May this Christmas bring you an uplifting of the heart, a resurgence of hope, as it heralds the universal message of peace and goodwill expressed by the Lord Jesus, and by great ones through the ages who have shared the same all-embracing divine Christ Consciousness. During this auspicious time, we in Paramahansa Yogananda’s ashrams ask you to join us in praying for God’s children of every race and creed, that the compassion and forgiveness of God’s Infinite Love might awaken in all hearts. That inner awakening is what will ultimately heal this strife-torn world. God-sent souls such as Jesus come to help us look beyond divisive differences to an understanding and practice of the essence of spirituality, which is to love God supremely and to love all souls as a part of Him.

How radiantly did those ideals manifest through Jesus — in his uttermost devotion to the Heavenly Father, in his life of self-sacrificing service, and in his unconditional love as he reached beyond religious and social boundaries to minister to those in need. From a heart immersed in the limitless love of God, he drew the strength to give kindness in return for unkindness, and to live fearlessly the eternal principles of divine behavior that we all must follow if we are to be at peace with ourselves and others and in harmony with our Creator. Latent within everyone is that soul-capacity to love and forgive. To do unto others as they do unto us is human nature. But God-consciousness manifests in our lives when we put aside our ego with its hurts and fears and make a conscious determination to act rightly, free from enmity. To resist wrongs and uphold truth is necessary, as Christ showed; yet in facing the world’s dualities we can choose what we harbor in our motives: resentment and hatred or understanding and love. If each day we choose the way of unity and love, the confining walls of fear and narrow self-interest will dissolve and the consciousness will expand to touch the universal consciousness of the Christlike Great Ones.

Every good thought and selfless act brings a special measure of God’s grace and enlarges the scope of our sympathy and understanding. But to feel for all without exception, as Christ did, we must go within to the Source of every expression of caring. In the soul-cathedral of silence in deep meditation, God will come as peace, as joy, as love. The walls of separation will melt away, revealing the underlying oneness, the eternal bond, that unites the well-being of each soul with the welfare of every other soul. Gurudeva told us, “To serve all means to be conscious that you are in everybody, not just in the one little body you call your own — for we are all made of the same omnipresent consciousness of God.” May this Christmas bring to you the dawning of that consciousness, the unfolding in your heart of His all-encompassing love.

A joyous Christmas to you and your dear ones.

With boundless blessings,

Sri Daya Mata