Christmas Greetings

Hail to all as the Advent vigil gives way to the fulfillment of Christmas. God is here!

Today I found great peace of soul writing greetings to friends, partners in ministry, and loved ones. Writing words of thanksgiving and gratitude made these feelings arise naturally in my heart. What I have said to them, I share in part with you, so that you may share in my joy, too. The blessings of the living God who is with us and loves us be with all of you.

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In the name of the God who lives and reigns here on earth and in heaven, I wish you peace and all good things! Receiving your personal note and Christmas circular letter brought more light into my day. Reading your messages is like sitting down to a generous repast or walking into a banquet already in progress....

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Greetings and blessings to you ... and the family. I give thanks for your goodness to me as mentor, colleague, and friend. Your generosity is great, and I happily acknowledge my debt to you. Every day I try to pay it forward by sharing with my Capuchin brothers, especially my postulant brothers, the politics of Jesus....

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The Spirit of God sets a place for us wherever we go, I believe. She shows us how to make a home out of any place no matter how strange. I am trusting that with the Capuchins I am learning how to be at home anywhere while making that home wide enough for every pilgrim soul I meet….May God and her Holy Spirit enliven your journeys, make them good, and give you rest everywhere you lay your head.

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Peace be with you, with your comrades, and with all the people we strive in humility to show the love of the servant savior Jesus. I think of you with great pride because of your friendship with God’s beloved—workers, immigrants, and ordinary people with extraordinary pain and suffering in their heart.

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Peace and all good things, my old friend….Whenever we meet for a meal life feels fresh, beautiful, and urgent. I feel the “now” when we talk. There are no fearful memories to hold me back, and no fear of the future. There is only freedom, and this is how I know you are a friend of God, a real brother in spirit.

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Thank goodness for the celebration of Christmas, which reminds [us] that God delights so much in our being, that God assumed our being to save it from death and the desecrations of violence and injustice. Bless you … and happy Christmas from me and the Capuchin friars.

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For your life and well-being I hope for light and fulfillment. May every church bell you hear ringing today send into your soul a vibration of the love that is closer to us than we are to ourselves. Let it be so.

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God be with you in the highest and lowest moments. The life you live, the good and the bad you have, and the hope for something better for yourselves—all of this is held deep in the heart of the world, who is not of this world but comes to it and remains with us by the Spirit of God that filled Mary’s womb, and will fill your souls with love. In Jesus’ name, I wish you peace.

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No letters can be written large enough to exclaim what I want to tell you and all the world—God is with us! God is for us!....Let us turn to the God who turns to us. Let each of us be the first to make the turn.

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God has seen everything you will see. God has felt everything you will feel. Come now, rise, and go to the Lord of love. Seek him by seeking the face of Jesus, born on earth, born from above, waiting to be born in your soul.