This is the time of year when broadcasters often graciously invite me for an interview, to discuss Christmas and the true meaning of the holy day. While I am always grateful for the opportunity to talk about the birth of Jesus, Our Savior, I have noticed a trend this year in some of the questions directed to me. “This has been a really tough year…things have never been this bad before,” they will usually begin, before asking, “Why should we celebrate when it’s obvious how terrible everything is.”
First, let’s realistically admit that we have faced some tough times these past 12 months. Hurricanes, earthquakes, wildfires, terrorist attacks, mass shootings, a spate of allegations of sexual harassment and assault, raw political discourse at all levels of government. People continue to suffer, and we must never be callous or indifferent about that; we have an obligation to respond wherever people are hurting, whether that be Houston, California, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, Mexico, or right here in New York.
Maybe it’s the historian in me, though, but something tells me that if we could go back in time, even just through our great nation’s history, my interviewers would be asking me the same end-of-the-year question in the same way. “Cardinal Dolan, how can we go on after 9/11. . .” Or, Watergate, the Great Depression, either of two World Wars, the Civil War . . . the list could go on and on.
There was a memorable priest from Brooklyn, John Carberry, who was the Cardinal-Archbishop of my home Saint Louis, when I was a newly ordained priest. He used to keep a journal of his thoughts and reflections on the events of each day. He liked to tell us that, whenever he was facing a particularly difficult problem, all he had to do was pull out a journal from a previous year and read the entry for the corresponding date. Almost unfailingly, there was some problem or crisis then that seemed monumental at the time, the details of which he had completely forgotten.
Humanity perseveres, doesn’t it? No matter how bleak things might sometimes seem, we always come through the dark times with faith and hope in the future. We are a resilient people, and there is something innate in humankind that seems hardwired for eternity.
Let’s not be too quick to pat ourselves on the back, however, or pretend that we’re doing it all on our own.
No, I believe that there is something — someone — who is never willing to give up on us, showing us reasons to hope, even when we might be tempted to despair. We see His confidence in us, His creatures, each morning with the rising of the sun and the dawn of a new day. We see His faith in us with the birth of every new baby, a precious gift entrusted to parents. God created us, loves us, and would never abandon us. He wants His work of art, the human project, to go on.
It is appropriate that Christmas comes in December. Just a few days ago, we observed the shortest day of the year, when darkness seems to rule nature. Now the sun begins to rise higher in the sky, and the light gradually lengthens.
Our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate something similar at this time of year with Chanukah, the “festival of lights.” Do you remember the story? Two hundred years before the birth of Jesus, a small band of faithful Jews, led by Judah Macabee, defeated a mighty Greek-Syrian army that sought to enslave the Jewish people, and drove them from Jerusalem. When the Jews went to rededicate the temple, there was only enough pure oil left to light the menorah for one night; yet, that single night’s supply was sufficient to keep the menorah lit for eight days, while fresh oil was prepared. Once again, light had triumphed over darkness. God was unwilling to give up on His chosen people, no matter how desperate the situation appeared.
For we Christians, the most vivid example of God’s intervention into our lives, the most striking example of His love for His creation, came in the town of Bethlehem that first Christmas morning, when the Father sent His only begotten Son to be one of us, and so bring about our salvation.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light,” the prophet Isaiah proclaims in the first reading of Midnight Mass. “Do not be afraid,” the angels assure the shepherds as they announce the birth of Jesus. Hope has overcome despair. Light has banished the darkness. Good has conquered evil.
Jesus is born! Alleluia! Light, not darkness, has the last word.
A blessed Christmas!
Dolan is Archbishop of New York.