God and his love always with us

December 25 is past. Still, it is Christmas in our hearts with God and his love always with us through all our days and years!

We remain grateful “for God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

The shepherds were terrified at first even as the glory of God shone on them and an angel appeared and said - “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

However, after witnessing “a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel singing “ Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests,” the shepherds “hurried off, found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.”

Seeing the newly-born Baby Jesus changed the shepherds’ fear to faith. They proceeded to “spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.”

May our celebration of Christ’s birth continue to transform us, like the shepherds, to personally experience/spread the good news of God’s redemptive love for us, that through Christ, we are all restored to our heavenly home full of God’s eternal/divine love for us all!

Just as God surprised the shepherds through that one special dark night, Cardinal Ambo David wrote – “may our God of surprises— born as a fragile little Child in a stable in Bethlehem, shining as a bright light in the midst of darkness— surprise us (Filipinos) again with hope where we least expect it.”

2025, declared by Pope Francis as a YEAR OF HOPE, turned out to be a very dark year for our people/our nation, according to Cardinal Ambo.

Remember these “horrors”- “missing sabungeros, the families of drug war victims still waiting for justice, flood-control projects meant to save lives exposed instead as monuments to corruption; (total disaster) - communities stranded on rooftops, waiting for rescue; flash floods carrying thick mud, boulders into already crowded urban neighborhoods; cars piled up like matchboxes; homes shattered into rubble by earthquakes; (power fracture) - a former president arrested abroad for crimes against humanity; an impeachment that died without a trial; political dynasties shaken but not dismantled; siblings turning against siblings in full public view; a national budget that raised more questions than confidence. The streets filled with protests. Institutions faltered. Public trust thinned.”

Cardinal Ambo reminds us – “yet, if we listen carefully—this is precisely where hope must be located. Hope is not optimism, not the denial of darkness.

“True hope is born in the very moment when despair seems most logical—like light that shines brightest not at noon, but at midnight.

“Hope is fragile. But it is stubborn. It demands vigilance, memory, moral courage. And the refusal to surrender our future to cynicism.

“As we move forward, may we remember: hope is not what we feel when things go well— it is what we choose when they do not.

“May the darkness of this year NOT extinguish us, but teach us why hope still matters.”

May God and his immeasurable/endless love for us all be our HOPE to go beyond our fear for tomorrow, the coming days and years!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)