He Came to us!

By Father Jaime Hinojos

This Christmas, one more time, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus, the Son of God. Once again, I take some time to ponder where Jesus is in my life. Is the presence of Jesus a beautiful and consoling theory or a reality in my life? How much have I let Jesus get closer to my life? Each one of us must answer these questions with sincerity from the heart.

When I look at the past, the present, and the future, I wonder what the most important thing in this life is. And I conclude that it is letting Jesus come closer to us. Whether I have faith in Jesus or not, life is passing, and it will end here on earth as it ended for our ancestors. We know that this generation will come and go, and another will come. Looking back, I wonder what I have done to bring Jesus closer to me. Yes, our God, our Creator, the owner, and Lord, came to us. He was incarnated and became a man. God became man — this is the most wonderful news we have ever heard. The Creator appeared before us as one of his creatures. He became like one of us, equal in everything except sin because God does not sin. We do sin because we misuse our freedom. When will sinful humanity understand that it needs the Savior! Jesus came into the world to save us from sin. And what is sin? Sin is disobeying the Creator’s laws; sin is rebellion against the Creator; sin is the enslaver of humanity. We are not free when we sin. When we sin, we do not exercise the freedom of the Children of God.

This Christmas, throughout the year, and for the rest of our lives, we will always have Jesus and sin as two possibilities. And we need to be aware that sin is like a poisonous drink. Also, we need to remember that sin is not what wrong others can do to you but what wrong you can do to others.

Here is our dilemma: Jesus commanded us to love each other as he loves us. So, we either love or die. Because not loving as God loves us is a sin, and sin produces the sinner’s death.

If we let Jesus get close to us, let Jesus walk with us; if we allow Jesus to live with us and among us, then sin will decrease, and the presence of Jesus will increase in us. Jesus is God, Emmanuel, God with us. So, let’s put Jesus between our eyes.

Here are some places where we can continue contemplating Jesus: In the annunciation; in his birth; in the temple; in his baptism; in his public ministry; in his passion; in his crucifixion; in his death; in his tomb. But above all, we can contemplate Jesus in his glorious resurrection and his position at the right hand of God the Father.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.