For almost two thousand years, billions of people have asked Jesus whether He was the Messiah, the Meaning of life, and the Lord. Many have found Jesus a Stumbling-Block (Mt 11:6) and a Sign of contradiction (Lk 2:34). Many have rejected Jesus. On the day of His birth, Jesus was rejected and was forced to be born in a stable (Lk 2:7). On the day of His death, He was rejected violently. The crowd yelled: "Crucify Him," and Jesus was nailed to a cross in the ultimate expression of rejection (Mk 15:14).

It is so easy to reject Jesus. We reject Jesus:

• if we sin, disobey, or are unfaithful,
• if we choose to nauseate Him by a lukewarm, minimalistic, mediocre aberration of Christianity (Rv 3:16),
• if we reject the Church, for Jesus said of the first leaders of the Church: "He who hears you, hears Me. He who rejects you, rejects Me" (Lk 10:16),
• if we reject the poor, for Jesus taught: "I assure you, as often as you neglected to do it to one of these least ones, you neglected to do it to Me" (Mt 25:45), and
• by giving Jesus the "silent treatment," that is, by not publicly acknowledging that He is our Lord (see Mt 10:33; Rm 10:9).

At the first Christmas, our Lord Jesus came to His own, "yet His own did not accept Him" (Jn 1:11). May this Christmas be different. Refuse to reject the Holy One Who has refused to reject anyone (Jn 6:37). Accept Jesus on His terms as Lord, Savior, and God.

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, May 30, 2001

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, June 4, 2001