Annual Christmas Message
Note: Our 12 Days of Christmas meditation begins December 25. If you are signed up for our Apostolate, you will receive the materials by email. For more information and to sign up to receive the materials, visit our Apostolate page.
At Sycamore Trust, we rejoice as the Church announces good news of great joy — the birth of our Savior, Christ the Lord.
As the watchful anticipation of Advent gives way to Christmas joy, we are drawn once more into the mystery of the Word made flesh — and the sobering truth that many through the ages have “received Him not.” In the company of Mary and Joseph, and all those who have had the grace to believe in His name, we renew our resolve to confess the true faith — not only in moments of quiet peace, but also in seasons of trial, contradiction, and rejection.
This day reminds us that fidelity to Christ begins at the manger — but does not end there. It leads through Egypt, through Calvary, and only then toward glory.
We invite you to watch our annual Christmas message by Sycamore Trustee Rev. John J. Raphael, ’89, and to consider how we are called to welcome Christ with faithful hearts — especially in a world that so often turns Him away.
Today Holy Mother Church announces to the entire world good news of great joy, in the City of David has been born for us a Savior, who is Christ the Lord! (Luke 2:11)
Glad tidings and great joy. That is what we have rightly come to expect on Christmas Day! We have been watching and waiting for this day. We have been spiritually preparing, while at the same time getting ready for all the festivities and solemnities of the day.
We have images of oxen and lambs, calves and donkeys hovering near a manger. The smell of hay and the light of the moon fill out our imagery.
There are the powerful protective hands of the Holy Guardian and the gentle, perfect caress of the Virgin who is also Mother. And, at the center of it all, a precious little baby, a Holy Child.
Angels and shepherds complete the scene, and, for a moment, all seems right with the world.
The scene is indeed real; it happened 2000 years ago. It is not a figment of our imagination; it was a moment in time, history in the truest sense.
But this scene is not all there is. Very soon it was to change rather dramatically. From finding refuge in an Inn, soon there would be an escape from danger into Egypt. That danger was all too real; Holy Innocents lost their lives because of the raving madness of a vicious king searching for the babe.
Holy Mother Church remembers. She will solemnly recall their plight in a few days. She knows all too well how quickly the scene changes from peaceful bliss to perilous danger.
Perhaps that is why, even on this day, in her final celebration of the gift of the Child, the sacred words she proclaims move away from the manger and begin to point us to another even more desolate place.
Later in the day she celebrates the fact that He came into his own!
This is the heart of the mystery of the Incarnation, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us! He could not get any closer to us than literally “pitching his tent” with us.
Today, we, His own, celebrate Him…some of us, that is. For we also heard that some of His own received him not!
Note it is His own who refused to receive Him, not strangers, but His own.
Why, of all days, would the Church proclaim this today?
Because even today she wants to prepare us for what happens to His own followers in every generation.
Many of His own continue to receive Him not. They deny Him in many ways. Sometimes it is open and explicit; sometimes it is subtle and discreet. Sometimes they demur, rarely do they sincerely recant or repent.
But we also heard that to all who received him….he gave the power to become children of God!
This is also why she proclaims this today!
It is always possible to be faithful. It is always possible to be true to Him, not only at the manger but all the way to the Cross!
At Sycamore Trust, we pledge ourselves to receive Him each and every day, to remain true to Him and to proclaim always and everywhere the good news of glad tidings of the Savior’s birth!
Our love for the University of Notre Dame is borne of our love for the Holy Mother who wrapped Him in swaddling clothes. Our mission is to always bear faithful witness to Him at our Alma Mater in ways great and small.
Every year, on this Sacred Day, which began on such a Holy Night, we thank you profoundly for your generous and prayerful support of our work. We are encouraged by you and we are grateful for you!
With all the joy that His birth brings to all who have received Him, we wish you a very Merry and Blessed Christmas from Sycamore Trust!
A very Blessed and Merry Christmas from Sycamore Trust!
Rev. John J. Raphael, ND '89
Rev. John J. Raphael, ND '89, is a priest of the Diocese of Nashville, Pastor at Christ The King Catholic Church in the Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood and member of the Sycamore Trust Board of Directors where he leads the organization's Apostolate.
