Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
The feast of Christmas, unfolds for the world and for us who believe in Jesus, our savior, the great journey of God coming among us as man and the journey of mankind to God. The whole Christmas season is revealed in Sacred Scripture, as a pilgrimage of faith and life.
The Angel Gabriel is sent from heaven to earth to announce to Mary that she is to be the mother of the Most High. Immediately Mary goes in haste to the hill country of Judah to visit her cousin Elisabeth. As the time for Mary to give birth draws near, she and her husband Joseph must journey to Bethlehem, and finding no room at the Inn, Jesus is born away from home. With the birth of our savior the pace of the journey picks up and we see shepherds going in haste to see for themselves the news of great joy that an Angel announced to them. The Christmas season winds down with the mysterious visit of the Magi from afar, and eventually the flight into Egypt of the Holy Family to escape the persecution of King Herod.
It is so perfect that Christ’s Church is called “The Pilgrim Church” in the Constitution of the Church in Vatican II. Chapter VII. God’s eternally begotten Son has been sent among us to bring us and all of creation home to communion with our Creator.
For myself the journey to Inuvik this past June for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), was a graced moment to meet with the meaning of our Saviors birth. A beautiful reminder of the journey with Christ. With the swarms of mosquitos, rough roads and flat tires the sun did not go down, and the light did not diminish despite the dark shadow of sin and pain covering the earth. The dawn of Jesus’s birth lights the journey and accomplishes what people can only faintly attempt in the journey of truth and reconciliation.
Yes, indeed, God has set out towards us. God has traveled the longer part of the journey. Now God invites us in this Christmas season: come and see how much I love you. “To you is born this
day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”
Merry Christmas to you and your families.
Gary M. Gordon
Bishop
Christ The King church in Mayo