The night when someone was there

"Love is there even when there is no one to say it."

It is Christmas Eve.

The clock is ticking slower than usual.

The city is quieter, the streets are brighter — but in one apartment there is only one lamp.

There is not much on the table.

A mug of tea.

A candle.

Maybe an old photograph that you have looked at a thousand times.

He does not complain.

He just stops.

He hears laughter coming from the neighbor, the distant clinking of glasses, the well-known Christmas melody that is easier to listen to with others.

And yet… a very quiet peace settles over him.

He thinks of those who are no longer sitting at the table.

Whose place has not been filled — only kept.

He also thinks of the years when he gave strength to others.

When he was there.

When he listened.

When he did not leave.

Now he was left alone.

But not abandoned.

Because loneliness is not always a lack.

Sometimes it is a meeting.

A meeting with himself.

With his memories.

With the love he gave — and what did not disappear, lives on in a different form.

He lights the candle.

Not to be bright.

But to remember: the light is not strong because many people see it.

He closes his eyes for a moment.

He does not pray with words.

He just lets the evening bend around him.

And maybe that is when the real Christmas happens.

Not under the tree.

Not in the gifts.

Not in the loud joy.

But in the feeling that the one who loved still loves him now.

That what was true has not passed.

That a person matters even when no one knocks on the door.

At the end of Christmas Eve, the candle slowly burns down.

But something warm remains in the heart.

Something certain.

That this evening was not lost.

That being alone did not mean emptiness.

That love did not remain unanswered.

Because there was someone who was there.

You.

And that is enough now.

On Christmas Eve, loneliness is not what counts, but that the heart remains open.

Those who were alone were not forgotten.

Those who were silent were not empty.

Because where there is love, there God is also present — not loudly, not spectacularly, but sustainingly.

And this presence does not pass with the night.

Amen.