Feeling empty at Christmas

For many of us, there is an emptiness that comes at Christmas.

For some of us, the incessant cultural drumbeat of Christmas as a time of love and "family” cruelly reminds us how empty our lives really are.

For some of us, the intense anticipation of THE Really Great Present and the giddy denouement have given way to the emptiness of "so what happens now?"

This flies in the face of today's culture, which tells us that Christmas is all about being full: full tables, full bellies, and full credit cards.

In truth, Christmas is about something very different:

But rather, he emptied himself
and took the form of a slave,
being born in the likeness of men.
(Phillipians 2:7)

But as we hear in today's Gospel (John 1:1-18), this emptying (kenosis) by the Son of God means fullness beyond all imagining:

And the Word became flesh
and dwelt among us,
full of grace and truth;
we have beheld his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father....
And from his fullness have we all received,
grace upon grace.

The fullness that Christ offers us is greater than any fullness or emptiness we may ever experience in our earthly lives.

The fullness that Christ offers us is truth: an infinite resonance of reality, wisdom, and purpose that can bring light to all our days and wonders ever new in eternity beyond.

The fullness that Christ offers us is grace: a sharing in the life of God himself, with overflowing comfort, undefeatable strength, and limitless joy.

May we empty ourselves of our egos, of our selfishness, and of anything else that may keep us from walking in the fullness of Christ in this life so that we may receive and share that fullness in all its beauty and experience that love beyond all telling in our hearts and in our souls in the name of Jesus: the child born in Bethlehem, the eternal Son of God, the Lord of all, and the Savior who gives us his life.