On this great day of celebration, we remember Jesus coming among us. He comes as a little child, to reveal the immensity of God's mercy. He comes for the poor, and for the Gentiles, and for Israel—for the whole world.
He comes to seek out and save what is lost. He comes for sinners.
Mercy is an incredible thing. From Bethlehem and its Star, through the hidden life of Nazareth, to the manifestation of the Trinity at the Jordan river, Jesus appears in the world as the revelation of God's love, a love that has come conquer sin and death. No person, no sinner, is excluded from this love.
Indeed, Jesus loves the worst sinners, the people who we would consider disgusting. He loves them, He goes out in search of them, He gives Himself completely for them.
He wants sinners. We must recognize the full measure of this desire of the heart of God Incarnate. Jesus wants the most awful people, the creepy people, the people we don't want to touch or even go near. He wants to take away their sins, to change their hearts by His grace, to heal them, to forgive them, and to enable them to love Him. He wants them to be with Him forever. His heart burns with love for them: the gross, ugly, really bad people.
This should be a cause for great hope. For who among us looks in the mirror and sees a face with no cause for shame? The hope of the world is our hope. Jesus wants to awaken in us and draw forth from our hearts a true sorrow for our sins, and then He wants to fill our hearts with His love and transform us and make us beautiful.
On the Cross, in the Church, in the sacraments, and in these beautiful days of the Christmas season that we celebrate, He shows how He has given Himself to us, and how He longs for us.
He wants us to pray, to open our hearts to Him in trust. We must pray. "Lord, make me the person You will me to be. Shape me, change me, lead me. I believe in Your love for me. I trust in You."
The people who are literally disgusting, who have done horrible things, the most horrible things we can imagine—He loves them. He wants them with such a longing; He wants to draw them and convert them and heal them and transform them. He wants us to pray for them.
And He wants each one of us.
He loves us. He has come for us, and He gives Himself for us.
"Jesus make me into the person You have created me to be. I trust in You."
