Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) 2022

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
December 25, 2022                                                                  


My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

Again, Merry Christmas to all of you and your families.

So tonight we welcome the Lord Jesus Christ into our world, and into our lives!

The peace that we feel, the joy that we have in our hearts tonight, the feeling of love — this is exactly what God wants for us every day of our lives. This is the meaning of Christmas.

The love of God tonight comes down from heaven! “The grace of God has appeared, saving all,” St. Paul tells us in the second reading of this evening Mass.

Tonight, the angels are singing in heaven: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Tonight, the God who is love comes down to be close to us, to become one of us — to share in our lives, in our joys and in our struggles.

Christmas, my dear brothers and sisters, is the great feast of the “humility of God.”

We don’t think about God as being humble, but he is. And to know that truth is to understand the deepest mystery of Christmas, the deepest mystery of God’s love for us.

God, as we know, is the Creator of heaven and earth, he is Lord of the universe. But God doesn’t come tonight in majesty or power.

As we heard in our Gospel, God comes to us as a Son, a newborn baby, so tiny and helpless that he needs his mother to wrap him in swaddling clothes and lay him in a manger.

He comes in lowliness, in poverty, in the quiet of the night. As the prophet says in the first reading: “For a child is born to us, a son is given us!”

So in this Child, my brothers and sisters, we see our destiny, we see who we are meant to be.

God comes as a Child, to show us that we are his children, his own beloved sons and daughters. 

Jesus entered our world as a Child, in order that we understand how important we are for him and how we need to become God’s children.

We remember Jesus’ teaching: “Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”²

Again, this is the promise of Christmas and the secret of life! The secret is to make ourselves humble for Jesus, as Jesus made himself humble for us.

Humility means setting aside our own agendas, it means we stop trying to do things our way, and start trying to do things God’s way — seeking his will, his purposes for our lives.

And God wants only one thing. He wants us to be his sons and daughters who strive for holiness. He wants us to live with the heart of a child, with a child’s trust, with a child’s love.

If you follow Jesus, and trust in him, if you live by his words and his will — he will give you the strength to do beautiful things with your life.

We need to keep in mind always, that Jesus knows our human condition, he knows everything about our lives.

Jesus had a family, he had a job; he had friends and responsibilities, just as we do. Jesus experienced joy and sorrow, he knew success and failure. He was like us in all things, except for sin.³

And because he humbled himself to share in our humanity, we can share in his divinity. Our ordinary daily lives can now become the path that leads us to holiness and heaven.

Jesus left footprints when he walked on this earth, as we know. He invites us now, each in our way, to walk in those footsteps, to follow his path of humble love.

One of the saints said: “Where there is no love, put love, and you will draw out love.”⁴

So, my dear brothers and sisters, let’s make that our Christmas resolution tonight — where there is no love, put love, and you will draw out love — to love with all our hearts, to put love into everything we do.

We need to love, first of all, those whom the Lord has put in our lives — our families, our friends, the people we meet every day, the people we work with.  

That’s how children of God live! That’s how we keep the joy of Christmas in our hearts every day! By following this beautiful path of humble love.

So, I pray tonight that this love will never end, that this Christmas will be a beautiful time for each one of us, when we renew our love for Jesus and our love for one another.

So tonight, let us especially ask Our Blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph to help us to make it happen in our lives! Let’s ask them to help us make every day be like Christmas day.  

1. Readings (Mass During the Night): Isa. 9:1–6; Ps. 96:1–3, 11–13; Tit. 2:11–14; Luke 2:1–14.