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Father Maassen's Message - 12/24/2023
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Blessed Christmas to all!
Welcome! It is wonderful you are here.
I do not send Christmas cards—never have– but that doesn’t mean I don’t like receiving them. I do. Perhaps I will send Christmas cards when I am retired. I have noticed recently more and more people sending Christmas cards with pictures of themselves, which is what they choose, and I am grateful that they send them to me. However…
One of these types of Christmas cards came some years back from the son and daughter-in-law of some good friends of mine. It is clear from one of the pictures (along with what is written) that the wife was pregnant. Both are smiling; it was a nice photo. The picture reminded me of the Holy Family before the birth of Christ, of Joseph and Mary, pregnant with Jesus. It is– what would be the proper words here—wonderful, fascinating, certainly incredible that 2,000 years ago, give or take, there was a couple joyfully waiting for a child to be born. The Holy Family is like the holy family on the Christmas card, yet, also different. The couple 2,000 years ago expected the Divine, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God. What moved me the most on the Christmas card/picture were the words written on the back, which said, “We miss you and hope to see you soon.” Then it was signed with a “heart the 3 of us” (love, the three of us). A reminder to me that you and I are loved and cared for.
This is certainly what Christmas should remind all of us—this indescribable, incomprehensible love our Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit has for us. The Son of God came to us as a fragile infant child, not strong enough to lift his head, sit up, or even rollover; human just like us. Our Father sent his only Son to free us from the tyranny of Satan, sin, and death. Jesus Christ came to see us, to rescue us, to open the way to the joy of eternal life because we are loved.
Our Father did not just say I love you, but loved us in the doing, in the giving...our Lord still loves us in the doing, sustaining each of us. It can be easy to say, “I love you.” We believe in love not just because of words stated but because of what the person does.
In each Mass, our Lord loves us. Jesus Christ becomes present in the Eucharist and becomes a gift to us once again in what was bread and wine. At Mass, the sacrifice of Calvary sacramentally is made present. What does Jesus Christ ask of us but to love? What is one of the most preeminent ways we love the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? By giving ourselves as well in worship at Mass. At Mass we love our brothers and sisters by praying with them and for them.
Peace,
Fr. Maassen
