Christmas Sermon

HE STILL KNOCKS – Christmas 2025

On this holy night when we gather to celebrate the birth of our Savior, we turn our hearts again toward the mystery of Christmas—God choosing to come to us small, vulnerable, and in need. The Almighty wrapped himself in swaddling clothes and lay in a manger, not to overwhelm us but to invite us. Not to command our obedience but to beckon our love.

Tonight, I want to share with you a modern manger story—one that unfolded not in Bethlehem, but in a small trailer in New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005

1. A Manger in New Orleans

Lizy, a middle-aged woman who had lost everything after Hurricane Katrina, lived alone in a small trailer with no family, no belongings, and little hope. But God, who once chose a humble stable, still chooses humble places.

Nearby lived Elizabeth, a young Catholic student who noticed Lizy’s loneliness. What began as occasional meals and small gifts soon grew into a deep and tender friendship. Even after Elizabeth married, moved away, and had a baby, she continued caring for Lizy as a devoted guardian.

When Lizy became too weak to live alone, Elizabeth struggled to balance her family, work, and Lizy’s needs. Seeing this, her parents opened their home and prepared a room so Lizy could spend her final days surrounded by love.

The woman who once had no one became part of a new family formed by compassion. Wrapped in kindness, Lizy passed away peacefully, receiving dignity, care, and a proper burial. Reflecting on it all, Elizabeth would say, “Caring for her was like welcoming Jesus himself.”

2. “Whatever You Did for the Least of These…”

When Elizabeth said those words, she echoed the very heart of the Gospel. Jesus tells us: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” —Matthew 25:40.

We often hear this and think it is merely a moral duty.
But Christmas shows us it is a mystical truth – it is something God actually does.

Christ came into the world small enough to be held.
He came needy enough to be fed.
He came vulnerable enough to be cared for.

Why?
So that we would learn to recognize him in those who need us today:

In Lizy who lost everything.
In the lonely neighbor.
In the refugee.
In the elderly person who sits alone at Mass.
In the child who feels forgotten.
In the family that struggles quietly.

Every manger is an invitation.
Every needy heart is a place where Christ waits to be welcomed.

3. The Christmas Question: Will We Open the Door?

Christmas is not only a celebration of what happened in Bethlehem; it is a challenge about what must happen now.

God still knocks—
not with the sound of angels,
not with the star overhead,
but with the quiet presence of someone who needs love.

The question of Christmas is not:
“Do you believe Jesus was born?”
But: “Will you make room for him today?”

Elizabeth did not expect that Jesus would appear to her in the form of a woman living in a trailer.
Mary and Joseph didn’t expect the Savior to be born in a stable.
And we might not expect that the next call on our hearts will show up in the form of weakness.

But that is how God loves to come.
Hidden.
Humble.
Hopeless-looking—until love reveals his presence.

4. A Family Formed by Compassion

The beauty of this story is that Elizabeth did not care for Lizy alone. Her family saw her struggle and stepped in. They offered room—not only in their house, but in their lives.

This, too, is Christmas.
God forms families not only through blood but through grace.
Not only through shared ancestry but through shared compassion.

Is this not what happened at Bethlehem?
A young couple.
A child born away from home.
Strangers—shepherds and magi—gathered around a makeshift cradle.

They became a family because they were united in love around Christ.

So it was for Lizy.
So it can be for us.

5. What Christmas Asks of Us

Dear friends, this Christmas, Jesus is knocking.
Not loudly.
Not forcefully.
But gently—just as he knocked on Elizabeth’s heart through the presence of Lizy.

He asks us to:

• Notice the people who feel forgotten.
• Offer the kindness that seems small but becomes sacred.
• Carry one another’s burdens.
• Allow our homes—and our hearts—to be places of welcome.
• Believe that every act of compassion is an encounter with Christ himself.

This is not sentimental charity – just being kind.
It is our faith in action. 
It’s the true meaning of Christmas lived out.

6. Christ, Our Guest and Our Host

At the manger, God became our guest—seeking shelter.
At the altar, he becomes our host—offering himself.

The love we receive here in the Eucharist is the same love we are sent to give.
The Christ we adore in the Nativity scene is the Christ we meet in the vulnerable.
The light we celebrate tonight is the light we are called to carry into the world.

He Still Knocks

Brothers and sisters, Lizy’s life was a gentle knock on Elizabeth’s door.
And Elizabeth opened her heart.

May we do the same.

This Christmas, let us ask:

Who is the Lizy God has placed near me?
Where is the manger hidden in my neighborhood?
Whose suffering is Christ using to call me closer to him?

May our answer be “YES.”
Yes – to compassion.
Yes – to presence.
Yes – to love.

Because whenever we welcome the vulnerable,
we welcome the Christ Child himself.

Merry Christmas, and May the newborn Savior find in each of us a warm and open heart.

                                                                                                                   Rev Thainese Alphonse

                                                                                                Christmas 2025