Can you imagine the complete and unabandoned joy that Mary and Joseph had when they looked into the eyes of their newborn son?! They saw themselves reflecting back! This tiny little baby embodied the perfection of their love and radiated the love of the entire universe. In that miraculous moment, they held a piece of Heaven!  The son of God, held in their hands. . .the unimaginable sense of awe that must have overwhelmed them in that moment! All of the difficult circumstances of the birth were gone in that instant. Mary and Joseph were full of joy and wonder and hope.

Our Heavenly Father, on that Christmas Day, showed us the power, the joy and wonder and the hope of every birth. Every one of us, just as the newborn baby, is made in the image and likeness of God.  We are, indeed, Jesus Christ in this world! 

God sends us into this world with the ability to bring wonder and awe, peace and goodwill to all with whom we share this life. If only we could protect the innocence of the moment of birth and maintain that monumental moment of joy, we would actually have Heaven on earth. 

We have been given the perfect example of  how to receive and respect life.  God gave us Mary, a young, bewildered, unmarried girl to be the Mother of God.  He sent us Joseph, a “nobody”, a hard-working young man who was willing to accept Mary and her baby as his own.  

They had none of the luxuries of life at that time. They were not financially stable. They were not well prepared to be parents. They did not have the ability to offer Jesus “everything” he could ever want; yet they actually were able to do just that because they could give Him 100 % of their love and that is all that He wanted from them.  In fact, that is all that He wants from us!  Every one of us has that ability…to give God 100% of our love; exactly what He asks of us.

Every newborn baby is only asking for our total love. We wanted that from our parents, our children want that from us and their children will want that from them.  Nothing is more of a treasure or has more value than pure love.

This Christmas let us embody the only thing that God is asking of us.  Let us love one another and let us love God totally. That is the only thing that He asks from us for Christmas!

May each of you find and give pure love during this blessed Christmas time. May that love remain with you and radiate to and through you in every day of this New Year!

Know that your powerful prayers and generous financial support have kept us functioning throughout 2022!  Many new babies have been born which is a manifestation of your love.  The world is a more loving world because you are in it and because you help us to help those who need it.

May you have a most Blessed Christmas and may those blessings fill every day of this New Year!