Happy Christmas

Catholic Analysis has a great post today, which I think it would do no harm to remember...

The Revolutionary Facts

Here they are:

1. Conceived into scandalous circumstances which placed his mother in deep suspicion;

2. The foster father and expectant mother needing to travel a long distance in obedience to foreign oppressors requiring a census;

3. Desperate for overnight accommodations and happily settling for a place reserved for animals;

4. Sharing the joy of His birth with lowly rural workers and exotic foreigners traveling from far away who also had to dodge the power-mad local political boss.

The lesson: don't let your circumstances determine your destiny. Trust in Him. He went through the worst and conquered. He can conquer your circumstances, too. And, in the midst of objectively bad circumstances, you do get consolation and direction as they did: angels and good people appeared, and the Lord protected and guided them every step of the way.

We need to retell the same historical facts but try to see them afresh so that their revolutionary aspect comes back into focus because these facts are the only ones that have ever really turned the world upside down and so are the only events really able to rescue each of us. There has never been a story that can compare with this one, and we are still talking about it today. And, yes, let's put our useless pride in our back pocket and admit that each of us needs to be rescued. The rescue is at hand. This is the real bail-out.

Wishing you and yours a very happy and holy Christmas.