Homily for the Nativity of the Lord (Mass during the day) - Year B

 

Merry Christmas my precious Christians, Merry Christmas! We rejoice for the Lord Jesus Christ has come into the world. We rejoice for we are sons and daughters of the King of Kings! We rejoice to see so many of our brethren with us today to celebrate this wonderful solemnity of his Nativity – the Word of God made flesh come into the world. We rejoice for our family is more complete and enriched because you are with us! Welcome home!

          We began Advent with the prophet Isaiah telling us to Watch! And Be Ready! The King is coming! Be on guard, be about his business when he returns. Then he reminded us to “Prepare the way of the Lord!” To get rid of the debris and speedbumps blocking our path to God. Next, Isaiah told us to “Rejoice! for the return of the King is close.”

Isaiah wrote to the Israelites to give them hope and to recall who they were as God’s chosen people. The prophet reminded them that they were called to be a light to the world. Today’s reading from Isaiah announces the fulfillment of that hope. “Your God is King!” he proclaims. God himself, your king comes to comfort his people and set them free. His holy right arm has been bared to break the power of darkness and bring salvation to the world. Isaiah’s message of hope is just as relevant to us today. Jesus Christ is our King, the Son of God who sits at the right hand of the Father. He has come into the world to bring light, to proclaim salvation, to set captives free.

But who is Jesus Christ? Why do we celebrate today the birth of that little baby lying in the manger? The Masses of Christmas (there are four) are feasts of light. The Vigil Mass celebrated at the fading light of the previous day is an anticipation of what is to come. Midnight Mass is when we Christians open our present from God that is Christ, while the rest of the world sleeps in darkness. The Mass at Dawn celebrated when we open our eyes to the first dim light of day, is as a people awakening to the truth of the Nativity. And at this Mass during the day, the prologue of John’s Gospel is proclaimed, shedding the fullness of light on the mystery of who that little baby is, Jesus Christ, lying in the manger. Let us take a deeper look!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” John is not writing here about the beginning of the world, or the beginning or the universe, or even the beginning of time. No. John is writing about the beginning of beginnings, when God alone existed. From all eternity, the Logos, the eternal Word of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ existed. He did not come after God – like God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, he always was. Jesus Christ IS fully and eternally, divine.

“All things came to be through him, and without him, nothing came to be” God is the Creator of everything that is. Time, the universe, the stars and planets, the animals and plants, people, everything. But God the Father did not do it alone. He didn’t send Jesus and the Spirit to go outside and play while he worked. Jesus was right there – the Father created everything THROUGH and for Jesus.

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” We so longed for God to tear open the heavens and come down to us that he did just that. God the Father sent his eternal Word, Jesus Christ to take on human flesh and become one of us. We could not reach God, so he reached down to us. Jesus, the Son of God, humbled himself and became a man for our sake. Jesus is fully human.

“While the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” Our king has indeed come to dwell among us, but he did not come to judge us. Instead he came to liberate captives from the chains of sin, heal the inwardly blind, to bring healing to the world, and to give us the grace necessary to cooperate in his mission of truth. We were created in the image and likeness of God. Through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, in the waters of our baptism became adopted sons and daughters of the Father.

“No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.” Moses could not look at God’s face. Neither could Elijah. But as his adopted sons and daughters, looking at Jesus, we can see what God looks like. What a privilege!

This is why we celebrate today. We rejoice at the coming of our King, Jesus Christ. True God, True Man. He has shattered the bonds of sin with the power of grace. He has clothed us in the robe of salvation. He reigns at the right hand of God and has sent the Holy Spirit to guide us, his Church to proclaim the message of hope in the Gospel to the world. My fellow Christians, we are the light of the world that has fallen into darkness, we are God’s chosen people, sons and daughters of the King who will one day see him face to face! As we persevere in carrying out our mission to evangelize the world to celebrate this glorious day, be joyful, be filled with hope, and rejoice for the Kingdom of God is at hand! Merry Christmas!

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