My brothers and sisters in Christ, dear families, dear children, on behalf of Father Jerabek, the priests of the Cathedral, and all of us in the Diocese of Birmingham, we extend to you and your families a very blessed Christmas. Thank you for coming to join us tonight to celebrate our Lord’s birth, especially to our visitors and guests! How welcome you all are to the Cathedral of St. Paul here in downtown Birmingham. We are thrilled that you’re here with us on this unusually warm Christmas in the South!

On this holy night, as the sun sets and Christmas begins, we gather with hearts full of expectation. There’s something nostalgic about Christmas that stirs our hearts and imaginations-the decorations, the preparations we have begun, the foods that we prepare, the gifts that are exchanged. Everything now changes direction. We’ve reached that night. Tonight, it is good to take a step back and reflect on what is happening right before our eyes. In fact, the Church invites us to pause, to be still, and to look toward Bethlehem, where something utterly new and amazing has entered the world. Christ is born for us.

Now the “little town of Bethlehem,” about which we sing, was not very noteworthy or important of a place. It was there that the Lord, snuck into our world, as it were, to become one of us. The Christmas event is, in a manner of speaking, something out of this world! Yes, out of this world, but in this world! We have many places around our diocese and in our city neighborhoods like that-places that don’t have any great prominence to which we are naturally drawn. Yet, it was in an ordinary place that something extraordinary occurred. A child is born for us in this world. For that reason, every place is blessed, and there is a place for everyone around the crib tonight.

From a child’s perspective, Christmas feels different, special, hopeful. I suspect we would hear words like happy, exciting, or thrilling. Let me offer three words that capture the true spirit of Christmas for all of us, young and old alike. Gift. Hope. Peace.

Gift

Christmas is first and always a gift. Isaiah tells us that God delights in His people, that He rejoices over us “as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.” He is thrilled by His creation. This is not the language of a distant or disappointed God, but of a Father Who loves His children deeply. He loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to enter our world, so we could know about His love. We talk about this story as the Greatest Love Story ever told.

In the Gospel, we see that gift made visible. Jesus is conceived not by human plan, or machination, but by the Holy Spirit. God gives us His Son freely, lovingly, and completely. Pope Benedict XVI often reminded the Church that Christmas reveals Who God truly is: not a rival to our happiness, but the One Who draws near, Who enters the simplicity of family life, Who chooses to be dependent on the love of Mary and Joseph. For families today, this is profound reassurance: God knows your homes, your struggles, your joys, because He chose to live them Himself.

Hope

The birth of Christ signals a new era of hope. God did not leave us wandering about in darkness, lacking any possibility of something that could resonate with us and become better. In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul proclaims that from the descendants of David, God brought forth a Savior, Jesus. This is not wishful thinking; rather, it is God acting in history. He became one of us!

As we near the close of the Jubilee Year of Hope, we can say with gratitude that hope is not something we manufacture or conjure up through the powers of our imagination. No, it is Someone we receive. Jesus is our hope-not an idea, not a slogan, not a nostalgic thought about the past, but a living Savior Who enters a broken world and does not abandon it.

Today, our world still knows darkness: war in Ukraine, tensions between nations, divisions fueled by envy and jealousy, lack of understanding the purpose of our lives, lack of direction, and worldly anxieties that even children can sense. Some suggest that there is no answer for the emptiness we sometimes feel or experience, yet Christmas proclaims, to the contrary, that darkness does not have the final word. Hope has a name, and His name is Jesus. He is the light of the world whose beacon shines brightly in all Christian believers this night and every single day wherever we may find ourselves.

Peace

Finally, Christmas brings peace. It seems elusive at times, yet we know that true peace cannot be imposed from the outside by force, by law, or by threats. The angel tells Joseph that this child will save his people from their sins. Pope Benedict emphasized that the deepest form of slavery is not political or economic, but the bondage of sin—fear, resentment, selfishness, and violence that begin in the human heart. Jesus comes to free us from this slavery, offering us a different pathway. A journey toward peace begins in the heart of each person to do the right thing each and every day.

That is why the child born in Bethlehem is rightly called the Prince of Peace. His peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God. Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more, St. Paul reminds us. It begins on the inside, in hearts. It grows in families, and it is meant to radiate into the entire world. I believe that it is possible. Christmas is a reminder that it is possible, indeed.

Dear children, tonight God becomes small so that you would never be afraid to approach Him. There’s a fascination with a newborn baby. We know how fragile children can be, yet we also know their carefree spirit with God. Dear parents and grandparents, tonight God entrusts His Son to a family, reminding us that love lived at home can change the world. That is the challenge I leave with you tonight. Ask for the grace to be truly a family who loves, who cares, who desires the good of each other. 

As we celebrate this Vigil of Christmas, may we be ever mindful that Christmas involves a gift of God’s abiding presence, a renewal of our hope, and opens our hearts to the peace that only Christ can give. Christ is born for us in Bethlehem!