January 7, 2024

Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever ~

On New Years eve I spoke to a stranger behind the counter asking her if she was going to celebrate the coming of the new year that evening. She said she was. I asked her, tongue in cheek, if she was excited about the new year. She said she wasn’t excited about the new year, but she wasn’t afraid either. I didn’t ask her if she were afraid, so her answer made me pause and reflect. So, I asked her if she knew anyone who was afraid of the coming new year, “Oh yes!” she exclaimed. If the word frightened is too strong for most, I venture a guess that most people would say they have anxiety going into 2024, and anxiety about 2025 and beyond too.

What about the Holy Family on that first Christmas in the cave at Bethlehem, or the shepherds and Magi that came to visit them, were they afraid? I don’t think any of them were afraid because they knew God had this. The Word of God was born in that cave and while not everyone totally got that, they did understand enough to know that God was manifesting Himself. That He had a serious plan for the human race, that a “future full of hope” (Jer. 29:11) was on the way – divine victory was on the way.

Mary and Joseph, the peasant shepherds, the Magi who still had to travel a great distance on foot to get home (with treasure and no protection); all these had good reason to be afraid, but they weren’t. They were filled with joy and confidence. They had supernatural faith in who this baby was and that this baby was going to change the world for the better.

The people of the world today are afraid of many things because they do not have faith in the Christ Child. Most people who celebrate Christmas do not bother with the Christ Child. They have lost or never had the meaning of the season, so they’ve never had the hope and confidence that those in the cave of Bethlehem had.

If you are finding yourself anxious about the future, then I suggest your faith in Jesus Christ isn’t where it should or could be. Yes, great things are coming in the years ahead, things not seen since the days of Noah, but they are part of God’s plans to change things for the better. The unknown future, united to Jesus Christ, is still a “future full of hope” because it is a future full of divine victory.

This Sunday we celebrate Epiphany, which is a Greek word meaning manifestation or revelation. At Mass, we mark the moment when the three Magi, Wisemen, or Kings visited the Christ Child bearing special gifts. In this visit, still as an infant, Christ is revealing or manifesting Himself to more than the Jewish nation, but through the Magi to all the nations. If only the nations, if only you and I, would notice, believe, and act on who Jesus is and what faith in Him should look like, we would have as much hope, strength, and peace as those privileged few did in that cave on that first Christmas night.

“I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Jesus (Jn 16:33)

May Almighty Bless You,