Readings: The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) | USCCB 

Confession: I am a Christmastime procrastinator. I often begin my shopping on the Saturday before Christmas, which this year meant I started buying presents two days before they were to be unwrapped. This tendency results in my family receiving some head-scratching gifts from me that were nowhere close to appearing on their wish lists. Effective Christmas shopping requires some advance planning. 

I also can be slow to get my head around the significance of Christmas. It’s tempting for me just to glide along in my day-to-day routine, knowing that there is a major holiday approaching. But eventually – some years maybe not until Christmas Eve mass – I have to reckon with what it all means. God taking on human form, dwelling among us, embodying a love for us that transcends human understanding. Or as C.S. Lewis put it in The Last Battle, “Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.” The truth of Christmas changes everything. 

Unlike shopping for my family, what matters is not whether I contemplate the meaning of Christmas in late November, mid-December, or not until Christmas Day itself. What matters is that I grasp it and let it permeate my sense of purpose and view of the world. 

I don’t know what has been occupying your mind over these past few weeks. There are so many projects and plans and tasks to keep us scrambling during this season. But I know you’ve taken the time to read this email, so let me take the opportunity to remind you why the truth of Christmas matters so deeply: God loved you so much that He took human form to live among us and restore our relationship with the Creator of the universe. That love is for us, to be sure, but it’s meant to share – and we’re invited to convey God’s love, to be God’s love, in the world. 

However frantic you’ve felt in the days leading to this one, please pause to remember the life-changing truth we celebrate: God loves you. My prayer is that this truth will encourage you, sustain you, and transform you. Merry Christmas. 

Robert Vischer, University of St. Thomas President  

The Campus Ministry Seasonal Reflections are offered during the liturgical seasons of Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter. We bring a variety of voices from Students, Faculty and Staff. The perspectives expressed in these reflections are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Campus Ministry.