The story is told about a barber who gave a free haircut to a German. Next day, he received a box of frankfurters outside his door. He also gave a free haircut to a Japanese, and received a bottle of sake outside his door. He gave a free haircut to a Filipino, and the next day? He found outside his door 10 Filipinos, who sent text messages to others about a barber who was giving free haircut to everyone!
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Today is Christmas Day. “For God so loved the world that He gave his Only Begotten Son” (John 3:16), through whom we all have been given the gift of eternal life. This is the greatest love story ever told. What have we done to spread it? What have we done to make Christmas a reality in our lives and in the lives of people around us?
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In today’s Gospel (John 1:1-18), we hear how God has given to those who accept the Word the power to become His children. Today, let us humbly thank God for this tremendous gift, and let us renew our commitment to serve Him and His people, especially the “little ones”: the suffering and the poor.
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Christmas is all about peace, joy, hope, and love. But we can have all these only if we give them. Today, let us examine our giving capacity. Are we living a giving life? How is our giving capacity in terms of quantity and quality?
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The happiest people I have met in my life are the giving persons. I call them Christmas persons, the whole year through. There are people like that. Walking Christmas trees the whole year through! They give so much joy, gifts, and hope, and they do it so humbly and so hiddenly. They do not light up themselves. They are living reminders of God’s presence and love.
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In this, our present world where there is so much frenzy about the power of money, arms, human intelligence, and technology, Christmas reminds us about the power of love. Humility is powerful. A kind word is powerful. Forgiveness is powerful. Good deeds and kindness are powerful. We should give these Christmas values a chance, to lead us to change.
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Thank God we have a better and brighter Christmas this year. Having said that, we must continue to bring light and hope to people around us, because the night of poverty, corruption, and injustice are still around us.
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Christmas came early this year for us in the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) when we received the news that Rev. Fr. Pablito M. Tagura, SVD, current rector of Christ the King Seminary, has been appointed by the Holy Father as apostolic vicar of San Jose, Occidental Mindoro. In the spirit of Christmas, we as a society “give” him to the local church. We let him go with our founder’s prayer: “May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the world and the Spirit of grace; and may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all.” Amen.
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Remember (and sing!) this song by the Jackson 5: “It’s that time of year, when good friends are near and you wish you could give more than just presents from a store; why don’t you give love on Christmas Day, oh, even the man who has everything would be so happy if you would bring him love on Christmas Day; no greater gift is there than love.” May I add: Give love every day.
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The first Christmas of Mama Mary was quiet, poor, and humble, but it was filled with so much peace, joy, hope, and love. MARY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
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A moment with our Lord: Lord, may we keep spreading the good news of Christmas, the whole year round. Amen.
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