Living Catholic with Father Don Wolf

An Out of This World Christmas Story | December 21, 2025

• Archdiocese of Oklahoma City

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What does Christmas look like when you’re 15 million miles from home with no space for gifts and no time for tinsel?

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Father Don Wolf is a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. Living Catholic also broadcasts on Oklahoma Catholic Radio several times per week, with new episodes airing every Sunday.

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This is Living Catholic with Father Don Wolfe. This show deals with living the Catholic faith in our time, discovering God's presence in our lives, and finding hope in his word. And now your host, Father Don Wolff.

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Welcome, Oklahoma, to Living Catholic. I'm Monsignor Don Wolfe, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish and rector of the Shrine of Blessed Stanley Rother, and we've now approached that time in our year when it's time for our annual Christmas story. We have a story today called On Board. Captain, thank you for agreeing to visit with me. I know it's kind of funny to have a meeting like this since we see each other every day, but unless we can have a formal conversation about what goes on here, we'll never be able to make the decisions that count. So thanks. So let me get to it. What are we going to do for Christmas? I know we still have more than a month before the twenty fifth, and like I said, we do see each other every day, but it's a question we have to answer. The day isn't just going to come and go with no impact, as if it made no difference on the crew. It's something we have to talk about, you and I, because it really counts. Oh, oh, I hear you, and you're right. My specialty is systems operations. The morale of the crew and how we get along with them with one another isn't my direct responsibility, and I certainly haven't received any special training in this area, more than anyone else. And let me lay to rest a suspicion that you don't have that you haven't said, but I know is reasonable to think. I'm not some sort of secret plant or deep spy whose job it is to keep an eye on you or who has the job of reporting how we're really getting along. I know that was one of the banes of the Soviet system to implant a polytruk among the guys who monitor their loyalty and keeps everyone on track. I really am just one of the guys, but I am one of the guys, and what we're going to do for Christmas is going to matter to me and to our mission. And it's going to matter to you too. What's that? Oh, I know the guys as a group aren't very religious. They're certainly not going to say much to each other or to you out loud about the holiday. Well, it's a holy day where I come from, but they'll be thinking about it. I've got to decide what we're going to do and how we're going to treat the day. Why haven't I said anything before? Well, it's because it wasn't anything we had to worry about before. When we launched in September, all of us, along with the whole world, was focused on getting into orbit, making our rendezvous, and finally setting out from Mars. The only thing anyone, including any one of us, was thinking about was the 30 million miles in front of us and the months we needed to get there. Setting up the beginning of Mars base with the supply ships and building the mission systems all had their place in the years beforehand, but all that was just hardware. People liked all the talk about the technology involved, but it was just machines and math. When it came to the crew, everyone was excited about us leaving and preparing to carve a place out of that cold new planet. In the middle of all this, none of us were thinking all that much about the intervening time. In all the hoopla, we didn't really consider what it meant to be to be us, to be on board this ship, arcing toward the red planet. Now, here we are, so it's time. To tell you the truth, the only thing I thought about was the systems I'd designed and adapted to keep us alive and functioning. You know, when we broke orbit and set the trajectory to Mars, I checked the monitors and ran the diagnostics and looked over the inputs just about every day. I was like a teenager with his first car who checked the oil every morning. After we settled into our routines, I've been content to let the system run as I designed it. So I've been able to focus more and more on what's coming up. I know that means once we slow into orbit around Mars and get ready for touchdown, and then once we set up our base there, I'll be responsible for making sure everything's going to work. But it also means anticipating what we're going to need all the while we're on our way. The systems on our ship might be designed to be automatic and self-diagnosing, but we aren't. The astronauts are just men. You're right, you're right. We talk about cruise sustainability and interpersonal dynamics while all the planning was taking place. And sure, your point's well taken. The professionals have had their say about all these things that we worry about during these months we're in transit we're in transit, and all the time we're going to be on Mars. I'm not going against any of their advice, nor would I want to. And you're on target. The most critical aspect of this whole journey is how we get along together. It's not flattery to say that your leadership is the most important part of this whole mission. Elon's genius and all of his money can't buy what's going to make this plan a success, and that's you leading us. Getting along with each other here is the first priority. There isn't anything else that's going to be more critical. I know that's true. In fact, it's why I'm bringing all this up to you. Christmas is worth paying attention to for all of us. We have to decide what we're going to do, and we have to decide it pretty soon. Why? Well, especially if so many of the guys aren't really religious. It's because Christmas is woven to everybody's memory. Even if it never involved going to church or reading the Bible, Christmas occupies a place in everyone's life. I mean, it's ironic for those who are religious. The corporate marketing and all of the advertising around the season has made it meaningful no matter what you believe or what you care to think about the coming of the Christ child. Everyone on this crew has Christmas tattooed on his memory. Nobody can get away from it. I know, uh of course you're right. There aren't going to be any gifts or decorations. All of us were part of taking the inventory of the whole flight. At twenty thousand dollars an ounce to launch, there aren't any secret gifts stowed away here. I know that for a fact. I didn't bring along a crash scene or squirrel away any tinsel. You know that. As far as it goes, we could put up a Christmas tree image on our screens the same way we could show a fireplace burning. It'd look pretty good. Certainly it would be a lot more intriguing than looking out the window at the star fields. I know Marlin and Wayne might not think so as they're staring through their eyepieces at the constellations, but our decorations would be as well done on our screens as anything else. But but that's not it, not really. I'm not just talking about the decorations or the images. I'm talking about how to celebrate the day so that it counts for everyone. Although don't be surprised if once we touch down and go through the cache waiting for us on the cargo vessels, there is a Santa suit somewhere among the mobility stores. I can't imagine that somebody didn't put something like that in. Even if we won't be walking around in it in the 1% atmospheric pressure, it would work as part of the regular stores for the modules. Plus, I imagine it'll end up outside put up like a scarecrow or up next to what passes for a fireplace for next Christmas. But you see, that's just the point. Even that is the gateway into what we have to do to say to stay sane and whole. It's a matter of holding on to our memories and keeping up with our humanity. It's not just religious, it's as real and complete as our birth certificates. Christmas is woven into our lives. Why is it such a big deal for me? Because I feel a twinge in my soul whenever I get to that time of year, and nothing's been done about it yet. I've been on deployments and out at sea at Christmas time. This is something I've had to handle before. Like all the rest of us, I've certainly been away from home during the holiday season, and I miss when it happens. Christmas was family when I was growing up. Everything we had to do with the people who surrounded us and filled our days, that was Christmas. Going to church was part of it, but the things we did, they had everything to do with the family, and almost nothing to do with anything else. When it's Christmas, it's the faces of those people who are long gone from me now that come up to my memory. The living room we had, the tree we put up, they've all changed hands or disappeared. Christmas isn't those things, it's more. It's the feelings I carry around. Just mention Christmas at the right time, and I'm flooded with those images and memories. In fact, I hesitate even to call them memories. They're more like Christmas facts. They're as real and true to me as the sunrise at home or the sound of rain on the roof. They're just as close to me as my eyelids. I only have to close them to have all those sensations with me. Sure, Jesus is part of it. The gift of revelation is part of what I believe. But I don't think of the story from the Bible and then remember tinsel and ornaments. It's the other way around. I suppose it's the most human thing. Surround what's important with blinking lights, and you'll remember it's important, even if all you think of at first are the lights. Do I believe in Jesus? Well, sure I do. I believe in the gift of Christ, and I think everyone should. But don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to convert anybody by forcing them to have some sort of prayer service here in the dining room. I believe in a Christian life, and it's a living part of what I do. But it also occupies my soul by way of my memories and my celebrations. And just the same way, every guy's life is filled by what he's done and what he feels good about. That's why we have to celebrate here, because Christmas is part of the life of every guy on the ship. What about your Christmases? What did you used to do when you were a kid? I can see that's a lot different than mine. But even when there wasn't church involved or lots of relatives, it was a day different than other days, wasn't it? And didn't the presents you got make a mark on your calendar? Can you remember what you dreamed about as the greatest present for you? See, that's what I'm getting at. The great present I longed for and dreamed about as a kid was a yellow Tonka dump truck. Every time I saw one, every time any other kid had one, there was a moment that rose up in me about how special life could be, how much a great gift could be. It was the Red Rider BB gun in my life, with the exception that I never got one for Christmas. But it was the longing, the idea that gift getting was for that time of year. It was when what you longed for could be satisfied. Having a hunger for something else, and knowing that the wanting heart can be made full, that's all connected to Christmas. Even though in your case there wasn't some super religious household to be a part of, in your young life, the day carried with it its own set of expectations. It carved a time out of your life that made everything different about that day for you. That's what we have to pay attention to. It's what we have to respond to with Matt and Harry and John and all the rest of the crew. None of us didn't have a time when Christmas didn't matter. So it has to matter now. For us, it won't be giving gifts or getting them. It's going to be the chance to make the day a gift for each of us. If that doesn't happen, the rest of these months are going to go by too slowly. These next 15 million miles are going to crawl past at too slow a pace to be healthy. I want to see this mission succeed, and I don't mean I just want to survive this trip and be the first colonist on Mars. I mean I want us to remember who we are and what makes our lives go. Forget Christmas and what the day means, and we'll all be leaving behind what matters. We could pretend it doesn't matter, and we'd all try to carry on as professionals, ignoring the calendar and the memories that well up in us, as if we were an extension of the robots that run the ship, but that's not going to get us anywhere. Below the firm expression of everybody on board, there's the truth that Christmas means something to all of us. We've got to celebrate it somehow. Unprecedented? I don't think you have to think of it that way. Or at least I don't think that's the big concern here. Sure, we aren't pilgrims arriving at Plymouth Rock and we're not up here to set up the Vatican annex, that's true. But you know, we do carry a part of ourselves no matter where we're going. I don't think we're violating any part of our understanding of who we are as a crew by keeping some sort of solidarity with what we celebrate at home, even if it's just the basic common part of our care of our calendar. I think history's a good example if we focus on it as a teacher. Think about it. We're not all that different than the crews of the sailing ships who went all over the world in the great decades of exploration, crossing the Pacific under canvas, heading into the unknown with a captain a captain who had absolute control and absolute dependence upon his crew. They were all locked into the oaken walls they called home for years at a time. They got along together, at least in some measure. Smelling the salt air every day was a plus we didn't have, sure, but they also purposefully carried their little corner of home with them. They didn't abstain from being themselves. By marking life with the familiar and the certain, they remembered they had a life, and it was valuable to them. Home wasn't just back in the harbor they came from. It was the corner of the soul allotted to them wherever they were. That's what we have to do. Our crew has to have a chance to claim their souls. Extreme? I don't think so. We may be floating between planets 15 million miles farther away from home than any other human beings have ever been, but we're still voyagers who are setting up houses in a new place. I think it pays to bring home with us and to make our lives there full. Christmas is going to do that with us. What do you mean? What is Jesus to me? I'm happy to say, as long as you understand, I'm not talking about getting every guy on board to think about confessing Jesus or belonging to the church. I'm not a secret Catholic agent on board, although I'm going to suggest a couple of things that are going to make you wonder. But let me tell you, the longing of all humanity is to find a way out of its captivity to the destructive part of our nature. We Christians call this sin, and it's everywhere. But it's part of our life. There's no way to escape it. Building something and our build something and our destructiveness will be built into it. It's like setting stones on a cracked foundation. No matter how beautiful or how solid the stones, they'll crack, beginning with the first course and then up from there. Jesus came into the world to save us from this destruction. And he did it by rescuing us, even as we destroyed him. That's what the cross is all about. By destroying him, the people of his time did what we all do all the time. The great gift in him was that even afterward, when all of the pretense about how they were doing it for everyone's good was obvious, he came back to offer a new life beyond the powers to destroy. And the connection point of all of us is that he came to us as a person, as a human being born into the world just as we are. What he is, we are. So the gift of life beyond destruction is given to us, first of all, by him being us. And then second of all, by knowing him as the one who invites us to follow him beyond destruction. That's Christmas, you know. He's a baby, like all babies, and enters the world with all the risk and threat the world has. His triumph begins as a child, because he was a child, just as you and I were. What he offers is what you and I can become. That's what Jesus is. What do you mean? Will mentioning Christmas upset anyone? Oh, you mean will it make someone mad or put someone at odds with the rest? I hear what you're saying. Sure, we run the risk of doing it this way, of doing this in a way that might leave someone out. That's something to keep in mind. I get it. But think about what will happen if we leave everyone out. Isn't that what will happen if we act like this isn't a holiday for all? My suggestion? Sure, I have one. But let me start with an example you probably won't like. But listen to the whole thing. What came to mind when I was thinking about all this is a monastery. Whether we want to think about it or not, we're really a monastery here in space. We're committed to being together, all of us. Our lives follow the same routine so that we live and work together. And what we want is each other's support and understanding. By the time it's all said and done, we are a small monastery in the cosmos. We're a revolutionary experiment in what it takes to live as one in a place where living is the first priority. No, it's not just some sort of Catholic thing. There are non-Christian monks too. Listen, we're also all together on this trip. We're all poor together. Nobody has anything that's not shared with the other. We all make it or we all perish together. Our lives together is the perfect monastery, and that makes you the abbot. You're the one who's our spiritual father. So I was thinking, what do monks do for Christmas? They can't give gifts, they don't have a life separate from the monastery, they can't make their routines different without upsetting the whole place. So what do they do? And the answer came to me. They can offer each other a promise of hope for each other. Wait, wait, I I know that sounds a little too effeminate for us, but it's not really. What if on Christmas Day you gathered us together and had us share our stories about Christmas, whatever they are, when we had a chance to share them with you and with each other, you could remind everyone that the holiday is here too, as a special time in our trip. And then let everyone know that they have a gift to give and can give it to whomever they want. And the gift is that they can choose to be for someone else. It goes like this: go through the list of the crew and choose someone. Simply choose to be for that person. Direct yourself to what you feel that person needs and then carry that with you. No, you don't have to write a note or tell anyone or actually connect yourself to that person's life. Just hold yourself as a gift to that person. All of us live in need of, we live in need of what we don't have. We all live lives defined by our faults and mistakes. So give the gift of being for that someone else. It's not romance. You don't even have to tell the person anything about what you've promised. Just Make a gift. How that's connected to Christmas? Well, we could call it whatever we want, but think about it. Jesus came into the world as a gift to the world. Almost no one knew, and yet he arrived as the Savior to rescue us from ourselves. And billions of people have lived not knowing about this gift. And yet, he was God's gift to the world for the world. And has become the pathway out of the destruction our lives are built on. He was a gift for everyone, and he changed the world for everyone. We can too. We can give the gift of being for someone else. And that's exactly Christmas for all of us. I know it'll take a while to think about, you're the boss, but the 25th is a month away, and the time will pass quickly. Just remember, there's nothing you can do about it. If I decide I'm going to give you the gift of being for you, you can't do anything about that. After all, Christmas is a gift for everyone, no matter what you think about. Back in just a moment. As the calendar pages disappear and the weeks are scratched off. Once more the decorations are placed and all is made ready, for the graced songs of the cherubim and the heady reading of the gospel. Another year of grace gone, another year of sins forgiven, so that the Savior who lived amid angel flutters and soft lowing might light up our skies announcing his new coming, and shake us, summoning from our beds, and tilt our trees toward the news. God has impatiently entered our few days and now waits to save us. That's Christmas is upon us! Our lives are marked by how we live and what we do and how we celebrate this season. And we ought to remember that it is part of who we are because we have all been rolled into the life of Christ Himself. And so, as the gift that we offer to one another, our invitation, uh, like in the story, is to be for one another. And if that doesn't sound Christmassy enough, just imagine what are we giving when we give another person a gift? We're giving them the opportunity to know that their life is has a place in our lives and that what we are is uh to live as a gift for them. And so giving a gift simply reminds everybody of what's been true and was always true in our lives. That what is most valuable and most important in our lives is that we live for someone else. And so this is a season in which our lives are marked by generosity and by the uh opportunity to receive the generosity of others. So our lives conform to the life of Christ is the ultimate gift that we can give to one another and that we can receive from one another. And so as you have the opportunity to celebrate this season, also remember it's the opportunity to uh celebrate together. So be sure and make contact with the parishes if you're uh the parish that you're going to if you're going to be outside of your regular parish, and be sure that you know for the people who are coming to visit the times and places of uh celebration in your own parish. And have a Merry Christmas. I hope you can join us in the weeks to come.

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Living Catholic is a production of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City for Oklahoma Catholic Radio. To learn more, visit okcr.org.