“She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” // Matthew 1:21
A few Christmases ago, at Christmas Eve Mass, a dear, old priest was pressed into saying Mass at my parish with only a few moments notice. At the time of the Gospel reading, he shakily approached the lectern, proclaimed the Gospel telling of Christ’s nativity, and proceeded to share his homily in his soft-spoken, silted voice.
He spoke of the marvelousness of Christ being born so humbly, so small, so secretly in a stable. But his voice caught. He was so moved by the fact of the Incarnation, that even though he was over the age of 90, he choked up and tears brimmed in his eyes.
And that emotion, the way he was so clearly moved by sharing the Gospel after over sixty years of being a priest and reading these words of Christ’s birth so many times over, of preaching about them year in and year out, broke through my hard heart so used to the familiarity of Christmas.
The priest’s reaction reminded me of the privilege it is to witness the necessity and beauty of the Savior of the world born humbly to human parents. All at once, the importance of celebrating each Christmas with genuine appreciation and what it meant to live a life of faith was shown to me through how lovingly this priest spoke of the Nativity.
We may be hearing the story of Christmas through Scripture for the first time or for the fiftieth time this year, but we need to know that hearing it can and should shape and change our faith completely. It’s not a story that is removed from any of us, but one that speaks directly to our lives every year.
Christy Isinger is a cradle Catholic, wife, and mother of five teenagers from western Canada. During the short Canadian summers she tries to garden and grow flowers, while in the long cold winters she reads a lot of books, writes, and homeschools. Her Substack newsletter can be found at christyisinger.substack.com.
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