From the very beginning of December we hear about “Christmas” on TV and in other media, but it’s all focused on Christmas trees, Christmas cake, Christmas gifts and Santa Claus, Christmas lights and songs. The most popular songs are probably “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.” The closest we get to a song about Christ’s birth may be an occasional “Silent Night.”
Although there is a general awareness of Christmas here in Japan, for most people it’s something like Hallowe’en, another event with market value brought into Japan from abroad. I suppose very few people know that the real meaning of the term “Christmas” is “Christ’s Mass,” which we are celebrating here tonight.
Today we recall the past coming of Christ 2,000 years ago as a newborn baby in a smelly cowshed. During Advent we were also urged to look forward to his future coming in glory at the end of time. We ourselves may not live until that future coming in glory, but each of us will have our own encounter with the Lord of glory at the end of our life. So here we are, living between Jesus’ first coming in poverty and his second coming in glory.
But if we focus too much on either of these—Jesus’ past or future coming—we might lose sight of the ways in which Jesus comes to us at present, in our daily life. Jesus comes to us in the events we encounter and the people we meet. If we don’t expect to meet him here in our daily life, we might not recognize him when he actually comes to us, perhaps through requests to offer some of our time and energy to the people and situations we meet from day to day.
The birth of Jesus that we celebrate at Christmas is God’s great gift to humanity. Jesus came because he wanted to be with us, and seeing Jesus changes our way of seeing God. God is not a distant King sitting on a heavenly throne. Nor is God a stern Judge sending people to heaven or hell. Nor is he a fearsome warlord crushing the enemies of his people. No, Jesus was born into this world of ours to show us that God is our Father and that he loves all his children, our brothers and sisters. God loves us as we are, with all our weaknesses and sins, and he never abandons us, even when we tend to forget him.
The important thing about Jesus being born and living in our world is that he gave us a model and pattern of how we should live and love. When we read the gospels, we notice that Jesus is always ready to lend a hand to help people he meets. He heals the sick, he feeds the hungry, he eats with social outcasts, he protects oppressed people by scolding the arrogant leaders who are oppressing them. And he tells us that we should treat others as he treated us—to love others as he has loved us. That means respecting others. Respect for others is at the basis of all love and morality. If we respect others, we will not harm them but will lend a helping hand when we can.
So let’s thank God for giving us Jesus at Christmas. We can think of Christmas cakes as pieces of Jesus’ birthday cake, and our Christmas gifts to one another can be our way of sharing ourselves with one another, just as God gave Jesus to us as the greatest Christmas gift of all times. (2025.12.24 St Ignatius 9 p.m.)
Robert Chiesa, SJ