By Father Joseph Chan Wing-chiu
Every year, people prepare early for Christmas by buying Christmas gifts for each other. As Christians, the Season of Advent is our preparation time for Christmas.
We miss our loved ones even more during the festive season, so as Christians we especially look forward to the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ at Christmas. However, if we think about it further, the plan of salvation is not just for his people or believers, but for the whole of mankind. Therefore, the Christmas that we are celebrating right now should not just be for believers in Christ, but also for all mankind.
More than 2,000 years ago, the joyful news of the birth of Christ the Saviour to the shepherds was a great joy to the whole nation. Even the wise men in the East learned of this message through the phenomenon of the stars in the sky. They all spread this great news in their own way, so that people could have hope that they would meet the Saviour Jesus Christ.
Today we are believers who have already heard the Good News. Shouldn’t we continue to spread the news?
Every year during the Christmas season, during the homily, I always remind people in the parish to invite their relatives, friends, workmates or neighbours to accompany them to the church to see the Christmas decorations, especially the manger, and to remind them that they can take the opportunity to tell them the story of the birth of the Saviour.
But this year, apart from inviting them to take people to the parish to see the Christmas manger and the images in the church, I would also like to remind people to go on pilgrimage to the different parishes designated by the diocese.
As the Jubilee Year 2025 begins on the 24th of this month, by going to churches in different deaneries, we will not only meet the image of baby Jesus, but also Christ himself through the different services of charity. That is to say, as Jesus himself told us to meet him through brothers and sisters in need, in sickness, in hunger, in thirst, in lack of clothing and in prison, it is through them that Christ allows us to serve him.
So pay attention as you go on pilgrimages in designated churches this year as there is a big chance that you will meet the incarnated Jesus Christ. If he doesn’t object, you can even take a selfie with him as a souvenir.
I wish each one of you a gracious Christmas and, as pilgrims of hope, a pilgrimage through this Holy Year with joy and gratitude.
