The meaning of Christmas

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 28, 3 December 1985, Page 6

The meaning of Christmas

No matter what happens, Christmas always arrives! Our ordinary lives are lifted to a new dimension! There is joy, sharing, an outpouring of love. This is at the very heart of our Christian Faith. That someone or something loved us so much, that a gift of

immeasurable proportions was placed into the hands of 1 mankind. i That gift, of course, is ( none other than God the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Immanuel God with us, as Scripture says. So many stories are told of "Christmas miracles". We even have a Christmas Carol that spells out man's love f-or man, in the form of Good King Wenceslas, when influenced by the newborn Christ. What did the king do but trudge through the snow bearing gifts for a poor man. His page, walking in his footsteps, found the very footprints in the snow to be warm and enveloping. Stories from both world wars are told of the cessation of fighting on Christmas eve and the exchange of gifts between soldiers who were sworn enemies minutes before. The Bethlehem story of the birth of Jesus, whom angels, shepherds and wise men worshipped, was of such great beauty and power that although the exact date of Christ's birth was unknown the Christian Church, the community of believers, set a date under the guidance of God the Holy Spirit,' so that we could focus our love upon Jesus and share that love with one another. So December 25th was chosen, lifted out of its pagan background and

>anctified by Christians, to ?ecome the great day to -ecall the joy of this Biblical jvent. Just imagine what life would be without Christ! Indeed, what life would be

like without the Biblical account of His birth! How drab it would be without a date for joy in Jesus' birthday!

Merry

Christmas!

Rev. Father Bob Peck.