Celebrating his first Christmas as the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Robert W. McElroy during a Christmas Eve Mass on Dec. 24, 2025 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle underscored that Jesus’s Incarnation is the first and greatest gift of Christmas, a sign of God’s steadfast love for all people.
“The first and incomparable gift of Christmas is the gift of God’s love bestowed on us in the Child born to us, the gift of God’s love, total and irrevocable,” Cardinal McElroy said in his homily during the Vigil Mass for the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord.
Cardinal McElroy – who was installed as the archbishop of Washington on March 11 after being appointed to that position by Pope Francis on Jan. 6, succeeding the retiring Cardinal Wilton Gregory – presided at the joyful Christmas Mass at the downtown cathedral. He noted that “God entered into human form and embraced our humanity and lived and experienced all that we know in our lives, with the joys and the sorrows, and the adventures of life, and the struggles of life.”
The Mass on Christmas Eve opened with the cathedral’s Schola Cantorum choir leading the congregation in singing “Adeste Fideles” (“O Come, All Ye Faithful”).
In opening remarks, Cardinal McElroy noted that those coming together for Christmas Mass included students returning home to join their families, along with people from all walks of life, including immigrants with roots in countries around the world. The cardinal said the people had gathered that evening in St. Matthew’s Cathedral “because we know in the heart of Christ, come into the world, lies our hope, our salvation, and our brother who walks with us every moment of our lives.”
Washington’s archbishop then blessed the creche at the cathedral’s St. Anthony of Padua Chapel. Before sprinkling the Nativity scene with holy water and blessing it with incense, he noted that St. Francis of Assisi began that tradition of erecting a creche to present the meaning of Christmas.
“When we look upon these figures, the Christmas Gospel comes alive, and we are moved to rejoice in the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God,” the cardinal said.
In his homily, Cardinal McElroy recounted the American writer O. Henry’s short story, “The Gift of the Magi,” first published in 1905, which told the story of a young couple, James and Della, who on their first Christmas together, sold what was most precious to them in order to give a surprise gift to each other. Della, who had long, beautiful hair, had it cut off and sold to a wig maker in order to buy her husband a chain for his gold watch. Meanwhile, James had sold his prized watch, a family heirloom, in order to buy a set of combs for his wife.
Reflecting on their gifts to each other, Cardinal McElroy said, “At that moment, each of them knew in a profound way, the depth of their love for one another. They had a beautiful Christmas together. More than either of these precious gifts, they knew what lay behind them, the love they had for each other, which was total and without reserve.”
The cardinal said O. Henry’s title for the story was inspired by the gifts of the Magi to the Christ Child, which the author wrongly thought were the first gifts of Christmas.
The first gift of Christmas, Cardinal McElroy said, was “this gift of God to us, in the coming into the world in the Incarnation,” and he said that three graces flow from that gift.
Washington’s archbishop said the first grace from the gift of Christ’s Incarnation “is that we might know that God’s love for us is total and irrevocable and without reserve. By coming into the world, by embracing us in such a profound and tender way, God signaled to us there are no limits to the love which God has for each and every one of us, and that love is personal and individual and intimate and tender.”
The second grace, he added, is of people knowing that as they encounter moments of hardship and suffering in their lives, that they can “pray to a God not of remoteness and abstraction, but a God who has known what it is to experience every element of human suffering, physical, spiritual and emotional.”
Cardinal McElroy noted that Jesus in His passion and death “was entering into the depths of human suffering, to be there for us. And thus in our great moments of suffering for ourselves… and for those we love deeply in our lives, we pray to a God who knows what that means, because our God has been there, and suffered deeply and profoundly.”
A third grace flowing from the Incarnation is atonement, the cardinal said. He noted that everyone in their life sins and hurts other people, and sometimes they try but they cannot undo the harm they have done and make things right, which can feel overwhelming. Cardinal McElroy emphasized that “it is in those moments, that Christ says to us from the cross, ‘Do not beat yourself up for this anymore. I take that burden upon myself in atonement. Let it go.’”
As he concluded his homily, the cardinal said, “So as we celebrate this beautiful day of God’s coming into the world, let us treasure these three graces.”
Prayers and readings at the Mass were in English and Spanish. The intentions included a prayer for peace in the world, especially in the Holy Land, in Ukraine and in all areas of conflict, and that the world’s people might come to know Christ as the Prince of Peace.
The Schola Cantorum choir was directed by Thomas Stehle, the cathedral’s pastoral associate for liturgy and director of music ministries, and the singers were accompanied by the cathedral’s organist, Paul Hardy, and by a string quartet and a trumpeter.
The choir sang a soaring rendition of Handel’s Messiah during the offertory, and led the congregation in singing the joyful Christmas carols “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Silent Night” during Communion.
The priests concelebrating the Mass included Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the cathedral’s longtime rector, who offered words of thanks and a Christmas greeting at the end of Mass.
In his remarks before he gave the closing prayer and final blessing, Cardinal McElroy thanked people for coming to the Mass and “responding to the call of God in your life,” and he emphasized that “God wants to reach out to you in your life, no matter what you have done or failed to do… God seeks to be with you, to love you and to walk with you all the days of your life.”
The Mass concluded with the Christmas carol, “Joy to the World.”
