A Christmas Message from Bishop Ruggieri

My dear brothers and sisters, I wish you a very merry and blessed Christmas Day and Christmas season. We celebrate today and, in these days ahead, the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The circumstances surrounding the conception and birth of Christ are truly incredible. The message is simple, like his surroundings on that first Holy Night. We, mere humans, uniquely made in the image and likeness of God, are loved! Love proves to us that we are loved!

I invite you to reflect on the words in the First Letter of St. John. John says, “In this way, the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.” (4:9-12)

Let us love God and each other in response to what we experience in Bethlehem with Mary and Joseph. True love is not easy, not for the faint of heart. May God give us the strength, will, and perseverance to love one another. Merry Christmas! You are loved!