Christmas Letter 2008

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

 “Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace to men of good will!” (Lk 2:14).  Heaven itself does not contain the joy of those who worship God alone!  On the night when Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, gave birth to the infant Savior in a stable in Bethlehem, the choirs of angels who sing eternal praise to God in Heaven descended to earth and sang this hymn.  This was seen and heard by many, including, as St. Luke recounts, those shepherds who ran to find and worship the child whose glory was sung even by angels.  What faith they showed! 

 Since that night, this hymn continues to resound throughout the world, as the Church praises the Lord of Heaven and Earth, in union with the angelic choirs.  Especially on this great and most solemn feast of Christmas, the “Mass of Christ” our Savior, when we celebrate His glorious Incarnation and the mystery of our salvation’s promise being fulfilled, let our proclaiming of “Glory to God!” be very joyful.  Let our response be as sincere and as spontaneously faithful as that of those shepherds.

 For the four weeks of Advent, we have not sung this hymn. (except on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception) It has lain dormant in our liturgy, the better to mark out the contrast between the anticipation of Christ’s coming, and His sudden arrival.  During Advent, we are preparing; during Christmas – the whole season of Christmas, from the Nativity on December 25 to the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord on January 11 – we are celebrating in the presence of “the Bridegroom at the wedding feast” (Mk 2:19).  Suddenly, now, on the night when Christ is born, we take up again this beautiful hymn, and sing joyfully, “Glory to God!”

 For what, after all, is God’s glory, which we praise so clearly in this hymn at every solemn Mass, and which the choirs of Heaven eternally praise in the same way?  The Mass itself tells us.  Consider the readings for Midnight Mass, marking the moment of Christ’s birth: “The people in darkness have seen a great light,” the prophet Isaiah says (Is 9:1).  “Sing to the Lord a new song!” cries the Psalmist, “For He comes to rule the earth” (Ps 96:1, 13).  “The grace of God has appeared… [It is] the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us…” writes St. Paul to his friend Titus in Crete (Titus 2:11, 13-14).  “Glory,” then, is the unquenchable light, the irresistible joy, the transforming grace of God, which we see and feel when He is tangibly present to His people.

 Glory, as light and joy and grace, reveals God.  We see and feel this glory both externally, with our physical senses, and interiorly, still more clearly, with the “eyes and ears of faith” in our hearts and souls.

 The natural world reveals God indirectly.  Beauty, harmony, peace, and orderliness in nature reflect indirectly God’s glory, because God is “the Creator of all things, both visible and invisible.”  Even this indirect, reflected glory is an icon of God as Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – because “through Christ all things were made,” and because all living things also live by the power of the Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the Giver of life.”  Whenever we experience the natural goodness of God’s creation, such as in a beautiful sunset or a delicious meal, we are implicitly recognizing the glory of God. 

 We make use of this reflected glory in a more direct way in the Church, by fashioning the most beautiful and harmonious buildings and vessels and music possible, from the natural gifts of wood and stone and so forth.  We also consecrate these things to a single use, that of praising God, so that the glory of His saving, Triune presence in the liturgies and sacraments of the Church will be that much more obvious to our weak human senses.

 The social world of our human cultures also reveals God indirectly.  Again, God is the Creator, and in His Triune mystery, He is the pattern, the archetype, of all society.  We imitate Him in our social nature, and so we reflect His glory there also.  Whenever we experience, for example, the natural joys of family life, or the satisfaction of doing a job well and skillfully, we are implicitly recognizing the glory of God.

 Again, we make use of this natural and reflected glory in the “perfect society” of the Church, the Body and spotless Bride of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is both right and just that the Church should have the sacred duty to proclaim “Glory to God,” because it is only in the Church that the full splendor of His glory shines directly, not merely reflected from some part of His creation.  All of our liturgies in the Church, from sacramentals like the Liturgy of the Hours to the greatest sacrament, the Holy Eucharist, are public, meant to be shared as a community of worship.  The Blessed Sacrament, of course, radiates its own tangible peace and beauty into our hearts as we adore Him and allow ourselves to be formed into His Body in receiving Him.  The proclamation of the Gospel likewise is a social act, not a private one; and we use candles at the ambo to signify the radiant light of Christ present in the proclamation of His Word.  Even service to the poor, of whatever kind, is a social act of the Church, not merely a private transaction with no spiritual benefit. 

 All these exterior manifestations of the saving power and presence, the Glory, of God, lead us on to perceive and recognize by the grace of faith the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, alive and active throughout history.  Even today, here and now in north-west Iowa, He reigns gloriously, if we can but perceive His kingdom.  In faith, we can see clearly the preparatory work of God among His chosen people, Israel; and the “real, true, and substantial” presence in history of the Son of God as Jesus Christ, Son of Mary; and the same presence still, through the members of His Body, the Church.  Most especially, in faith we see and adore the Lord Jesus in His most “real, true, and substantial” presence in the Holy Eucharist, hidden from our senses, but graciously tangible to our hearts, under the appearance of bread and wine.

 This is why the angels continue singing, and we in the Church echo them, “peace on earth to men of good will.”  The light, the joy, the grace of recognizing the true presence of the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, in the helpless newborn in a manger in Bethlehem, is not reserved to the powerful, or the wise, or even the chosen few of Israel.  It is for all, for every human being who will ever be conceived in a mother’s womb, past, present, or future.  The shepherds and the Magi, Jew and Gentile, simple and great, hasten to worship Him, and thereby attest to the universal beauty and appeal of God’s glorious mercy in His Son Jesus Christ.

 But, “many are called, and few are chosen.” (Mt 22:14)  Christ comes to us all, but not all of us accept Him.  Not everyone is willing to give “glory to God in the highest;” not everyone is “of good will.”  King Herod feared for his throne, and tried to kill Jesus, by murdering every child in Bethlehem under the age of two; today, we fear to share our wealth, and try to kill Jesus in the atrocities of abortion and euthanasia.  Later, when Jesus preached to them, his own family and friends in Nazareth tried to throw Him off a cliff, rather than hear His “good news;” today, we willfully ignore that same “good news,” and despise His prophets who call on us to change.  Many people rejected Jesus, like the rich young man who could not bring himself to “sell everything, give to the poor, and follow Him” (Mt 19:21); today, we continue to reject our call to follow Him, preferring our own goals to His. 

 Faith in Jesus Christ is a gift which we are always, and at each moment, free to accept or reject.  God does not compel us to love Him, though He gives us an infinite number of reasons to do so.  God does not force us to retrace the paths of His great glory, from the bounty of His creation, to His instruction in salvation history and in our conscience, to willing obedience to His words in Scripture, even to adoring submission before our Lord Jesus Christ.  Do we accept His love?  Do we submit to His yoke?

 We can run to worship Him today, like the shepherds once did!  The angels’ hymn teaches us still further, “We praise you!  We bless you!  We adore you!  We glorify you!  We thank you, because of your great glory!”  God calls us and gives us the means to respond, to grow in faith, even in the face of weak or evil will.   God does not reject us in our sinfulness, but wills us to be healed by His Son.  “God proves His love for us because, while we were still sinners, He sent His Son to die for us” (Rom 5:8).  When we come to adore Him, especially in His own Precious Body; when we receive Him in the sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Eucharist; when we see Him in the face of the poor, and love Him without measure, we can grow in faith.  We are strengthened by His strength, healed by His health, sanctified by His perfect holiness, to choose a little more deeply and unreservedly to love Him alone.  We can practice and develop the habit of accepting Christ’s inestimable gift of faith.  His great glory can be embedded in our minds and hearts, because He was Incarnated within the womb of the immaculate Blessed Mother, Mary.

 The purity and simplicity of the shepherds’ faith should be ours also.  Though they were poor and ignorant, they recognized the glory of God in the infant Christ.  The angels’ joy brought forth their own joy, and they “glorified and praised God for all the things they had seen and heard” (Lk 2:20).  We, too, are witnesses to glorious acts of God, not only in the holy sacraments, not only in the Christmas manger, but every day.  God gives us such bounty of health, and wealth, and peace.  Even in these uncertain times, in the midst of our sorrows and struggles, we are still incredibly blessed.  Do we have the spontaneous joy of those simple shepherds?  Do we recognize the glory of Christ all around us every day?  Do we take the time to glorify and praise and serve Him, as we ought?

 May the grace and peace and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in this year of grace 2009 increase your faith! And, make sure to leave your Christmas tree and decorations up at least until January 11, 2009.  If someone asks why do you still have your Christmas decorations out, tell them, “its still Christmas”!

Your brother in Christ,

Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless