Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
As we celebrate Christmas this year, with hearts filled with wonder at the mystery of the Lord’s nativity, we also mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in which the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, proclaimed that Jesus is “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God.”
At Christmas this is not simply a line of a creed, but the beating heart of the season.
When the bishops at Nicaea defended the truth that Jesus is fully divine, it was not just a point of abstract theology but it was to safeguard what we celebrate at Christmas — that in Christ, God emptied himself and became fully human. The same God who created the stars now reaches for us with tiny infant hands. The same God who holds all things in existence now sleeps in a manger. The same God who is beyond all time has been born in time and space.
Into a world that had separated itself from God, “God from God” enters in order to draw us back to Himself. Into a world weighed down by division and darkness, “Light from Light,” has dawned and “darkness has not overcome it” (Jn. 1:5). Into a world beset with uncertainty and searching for meaning, “True God, from True God” has entered.
The Child of Bethlehem is the Eternal Son who has come into this world so that we might become children of God. Through the grace of our Baptism, we are reborn and enter into the life of that Child of Bethlehem, the Eternal Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And through our Baptism, the Light of Christ now burns within each of us.
May you receive the light of Christ with renewed hope, and may you reflect that light with renewed joy. May your homes be places of peace and your families renewed in love. May nations strive to pursue the common good. May the Light of Christ shine upon our diocese and Church and unite us ever more deeply in the love of Christ.
With gratitude for you and prayerful best wishes for a Blessed and Holy Christmas, I am,
Faithfully yours in Christ,
Most Rev. William E. Koenig, D.D.
Bishop of Wilmington
