Christmas homily delivered by Bishop Koenig in 2025 at St. Ann, Wilmington, and Our Mother of Sorrows, Centreville, Maryland.
Every Christmas, we decorate with lights. We string them in trees and shine them on buildings. We place them in windows and point them towards creches.
Yes, lights are part and parcel of giving us a “Christmas feel.” And yet, if truth be told, “light” at Christmas is much more than just a decoration. It is a reminder to us of something much deeper. It points to what took place on that first Christmas when, in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, “people who walked in darkness…[saw] a great light [and] upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light…shone.”
We do this because of what, on that first Christmas night, the shepherds watched as an “angel appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them.”
We do this because, in the words of St. John, the life that was born on that first Christmas was the light of the human race and the darkness has not overcome it.
How the Light Enters
Let’s be honest. There is plenty of darkness around and even within us. The darkness of grief that shows up at Christmas when someone we love is missing. The darkness of anxiety about the future, about health, about work, about our children. The darkness of division, violence, and bitterness that can make us wonder if the world is coming apart.
Notice, however, how God sends light into this world.
It is something we proclaim every time we recite the 1700 year-old Nicene Creed at Mass and say: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Or every time we profess, “God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God.” Or every time we declare that Jesus is “consubstantial with the Father.”
The Light that entered the world on that first Christmas was not as fireworks or with trumpets and a press conference in Jerusalem. God entered the world as a baby — small enough to be held, weak enough to need care, humble enough to be laid in a feeding trough. Yes, the Light that came on that first Christmas night was not a blinding light sent by God, but it was God himself who became human while remaining God so that we might know and see God who is love.
The Light of Christ
As we celebrate Christmas this year and recall how God entered our world on that first Christmas day, we are once again reminded how God was not like a CEO who sends a message that people in darkness should “hang in there.” Or like a king who sends a messenger into a war zone while remaining safely behind walls. No, God Himself entered the world’s darkness on that first Christmas night in all the vulnerability of a newborn babe.
On that first Christmas night the King Himself entered the battlefield as an infant. And as a result, Christmas for us is not a nostalgic rerun of an old movie but rather the never-ending grace of God being joined to us; it is not the sentimentality of a Hallmark card but of a Savior being born to us. The wood of manger is not a mistake but the message of God’s love that would ultimately be revealed on the wood of the cross.
May we be like the shepherds on that first Christmas who adored the newborn child and may we be strengthened in looking to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. For it is Jesus who not only teaches, but redeems, not only challenges but forgives, not only points the way, but is the way and the truth and the life.
The Light within Us
And may we also be like the shepherds who returned to their flocks glorifying God. As we go forth into the rest of Christmas and beyond, may we glorify God by allowing the Light of Christ that, through Baptism, is within us, now shine before others.
There is a story told by a priest who was called one late night to the hospital room of an older woman who was dying. The room was dim, machines were humming and the family was exhausted and anxious. The room was heavy with sadness. Suddenly, the little 5 year-old granddaughter reached over and turned on a small lamp by the bed and said, “Grammy doesn’t like it when it’s dark.”
And that small lamp, the priest recalled, changed the whole room. Sure, you could still hear the machines and the diagnosis remained the same, but suddenly there was warmth; people could see one another; they could take the next breath. And that is what Christmas is. God doesn’t want the world to remain dark. God doesn’t pretend that darkness isn’t still in the world. And while he doesn’t deny suffering, his light enters into it and assures us that the darkness will be overcome.
May Christmas be not only about the Light of Christ entering this world 2,000 years ago, may we see how it illumines our lives today. And may we, like that little five year-old girl, allow the light of Christ to shine.
Jubilee Year of Hope
In these final weeks of the Jubilee Year of Hope, may we be strengthened in knowing that the light that comes from God is stronger than any darkness we might encounter: be it the darkness of suffering, of sin, or of death itself. That truly is the source of our Hope. For even when the darkness can be overwhelming, the light of Christ possesses a power that no force of this world can destroy.
May the Light of Christ, born in Bethlehem, illumine our minds, strengthen our hearts, and guide our steps, so that, walking in His light, we may become children of the Light, today and always.
Merry Christmas!
