Bishop Buddy Scrapbook 1938-1940

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~HE DIVINE BABE that lay in the manger at Bethlehem outstretched His infant Arms to embrace all people of all ages- the foreshadowing of the same Arms extended on the Cross. The Christ Child is God, and God is love, and that love ex- cludes no one. This joyful Feast of Christmas then lovingly invites mankind to come unto Him, to find in Him more abundant life and · peace for the soul. Without Christ, Christmas has no meaning. Even the noisy tu- mult of paganism, the rumble of passion and the din of selfish cares, cannot stifle the note of joy that rings across the centuries, clear and triumphant, proclaiming anew "glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to men of good will". Above the babel of t_ongues and the confusion among the nations, a message of blessed ~ope, jubilant, un- mistakable, sounds throughout the world-"This day is born unto us a Saviour who is Christ the Lord". A brilliant star shines over hill and vale-"This is the victory that overcometh the world-our Faith"- for he has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light-the light of redemption, the Word made flesh. The story of the birth of Jesus Christ, like beauty and truth, is ever ancient and ever new. As children-and it seems but yesterday- we gathered round the Crib and gazed with wonder and sympathy, and love crept into our young hearts to be intensified with the passing years in a deeper understanding of the truth that "God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish but may have life everlasting. For God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world but that the world may be saved by Him." (St. John III, 3,16,17). Christmas then is a feast of love and light and life. The Living God sends His Living Son born of a living mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. He made us His sons by adoption as He was the Son of God by nature. He endows our hearts with the life of His spirit and then comes to dwell in them-"and of His Kingdom there shall be no end." The coming of Jesus Christ to the world marked by the solemn observance of Christmas includes His life and death which, in turn, provides the temporal and eternal welfare of us all. Rejoice then in Christmas. May it mean for everyone a lively Faith and Hope and Love for Jesus Christ. CHARLES FRANCIS BUDDY, Bishop of San Diego.

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