This image was taken from one of many handmade Christmas cards kept by the bishop and preserved in the Archives. The card was from Christmas 1998. ARCHIVES
A Christmas message from the late Bishop John J. McRaith
BY EDWARD WILSON, ARCHIVES
With the birth of our Savior fast approaching, I wanted this month’s article to, of course, focus on something Christmas related. On a Zoom staff meeting, Tom Lilly, the chancellor of the Diocese of Owensboro, mentioned that the late Bishop John J. McRaith’s birthday was coming up in December. With that in mind, I began to read through the papers of our departed bishop.
December was a month that held great significance for Bishop McRaith. Not only was December his birth month, it was also the month that he was consecrated bishop of the Diocese of Owensboro in 1982. However, even with these joyful celebrations, December also held a hint of sadness, as his father passed away on Christmas Day in 1983. After reading through many of his homilies and correspondences, I came across this message that he shared in his Christmas homily in 2003. I believe his words can resonate with us in our current situation:
“This Christmas, as we live in the midst of much violence, we are so in need of this Prince of Peace and His message. We are constantly trying to find a way to peace and an end to violence, and we continue to struggle for the lives of the unborn. We continue to have a billion people hungry. We continue to live in a world with many wars going on – people from our own country and other countries are living and dying in the midst of violence. But God gives us a gift of hope.
“Just look over at the beautiful crib we just blessed – yes, that is the beginning of the story that would end all the violence of this ‘culture of death’ that our Holy Father has talked about so often. If we could just hear what Jesus tells us, and do as he teaches, we would bring an end to all of this – what a different world we would then be living in. That is the world He came to save; this is the world He came to change.
“The Christ child grew up and gave us the road map for happiness, so now we must decide for ourselves to do what we can to make that happen. It really is not that complicated; it only gets that way when we don’t follow the road map that will guide us from now to eternal peace with Him in heaven”
Though this Christmas may not be the most normal we’ve ever had, Bishop McRaith’s words remind us that on the first Christmas, over 2,000 years ago, God gave us “a gift of hope,” Christ. That gift of hope will be with us from this Christmas to our very last, and, if we live rightly, for all eternity. Of all his words that I read, one Christmas reflection of Bishop McRaith’s has powerfully stuck with me and it is that reflection that I will leave. In 1987, he wrote, “We don’t spend enough time in that stable – talking to the child’s mother and father – we don’t pick the little baby up and hold Him in our arms – so that He might be in our heart.”
Edward Wilson is the director of the Diocese of Owensboro’s Archives and the Archives of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. Comments and questions may be sent to [email protected].
Originally printed in the December 2020 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
