One More Visitor for Christmas Dinner!

What are we happy about at Christmas? What do we celebrate? Or, before that, are we happy at all, or just stressed and anxious about family gatherings, shopping, cooking...? Probably you are busy even to read this! It’ll be brief.

When I was 11 years old, in an improvised small chapel during a retreat, before a wooden tabernacle, I felt for the first time that Jesus wanted me to become a priest. I was not sure at the time, but four years later I could not see myself doing anything else. I would have been a musician, maybe a guitar teacher; my dream had been to be a rock star. But hear I am: also a musician, admittedly, but most of all a missionary, a pastor and a teacher.

I had heard about Jesus, but because Jesus popped up in my life, my life changed. Jesus was now real, a part of my world, and my world changed. I would not be who I am if Jesus were not real for me.

I say this because I would like to invite you to remember those moments in your own lives. The times you made decisions in your life because God had somehow made things clear to you. The times you succeeded in something or were saved from something because God helped you. The times you were encouraged by God to keep going, or consoled by Him in your sorrows. Had He not appeared along your way, you would not be the same, you would not be who you are. Life would not be so good.

Jesus came to the manger not to stay in the manger but to make our lives different, better. He is alive, He is with us and He is real. He saves us. This is the joy of Christmas! And this is what people forget the most: giving thanks for what we have, which is a God who cares for us. God is with us: this is what “Emmanuel” means. God saves: this is what “Jesus” means. And if you do not feel that God saves you, it is perhaps because He is still knocking at your door...

Again, I invite you to remember those moments in which Jesus entered your life in a very particular and real way. I think your Christmas will make much more sense to you... you will be happy for the right reason: that Jesus, truly, is born for you, to truly accompany you.

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