Christmas season catches us off-guard because of all the holiday and festive activities that demand so much of our time and energy from shopping to decorating to sending our Christmas greetings.

Christmas really is the most joyful time of the year, however, sometimes we can find ourselves ambivalent about the season and even joy-less as we hurry through the days as well as our “to do” list. Rather than focusing on all the extra responsibilities, it would be good to take a step back and prayerfully remember that we are preparing to celebrate the greatest event in the history of humanity. As St. Paul writes in the 4th Chapter of his Letter to the Galatians: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to ransom those under the law, so that we might receive adoption.” (4:4-5) That beautiful phrase, “the fullness of time”, is so powerful, meaning that when God knew that the “time” was right — when humanity had the greatest need — when all the circumstances were in place — when the need for a Savior was of such critical importance — that is when God sent His Son as an innocent Baby, born of a Virgin Mother, to be Christ and Lord. St. John magnificently reflects on this world-changing event in the Prologue to his Gospel when he writes about God’s Word which existed from all eternity, but entered into human time when “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth”. (John 1:14) Our loving God is so in love with humanity that He became “God with us”/Emmanuel in the Incarnation. This mystery of our faith should spiritually “blow our minds” as we try to comprehend it; but since we are unable to do that, we are filled with gratitude and joy; as Psalm 126 puts it: “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy”.

Christmas is the most joyful time of the year because we celebrate the very incarnation of God’s love in our lives. Despite what might be taking place in the world, or in any of our lives, from horrific tragedies to personal problems, the message of the Angel to the shepherds on that first Christmas morning, continues to be the message of Hope for the world: “I come to proclaim good news to you, tidings of great joy to be shared by the whole people. This day in David’s city, a Savior has been born to you, the Messiah and Lord. You have nothing to fear!” (Lk.2:10) the shepherds went in haste, and, St. Luke tells us, “once they saw the Child lying in the manger, they understood what had been told them concerning this Child.” (2:17). erein lies the secret to the great mystery of faith: to “see” and “understand” in faith. And what we see and understand is that this Child is the reason we can find joy, even in the midst of our problems, even in the busyness of our hectic, fast-paced lives, even while experiencing anxiety and worry over challenges beyond our control; because, as this Child will tell us when He is grown into adulthood and proclaiming the Good News to the world, “with God all things are possible”. (Mt. 19:26)

My Episcopal motto, “Waiting in Joyful Hope”, reflects that Advent/Christmas message. As we know, as liturgical seasons, Advent lasts four weeks (although this year we would have to say only four Sundays) and Christmas lasts only three weeks. But our human lives in this world are, in a sense, a life-long Advent. From the moment of our baptism into Christ, as we begin living as disciples of Christ, we look forward with anticipation to the time when we will be able to live with Christ forever in Heaven. Until that moment comes at the end of our lives here on earth, we are in a time of “advent”, waiting for that Final Coming. But because of what we celebrate on Christmas, and even more importantly what we celebrate on Easter, we are actively waiting, being very busy fulfilling our responsibilities but always as, what Pope Francis continues to call us to be, joyful disciples of Jesus. At the same time, confident that our God is with us, we remain filled with hope because we are heirs to the Victory Christ has already won.

This Christmas, just like all the ones in the past and all those still to come, there will be much for us to do. But this year, let us not lose sight of why Christmas is the cause of our joy and the reason for our hope. Let us gaze upon the Christ Child, and truly “see” with the eyes of faith and “understand”, so that on Christmas Day, when we genuflect (and on all other Solemnities profoundly bow) at the words in the Creed “For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man”, our joy will indeed be complete. May all of you be filled with joyful hope on Christmas and always.

Merry Christmas and God Bless You! Bishop Paul J. Bradley