One of the many questions, I heard from people this Christmas is this, with the challenging moment we are facing now, do we still celebrate Christmas? Indeed, it really feels odd to celebrate Christmas this year.

Tonight, "a great light" shines above all of us, the light of the birth of Jesus shines. With Jesus’ birth, joy fills our hearts, our homes and our communities. There is no room to fear, there is no room to sadness, there is no room to indifference, there is no room to doubt because God is more powerful than them. We must celebrate because Jesus is the reason for our celebration. He "was born to us" and was "given to us", as Isaiah announces.

Many of us experience 'LESS' this Christmas because of the pandemic. Less gifts given and received. Less family gatherings and bondings. Less joy because someone dear to us lost a job, and even lost life. Less nochebuena served on the table. Less Christmas festive spirit. But Christmas is far greater than being less. God’s love is never less, it’s always full. In fact, overflowing. This year might be challenging. Perhaps, extremely difficult to many but it should not hinder us from celebrating the birth of Jesus and share its hope, joy and love to others in our best ways possible.

Like the shepherds of Bethlehem, may our eyes also be filled with amazement and wonder, with courage and hope and hold to God’s promise of ‘Do not be afraid” because sometime soon, with God’s grace, we all win the battle against covid.