Scriptural scholars tell us that 366 times we hear those words in the scriptures. "Do not be afraid." Isn't that great? 366 times, one for every day of the year and one for leap year. Did you hear it today? Because there are angels around.

And then they sang, "Glory to God in the highest!" And then invite. Angels always invite us: invite us to move, to leave something behind and to go on to a new stance in life. And so to the shepherds they said, "Leave." Shepherds lived a rough life, talked in rough ways, and smelled pretty rough, too. They weren't part of the usual stream of life. They were out in the fields. Synagogue and temple services wasn't what they were about. But how close they were to the sacred moments of life and death! Close to creation in all of its wonder, and so they were people of wonder. That's all God needs is a little crack, and then we can hear God's message from whatever angel comes. And so in the midst of that night with all those stars, they heard angels that said, "Come, come and see, a baby."

Now, I don't know if the shepherds were so much aware of what was going on in the world at that time, but you know, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, calling for the whole world to be enrolled. That's when Quirinius was governor in Syria. And so Joseph, of the house of David, took his very pregnant wife, Mary, from Nazareth in Galilee going down through the Jordan Valley to Jericho, taking a right, and completing the fifteen miles up the road, up the hills, up the mountain, to Jerusalem and then beyond five miles to Bethlehem. But there was no room in the inn.

"Come and see!" the angels said. "A newborn child!" But there Mary gave birth in the midst of a stable. In Isaiah we read, chapter 1, that the ox knows his master, and the donkey recognizes his master's manger, but the people of God do not know their God.

Here, in another stable, a donkey and an ox know their master. So, the shepherds came, looking, and hopefully we look, and share, and search for life. And what did they find? They found the God of all gods, wrapped in the flesh of an infant. There's an old saying that is a truism, and it's called a truism because it's so true, that says we become what we love. Of course, God would become one of us, because He loves us so much, always. Not because of what we've done or not done, simply because we are God's creation.

And so there the shepherds found the Lamb, unlike any other, that would make such a difference for all of us. They went back singing praises. Their lives changed. Did you hear the angels calling you, as the angels call me at this Christmas time, to open up our hearts? Blessed Angela of Fologno, a great Franciscan mystic, says that Christ desires to be born each day in our hearts. Meister Eckhart said that Christ being born 2000 years ago means nothing if Christ is not born in your life and mine today.

St. Francis, in the year 1223, so very much in love with Christ, hearing again God calling us through Christ to make a new beginning, knowing how God never gets tired of calling us, inviting us to begin again. And first of all in history, after the fall, after sin, after we turned away from God, God comes in and says, "Let's start again with Noah and the rainbow." God starts again with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God starts again as he delivers us from slavery through the Red Sea and covenants himself to us at Sinai, always calling us closer to himself. It's as if God ran out of words, and he did not know what else to say, and he looked around and he had one word left. One word. He spoke that word, and that Word took on our flesh.

St. Francis of Assisi, in the year 1223, was so moved by this sublime humility of our God, that he called the people of Greccio to come out that Christmas night, to a little cave outside the town. And there, with an ox and a donkey, an altar, a priest and a deacon, with their faith and a child, to remember, to remember God's love for us.

But Christmas is not about history. Christmas is mystery, the mystery of God's presence with us, Immanuel. Today, or in July, or in November, or in May, our God is with us. And so, as we continue to celebrate these wonderful days of Christmas, in receiving gifts and giving gifts and receiving cards and the thank you notes and the phone calls and bringing us together, you and I find, in the midst of all this gift giving and receiving, an echo of the great gift of God giving himself to us.

Buon Natale! ¡Feliz Navidad! Joyeux Noel! Merry Christmas! May it not just be words that we say to one another, but may we be moved to hear those angels, to move with those shepherds, and the magi, seeking the one who is wisdom. Billboards remind us today that wise folks still follow the star, through difficult days, through easy days. But to follow that star to wisdom himself.

I've been to Israel many times, and there we find various places where you can actually get on a camel, the great ship of the desert, but a stinky animal, a rather homely animal, a slobbering animal. But there, at the crib, what do we find? A camel. And sheep. And shepherds. And if there's room for all of them, there sure is room for you and me.

Merry Christmas to you all! May your hearts be moved with peace and hope as God asks you and me, this day, this Christmas, that never happened before and will never happen again, this Christmas, may we say "yes" to the invitation to "Come to Bethlehem". That means "the house of bread." To come to Christ and be fed. Our deepest hungers of needing to be loved, forgiven, embraced, and held, and promised the best forever is waiting for us there in that manger. "Beth-le-hem: House of bread" See you at the crib, at the manger. Merry Christmas!

Floyd Brown: Father, that was a wonderful message.

Charles Faso: Thank you.

Brown: Listen to the angels, you say? Please don't be offended; what is an angel?

Faso: An angel is a messenger, a messenger with a message! And they come in all sizes and shapes and with words, with music: somebody that touches our lives that calls us to be a better person, knowing that God is the one behind it all.

Brown: It's a beautiful thing. We see pictures of them. They kind of are in the eyes of the beholder for many people, but I wanted to hear it from you. Yours is an interesting ministry. You're in downtown Chicago. Thousands of people come through everyday, multiple thousands through Ash Wednesday, 30, 40 thousand people. This is your congregation, but this is not really your total ministry is it? You must have different challenges being a minister in a church such as yours.

Faso: Yes, St. Peter's down on Madison street in Chicago has been there now since 1953, and everyday there's some two to three thousand people that come there. Some come for services. Some come just for the quiet, to find a place to find quiet and prayer. We have 10 different twelve-step programs for recovery. I was asked once, "What is St. Peter's all about?" And out of my mouth came the words, "St. Peter's is the emergency room for hope and healing in the Loop."

Brown: I like that. That's very good. Certainly the multitude of people who come through everyday looking for quiet, hope, a place to worship and this sort of thing, is a major part of it. But we've got the homeless. We have people with different problems today. Do you have certain segment of your ministry that deals with that?

Faso: We certainly do. I was able to start a program where we have four social workers there every day who deal with the thirty to forty homeless every day who come in asking for help. And these days, there's more and more coming. And so there's programs every day to reach out and really help the ones that need help, to take them where they need, to find home, or shelter, or recovery. And we also sell $30,000 a year of Chicago shares, the little coupons that are worth fifty cents. Rather than giving people money on the street, you can get one of these coupons. They take one, two, or three, whatever you give them, and go to various stores and can get in its place food or other objects, depending upon what stores are working with the Chicago Shares program.

Brown: So there is a positive way to deal with these people who are on the street, giving them really money that you know is going for food. The reason I ask that is, we're challenged as Christians, or whatever the faith is, to help those who are in need. Particularly, here at Christmas time, we seemingly are more driven toward doing the positive thing in our society. And I wondered what your church was doing at a time like this, what your feelings were, and I thought maybe you might be able to give us as an individual, or as individuals, our listeners, myself as well, and my family, give us a couple of suggestions that we could do here during the holidays that would make life better for someone and something that's practical and very good.

Faso: One of our great ministries at St. Peter's is our ministry of reconciliation. In the sacrament of penance, in helping people be connected again with themselves, with God, and with others. Perhaps one of the best things we could do at Christmas, is to reach out, phone call, visit, letters, to someone that we have a broken relationship with. And to go to that person, to those family members, to those neighbors, and embrace them and call them back.

Brown: So there are things that we can do. That's reaching out to an individual who is there. What would you say to the person who, at this time of year is very lonely? Their family is apart. Maybe they have been separated from Christ or their religious belief. What would you say to them at this time of year?

Faso: That this is the time to listen to those angels. The voice is there, the message is there, and just to pray for that courage to walk the way to that stable, to that house of bread, and be fed..

Brown: Is your spirit today - this is a terrible thing, I suppose, to ask a priest - but is your spirit as strong today or do you get the feeling that the spirit is strong today at Christmas time, at holiday time, as it was in the past? Seemingly, people are a little more worldly today than there were in times gone by.

Faso: Interesting. I just read that every seven seconds a baby-boomer turns fifty. And most of those folks in their 40s and 50s, are at bookstores and at the shelves saying, "Spiritual Reading," reaching for those books of spirituality of life, meaning of life, prayer, and how to pray better. It's a phenomenon that's been going on for the last couple years, and hopefully Christmas will raise that up and make it even more something that people want to do and will do.

Brown: What you're saying, then, is that we're moving in the right direction. You see a great deal of hope out there, and we are going to have a good Christmas? It's going to get better and better all the time.

Faso: We sure will. Absolutely. If you and I are there saying, "Merry Christmas" from deep in our hearts.

Brown: Merry Christmas to you.

Faso: Merry Christmas to you, Floyd.