‘The love of Christ builds something new’
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as the seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, our hearts are naturally drawn toward gratitude, generosity, abundance, and the mystery of God’s nearness. These holy days, however, are rooted in the humble circumstances of Christ’s birth — He Who was born not in a palace, but in poverty, to parents who lived simply and trusted completely in God’s providence.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, as the seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, our hearts are naturally drawn toward gratitude, generosity, abundance, and the mystery of God’s nearness. These holy days, however, are rooted in the humble circumstances of Christ’s birth — He Who was born not in a palace, but in poverty, to parents who lived simply and trusted completely in God’s providence.
When we think of poverty, our minds often go first to material needs: hunger, inadequate shelter, lack of clothing, and the burdens that weigh on so many families in our local communities. Indeed, these real hungers cry out to us, and I am grateful to our parishes and ministries that respond so generously, often without recognition, to help meet these needs. In the quiet ways — the food pantry stocked, the meal delivered, the rent paid, the compassionate ear offered — our people are living out the Gospel, being Christ’s presence in the world. Our St. Vincent de Paul Societies, Ladies of Charity, Food For Our Journey, Holy Rosary Food Bank, and many other charitable organizations throughout our diocese are looking after those who are vulnerable in our communities. Thank you for your witness of hope!
But poverty is wider and deeper than material want. There is also spiritual poverty — the emptiness of a soul searching for meaning without God. There is relational poverty — loneliness, alienation, or the painful experience of rejection. These poverties wound us in ways that food or money cannot heal. Yet Christ comes to meet us here, offering what no wealth can purchase: a relationship with Him, Who satisfies our deepest hungers, relieves our loneliness, and opens us to a life lived in freedom and hope.
T. S. Eliot once wrote in his Choruses on the Rock: “In the vacant places we will build with new bricks.” How true this is for us as the Church. Where poverty seems strongest, the love of Christ builds something new. In places of emptiness, the Spirit fashions communities of hope. This is what happens each time a parish quietly cares for the poor or a disciple reaches out to a neighbor in need — not with fanfare, but with love. With the love of Christ, we are constructing something new.
As we enter this season of gratitude and joy, I invite you to see in Christ’s birth the promise of a new kind of richness: life with God, poured out for us in mercy and love. May we be generous in caring for our brothers and sisters in material need. May we also be on the lookout for those who hunger for friendship, belonging, and faith. In doing so, we live differently — not for ourselves, but for Christ and for one another.
Thanksgiving and Christmas can be a time of renewed hope for you and your families. May the Christ Who was born in poverty fill your lives with the richness of His peace.
May God bless you all!
The Most Reverend Steven J. Raica is the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama.
