A Song for Christmas

Back in 2015, while I was serving at Holy Virgin Mary and Shoghagat Armenian Church in Belleville, Illinois, we had a beautiful Christmas tradition that I will never forget. Every December, our parish community would visit retirement homes and assisted-living centers to sing Christmas carols.

Many of those seniors lived with loneliness. Some were facing serious physical pain. Some could barely speak. Yet the moment the music began, faces softened, eyes filled with light, tears appeared. Those carols reached places words could not. They reminded them that heaven is real and that God has not forgotten them.

And if you think about it, Christmas caroling began in Bethlehem itself. In Jesus’ time, there was a custom: when a woman went into labor, musicians gathered outside the home. They waited in silence until the child was born. Then, at the moment of birth, they burst into song, welcoming new life with joy.

On Christmas night, when Jesus was born in a humble stable, angels did the same. Scripture says the angels filled the skies and sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth!” (Luke 2:14). Heaven began the song, and humanity has been singing it ever since.

From the earliest days of the Church, believers went from home to home, singing hymns about Christ’s birth and spreading the Good News: God came near. Light broke into the darkness. Hope touched the earth. The Church invites us to be carolers because God calls every believer to share love and joy.

Our Lord urges us: “Let your light shine before others” (Matthew 5:16). That is the essence of caroling; light entering darkness, hope touching discouraged hearts, and love making its home where it has been missing.

This Christmas, carry that spirit with you. Even if you never visit a retirement home with a hymnal in hand, you can still be a caroler in the world. Call someone who is hurting and speak a word of hope. Pray for a friend who feels forgotten. Bring joy into places that have grown quiet.

May your Christmas be filled with music. May your voice join the heavenly song of hope. And may you discover that when you give joy to others, you step closer to the manger, where love first sang for us all.

Merry Christmas!