Scripture tells us that the Christ child was “laid in a manger” because there was no room for him elsewhere. He was turned away.
Today, the Christ child continues to be turned away. He is turned away when there is no room in our hearts for our LGBTQ neighbors. He is turned away when there is no room in our hearts for our immigrant and refugee sisters and brothers. He is turned away when there is no room in our hearts for our incarcerated brethren. He is turned away when there is no room in our hearts for anyone who doesn’t look like us, pray like us, talk like us, think like us or vote like us.
Contrary to what politicians and preachers want you to believe, the “war on Christmas” isn’t out there in the public square, or on cable TV, or on social media. The “war on Christmas” is in each and every one of our own hearts. Until we make room in our hearts for all of God’s children, the Christ child will never be welcome in our world.
The great Catholic social activist Dorothy Day said: “We only love God as much as the person we love the least.”
This Christmas, let us resolve to open our hearts and receive the Christ child in everyone we encounter — especially the people we love the least.
Keith G. Kondrich
Swisshelm Park
The writer is a deacon in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.