Christmas Vigil Mass

Nixon, the movie has the line, "Just imagine what this man could have been if he'd ever been loved."

love is essential

lack of love can stunt a person's character growth.

Christmas presents us with many gentle images of love at work in the Holy Family.

Isaiah also:

As a young man rejoices in his beloved,

So, the LORD rejoices in his people.

Emmanuel: God is with us.

Incarnation: God is one of us.

Redemption: God finds a way to suffer & die for us.

Salvation: As he joined us in death, so we may join Him in eternal glory.

Rejoice: That God so delights in us.

Resolve: to reach the full potential of our human capacity for love

Respond to His love by loving.

Use every help that he has provided.

Sacraments: Confession, Communion, etc.

Personal prayer.

Practice loving.

We come to celebrate tonight, and through the Christmas season the tremendous love God has for us.I pray that all of us will put that love to use day in and day out. Not just for today, not for just a few weeks, but always. Learn to draw one His love as the source of our own. Nourished by frequent reception of the Sacraments, encouraged by the example we can give each other, imagine what we could become in the strength of God's love for us. Imagine how the world in which we live could be affected if we could learn to share this gift of love as freely as He has offered it to us.