Dear Friends and Benefactors,

We read in the Gospel for the first Mass of Christmas "on earth peace to men of good will". What sweeter, more divine message, could have been given to man on this blessed day than that of peace? Peace is something that all our hearts crave. Men strive and strive for peace, and yet find so little of it. Why? Because they have so little good will. Our Savior Himself tells us that we must have the proper disposition to receive this peace: "to men of good will".

To enjoy the true Christmas spirit, then, it is necessary that we have a good will; our hearts must be willing. In a way it seems that we have this willing heart, for we are full of desire to give gifts on this feast. But are our hearts willing toward God?  As far as our souls are concerned this is the all-important question.

Therefore, how are we to know if our heart is willing concerning the things of God? Above all, in order to have a willing heart toward God, it is necessary that our free will be used rightly. Many do not use but abuse their free will. They seek for liberty, but fall into the throes of license, where they become slaves to all manner of vices and errors. Some even seek to deny free will, as a cover for their unbridled ways. These are not in possession of a good will; for them Christmas means just a day of natural good deeds, perhaps more in the sense of reception than in that of giving!

Another sign that we have a willing heart toward God is that we enjoy a certain interior peace, "which the world cannot give", which does not depend on the temporal goods of life but on the spiritual goods. A poor starving man, woman or child, with a clean heart and good conscience, can spend a much happier Christmas than a rich glutton whose heart is full of injustice and evil. Worldly Christmas joy is only a sham; it merely covers up, for a short time, a most miserable restlessness.

Still another sign of a willing heart is a humble belief in Christ and His Church. The crib means Christ and Christ means salvation. Christ is everything to such a one and all else means little, whether in spiritual or temporal things. He has as little interest in new religions and new religious ideas as he has to the antics of clowns. At the most they are only curiosities to him; his will is firmly set in the one and only true religion like a stone in cement. Luther, lacking this humble belief, tried to found a new religion, but his production cannot give the peace that the one true religion gives; it is easier to live in maybe, but certainly harder to die in! His new religion did away with many dogmas; he sifted God’s truth, as it were, and kept only that which he liked. This indefinite system certainly did not bring peace but once again miserable restlessness, as shown by the countless divisions into which it has divided.

Humility is a necessary quality for a willing heart. Pride strives for humility in vain; and therefore peace, the effect, cannot be had. Our Savior said that the heavenly Father gives His treasures to little ones. He also said that He Himself was holy, powerful and peaceful, as a man, because He did the will of His heavenly Father. Only if we are truly humble spiritual children can we enjoy His treasures and become, like Him, holy and peaceful.

With the Christmas season now upon us let us not cut short this joyous season, as many do, but, with good will, spend the whole forty days drawing fruit from this mystery for the New Year and more importantly for eternity. May the blessings of the Infant King rest upon you and yours during the coming new year.

Sincerely yours in the Divine Infant and His Holy Mother,

Fr. John D. Fullerton