Father Thomas Welbers' Homily	Jump back to Homily Index
Christmas, December 25, 2002 Matthew 1:1-25	Listen to Audio

Give God an inch and he takes a mile.  We usually use that expression about somebody we consider “bad news.”  But, in God’s case, it’s very good news.

What we are celebrating in Christmas is that God does not leave us, even if we leave him.  God does not let go of us, even if we try to hold on to so many things other than God.  God does not forget us, even if we are unmindful of him.

What we are celebrating in Christmas is that God has chosen to save us from the grip of Satan, and all the evil that Satan represents, from the inside.  In the Son of God, the Word become flesh, God has chosen to get inside of us, to be one of us.  God is not just our protector or our rescuer, he has transformed us from the inside.  From the earliest days after Christ, thoughtful Christians have seen the work of Jesus Christ as making us one with God, being brought into his divinity, not as spectators but as participants – one family in Christ.

The good news of Christmas is that God will make use of any opening that we give him.  If we give him an opening as small as an inch in our lives, he will expand his life-giving presence beyond our imagining.  All we have to do is let him come.  All we have to do is be open to the transforming power of his loving action in our lives.  He does the rest.  He will make us what he wants us to be – if we but let him.

Good news indeed!

© 2002 Thomas Welbers