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Merry Christmas

"In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world." -John 1:4-9

In my third year at the USD Newman Center, like John the Baptist, I have witnessed the light! One specific moment was on mission in the Peruvian mountains, while offering the Anointing of the Sick to a local woman. When I prayed the words for the hundredth time as a priest, "Are there people sick among you? Let them send for the priests of the Church and let the priests pray over them anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord." I was struck that the command of the Apostle St. James was being answered 2,000 years later: God sent me from far away. When I looked in her eyes, I knew God was present. In her dark and dingy home, I witnessed the light of Christ looking at me: from far away, he was near! It is my prayer that you too have seen Christ's light this year.