December 25, 2025 - Christmas- Holy Family 2025
Dear Sisters and Brothers! A Blessed and Joyful Christmas to You All!!!
On behalf of our parish priests and staff, I extend to you and your loved ones heartfelt Christmas wishes. May this holy season fill your homes with peace, your hearts with hope, and your lives with the quiet joy that comes from knowing God is with us. Merry Christmas!
Today, we celebrate the great mystery at the heart of our faith: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Christmas proclaims that God is not distant or removed from our human experience. He enters it fully. He comes as a child—fragile, dependent, and entrusted to human love. The manger reveals who God is and how God works. He does not force His way into the world. He waits to be welcomed. He is born into simplicity, surrounded not by privilege, but by faith. In Jesus, God embraces our joys and struggles, our hopes and our wounds. Christmas speaks directly to our lives today. Many hearts rejoice; others ache. Some gather with family; others feel absence or loss. The good news of Christmas is that God enters all of it. No darkness is too deep, no situation too broken, no heart too weary for His light.
The Gospel of Christmas Day does not begin at the manger, but in eternity: “In the beginning was the Word.” Saint John reminds us that the child lying in the crib is the eternal God through whom all things were made. Yet this same God chooses humility over power, closeness over control, love over fear. As we celebrate this sacred day, we are invited to receive Christ anew—not only in this church, but in our daily lives. To welcome Him in kindness offered, forgiveness shared, generosity practiced, and love renewed.
We have just knelt at the manger, gazing upon the wonder of God made flesh—so small, so vulnerable, so close. He came not as a powerful ruler, but as a child born into a family. On Holy Family Sunday, we reflect on the family in which Jesus was raised—Mary, Joseph, and Jesus—and discover what Christmas looks like when it is lived day by day. The Gospel presents us with the Flight into Egypt. This is not a peaceful Christmas scene, but a moment of fear and urgency. Joseph rises in the night, trusting God’s warning and leading his family to safety. Mary follows with quiet courage. Jesus, still a child, becomes a refugee. From the very beginning, the light of Christmas shines in the darkness of a broken world.
The Holy Family reminds us that holiness does not mean a life free from hardship. Their love is tested by uncertainty, danger, and sacrifice—yet God is present in every step. Joseph teaches us attentive obedience and steady responsibility. Mary shows us love that trusts even when answers are unclear. And Jesus sanctifies ordinary family life simply by growing within it. This feast speaks powerfully to our own families. Many homes carry struggles, imperfections, or wounds. The Holy Family assures us that God does not wait for perfect families. He chooses to dwell in homes where love is tried, faith is lived quietly, and trust is renewed each day. As we continue to celebrate Christmas, may the Holy Family help us welcome Christ not only into our churches, but into our homes—where holiness begins, one faithful act of love at a time.
God bless everyone always!
Fr. Stan
