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Bishop's Homily for Christmas Day

December 25, 2025

Homily of Most Reverend Larry Silva, Bishop of Honolulu
[Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace Community, Honolulu; Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa, Honolulu]

Last week I spoke to a long-time friend who is suffering severe depression. The darkness in his life is very thick and heavy. I also spoke to someone whose wife recently died. He is in his 70’s, and she had been his high school sweetheart. He, too, is living in a deep darkness of grief. A friend of mine in Myanmar, where there has been a civil war for almost five years, tells me the people there are living in a very dark fear of what could happen to them. Our own streets are lined with people who are so destitute that they seem to be in a dark tunnel of hopelessness.

Today we celebrate a feast of light! We are told that the “people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” The shepherds keeping night watch over their flocks saw the heavens flooded with the light of the glory of the Lord. John’s Gospel proclaims that “the true light, which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world.” Soon we will hear of the light of a star that led wise men to the light himself. Although we do not know the time of day in which Jesus was born, his birth is usually celebrated at midnight, because though it is the darkest time of the day, Jesus is the light.

How important it is for us to celebrate this light that is Jesus – God himself who took on our weak humanity to bring it out of darkness into his own marvelous light! He himself was thought to be forever extinguished by the powers of darkness when he died on the shameful cross, but he rose from the dead with a light that no darkness could ever completely overcome. It is important for us, who walk in darkness ourselves from time to time. But it is important that we celebrate this light that is Jesus so that we can be filled with his power, his energy, his light – and can then share it with those who have forgotten that there is this light of life among us.

On the day we were baptized, we were given a lighted candle, lit from the Easter candle, which represents the light of Christ himself, risen from the dead and having overcome the greatest darkness. This is not just a “nice” ceremony, but it reminds us that our lives are to be spent giving light to others. Sometimes we can flood others with the joyous light we feel in being disciples of Jesus. But sometimes we just provide a glimmer of light to those who might be blinded by too much light. The Holy Spirit, who conceived the Lord Jesus in the womb of his Virgin Mother, guides us to shine with just the right degree of light in the various situations in which we find ourselves.

It is our duty and our salvation to share the light of Jesus with all who walk in darkness. The homeless, the hungry, the grieving, the depressed, the imprisoned, the fearful and the anxious – all are in need of this healing, hope-giving light that is Jesus Christ himself. We may be tempted to think that the light we have is too dim to make much difference in those whose lives are thick with darkness. But we see that the Lord uses the most humble persons and circumstances to accomplish his purposes. What could be more humble than the great Son of God being born in a stable, with a manger – a feeding trough for animals – as his crib? Or shepherds being chosen as the first witnesses of this history-changing event? So it is that every one of us is commissioned by the Lord himself to share the light of Jesus with others who live in varying degrees of darkness.

Our Christmas singing, festivities, decorations, and gift exchanges are all ways we try to kindle the light within us and share the light of Christ with others. But there is no better way to take his light into the land of the shadow of death than to come here and be embraced by the same Jesus who was laid in a manger 2025 years ago. He is truly present with us in this Eucharist, so that his light is no mere memory, but a living reality that sets us on fire. The altar becomes the manger, and we come with our sometimes-beastly souls to eat from the manger, so that we not only receive normal nourishment but the true light who created the world and who alone can change the world through us who embrace him. The “Word was made flesh” long ago, and the same Word is made flesh today to feed us and change us into his own marvelous light to enlighten every dark corner of the world.