Long-Distance at Christmas

If you’re anything like me, you find yourself celebrating this Holiday season a little differently than years past. This Christmas, I find myself sadly separated and long-distanced from many loved ones and family members. For those in the same boat, my heart goes out to you. There are some much-wanted faces missing in my own home, and many forlorn empty chairs around the dinner table.

The current situation of 2020 has made it even more challenging than usual to have everyone home for the Holidays. As the youngest child in my family, each year I eagerly await the arrival of my older siblings at Christmas. However, with their absence this year, as well as the long-distance nature of many other close and dear relationships, my heart has had the tendency to be fairly heavy.

And I’m sure I’m not alone in this struggle. I’ve found my prayer has turned a tad angry. I want to celebrate Christmas, but it’s harder this year. It’s challenging to have the Christmas spirit when you are missing some of the people you love the most. Jesus, what are You trying to teach me in this long-distance Christmas?

The truth is: I hate long-distance.

And sometimes I feel like I hate it with a burning passion. I hate long-distance with my friends, I hate it with my family, and I hate it in my relationships. If I could have it my way, I’d be forever close to the closest people in my life.

It hurts to be distanced from those whom you love.

This is the sad fact of Christmas 2020. This is the fact of much of 2020, but it seems to hit closer to home this time of year. However, I believe that there is something to learn from this kind of Christmas. And I believe that the nature of Christmas itself can give us a new perspective on any sort of long-distance relationships in our lives.

The reason I believe this, is because God also hates long-distance.

God loves us. It’s cliché, but I’m going to repeat that again, because sometimes we hear it too much and gloss over it. Again, God loves us. God loves you. And when our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned, they distanced themselves and the whole human race from God. And that hurt God, because He loves us, and it hurts to be distanced from those whom you love. But God also loves us too much to leave us at a distance. That is why the Incarnation, Jesus becoming man, made known to us at Christmas, is so important.

On Christmas Day, Jesus Christ destroyed long-distance.

At the Incarnation, the distance between God and Man was exponentially diminished. There is no longer a distance between God and man, because God became man. Jesus humbled Himself, and came down to our level. Because of the Incarnation, and because of Christmas, we now have a God Who is not separate from us, but close. Because of Christmas, we are given the capacity for deep, deep intimacy with God, through Jesus. We now have a God that is relatable, understandable, touchable, hearable. It is through the Incarnation that we are given the gift of the Eucharist, as there would be no Eucharist without the Incarnation. And what does the Eucharist have to do with intimacy? The Eucharist gives us the greatest intimacy we can share with God this side of Heaven.

At Christmas, we do not have a long-distance relationship with God. Not even COVID and the closing of churches can cause us to have a long-distance relationship with Him. He has come close to us, and is drawing us ever closer to Him. He is not a far-off God, rather He is near.

Christmas is proof that no matter what the world brings, there is one person with whom we cannot be forced to have a long-distance relationship. That person is the Baby Jesus.

So whether you watch Christmas on a livestream, or masked in a Church this year, I challenge you to remember this. We may be at a time when we are forced to be distanced from many people in our lives. But no matter where we go, or how alone we feel, we can find comfort in the fact that Jesus is not at a distance. I pray that this Christmas season reminds you of that truth. He draws close to you this season, and always.

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“Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Emmanuel, which means, God is with us.” – Matthew 1:23

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