A sermon on John 1:6-8

By Fr. Mike Paraniuk
St. Mary Catholic Church
St. Benignus Catholic Church 
St. Mary Queen of Heaven
and Holy Trinity Catholic Church

Imagine an alien from outer space visiting planet earth at Christmas. What would the alien see? Humans going into buildings with a little gold card and leaving with many commodities called "gifts."

Humans gathering in domiciles where they consume mass quantities of a brown liquid stored in round metal cans called "Bud." After drinking many Buds, these humans experience an altered state of euphoria where they start modulating their voice to produce a sound they call "singing."

The drinking and singing causes the humans to consume vast amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats in what they call, "chips and dip," round balls of animal flesh from a country called "Sweden," and a bird's egg cut in half to reveal a yellow substance called "yolk." These behaviors are called "celebrations" that cause the human to grow in size.

Now imagine the alien asking the question, "Why do you humans do this?" 

The human answers, "Christmas is so much more than just a reason for a party. Christmas is a sacred time each year to honor that God, our Creator, came to live among His creatures on planet earth." 

The alien then asks, "Why did your Creator come to your planet?" 

God became a human, called Jesus, to make us friends again with God. 

Alien asks, "What did humans do to lose your Creator's friendship?"  

Humans rebelled against God. We told God we didn't need Him. We made ourselves God. 

Alien observes, "Looking at your planet earth, that didn't work out so well, did it?" 

No, it didn't. Humans really messed up, but the Creator made things right again. 

Alien asks, "How did God fix this?" 

God came to earth to fight a powerful being called Devil who caused humans to rebel. God won. 

Alien finally asks, "How did God win?" 

Human replies, "He loved us to death."

God created John the Baptist to testify to the light. The Apostle John said who God is in 1 John 1:5 "Jesus told us God is light and doesn't have any darkness in him."

The whole purpose of light is to empower sight. Without light you can't see anything. The God of Light wants you to see who He is. "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:8.) 

God's Light reveals His Love. God not only tells us who He is but tells us what to do. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:11.)
 
Christmas is not only the celebration of God's Love for all humans, but a command to humans to love all humans like He did. 

I wish Christmas was the "Hap, Hap, Happiest time of year," but that is false. The sorrow we feel for the families of the three men who died in the explosion hangs heavy upon our community this Christmas. Yet, every tragedy is an opportunity to love. Christmas creates joy whenever we give love from our hearts. 

The way our community has responded with generosity, care and love to the victim's families is God shining His Light dispelling the darkness of loss and grief. I am honored that the Catholic Community of Highland County was requested to provide care. We, and countless others, responded like a Christian should. 

For many years, I spent Christmas day at the cancer ward of Children's Hospital. I knew in my heart this would be a child's last Christmas celebration down here. I did my best to comfort the families who were crying secretly so as not to upset their children. 

These children were old souls. You couldn't fool them. I remember one child saying to me, "I worry about my mom, dad and sister will be sad when I leave. But I have a plan to make them happy." 

I asked, "And what is your plan?" She replied, "I'll keep them busy with so much love they won't have any time to be sad." 

That's the best definition of Christmas I ever heard. Blessings, Fr. Mike.