Again, a blessed Christmas to all of you and your families,
Especially those who are participating
In this Mass through television.
We want to, in a special way, offer our expression
Of solidarity to people who are homebound,
Who are in hospitals, who are sick,
Who have a difficult time leaving their home
In order to celebrate Mass today.
We’re with you in this Eucharist
And in your suffering, that you’re not alone.

It’s quite interesting that the Church gives us
The shepherds as the first ones
Who hear the news of the birth of the Savior,
And in that way they serve as a model for how
All Christians should celebrate
And begin to understand what this mystery
Of the Lord’s birth is all about.

There are a number of things about these shepherds
That would deserve our attention.
The first thing is that shepherds have to work together.
They, in many ways, have a lot of different
Dangers and perils and threats and moments of jeopardy
In which they’re living out in the field,
And wild animals can come and take their sheep.
And so they have to coordinate a way of security,
A way in which they’re going to keep safe their flocks.

And so they’ve learned how to work together
And also to take up the task of herding their sheep
In a direction that keeps them moving.
And so when we hear that their first response
Is together to go in haste to Bethlehem
To see what has been told them,
It is, I think, a good image for all of our Christian life
That one thing that we should never underestimate the value of
Is the unity of our Church.

The first mark of the Church, as we say,
Is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic—unity.
And it is about making sure that we understand
That we walk together,
That we’re fellow pilgrims along the way.

I think it’s important for us to keep that in mind
In these days in which there are pilgrims and migrants
Who are trying to, in some way, seek a better life so often.
And we, too, are like them,
Especially being an immigrant nation.

But we’re also migrants and we’re also pilgrims
In the sense of those who are here on this earth
In a temporary way.
We’re just passing through,
Because we know that our final destination, our final home,
Is the one to which God calls us in the Kingdom.

And so for us to cultivate a sense of who we really are,
We are co-responsible for each other
As we are pilgrims along the way.
We’re taking care of each other
To make sure that no one’s left behind.

That is an image that Pope Francis, and now Pope Leo,
Has asked us to look upon as an image for the Church.

That we’re, as he calls it, a Synodal Church,
Which is a Greek word that means “walking together.”

The more that we have a sense
That we are co-responsible for each other,
The more healthy we’re going to be as we take up
The demands of the Gospel in our time.

And that is why it’s important for us
To care for those who may be limping along in life,
Who stray, who go at a slower pace,
Who have difficulties because of their injuries and woundedness,
That we look for a way in which we help them along the way,
No matter their status.

The second thing that we notice
Is that when they come to Bethlehem,
They tell their story.
They tell what has been told them
But also how it has impacted them.

That’s so important as well for us,
Because the Gospel that we read here in the Bible
Really is a foundational text, but it’s not the final text
Of Good News, because the Good News is replayed
In every one of our stories.

Each one of us has a story to tell about
How God has made a difference in our life.

I often tell grandparents especially who worry
About whether or not the practice of the Faith
In their family is going to end with them,
And they see that maybe their children and grandchildren
Don’t practice as fervently as they do.

It’s important for grandparents especially
To sit down with their grandchildren and tell them
Why the Faith has made such a difference in their life,
How it has shaped the person they are,
And what value it has held for them.

Because each one of us has a Gospel story of conversion to tell.
Each one of us has something to share with others,
Just as the shepherds did when they told their story.

One of the practices that our family had on Christmas morning
Was that we would all sing at Mass in the morning.
It was the Croatian Mass,
And we’d sing Croatian songs and so on.

But then afterward my father would load us
All into the car with a bunch of other people,
And we would go Christmas caroling,
Especially to people who were unable

To get out of their house and who were homebound.
And that way it was our moment of sharing the Gospel,
Sharing the Christmas story with others,
Singing those carols, letting them know that the Gospel
Made a difference in our lives
As we raised our voices in praise of God.

That’s what the shepherds teach us,
To really be confident and to take seriously
The fact that your lives matter,
That there is a story of the Gospel
That’s told in a fresh way,
Just as these shepherds told the Good News
From their own perspective and their own life,
To really value our lives
As a place in which the Gospel is made new.

And the final thing that we see
Is that they go back by a different way,
Very much like the Magi that we hear in the Gospel of Matthew.
It is a symbol of metanoia, which is a word that means
Turning around, going back, having a conversion.

And so Christmas should be an opportunity for us
To take the next step in our faith journey.
You know, in the Gospel of Luke,
There’s nothing more pernicious to the Christian life
And spirituality than the conviction that you’ve arrived,
That you have reached your maximum of what it means
In your spiritual life to be a Christian.

Every Christmas should be an opportunity
For us to say, “Okay, what’s next?
How do I come back home from Christmas
In the New Year in a different way?
What is it that Christmas has done to change my life?”

Because in fact, these shepherds,
As they’re going back home,
Do exactly the same thing the Angels did.
They left rejoicing and praising God.

So how is it that in our own context of our lives
We can have the kind of change that makes us like those Angels,
That makes us those who praise God in the world,
That makes God present in the world
Through our telling of the story?

So in many ways today,
As we come to celebrate Christmas,
This is an opportunity for us

To look at these shepherds as a good example for ourselves.
To remind ourselves that we’re all pilgrims.
We’re all migrants as we pass through
This time and this space of this earth,
Because this is not our final home,
And that we should be co-responsible for each other.

And finally, that as we tell our story,
That we believe that God takes our lives seriously,
And that we can in fact come home changed.
We can allow this Christmas feast
To make a difference in our life,
Reminding ourselves that God is not done with us yet.
And there is another chapter to be written
For each one of our lives.