Homily for The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)

 

Is 62:1-5

Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29

Acts 13:16-17, 22-25

Mt 1:1-25

 

St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church, Burkburnett, TX

St. Paul Catholic Church, Electra, TX

Christ the King Catholic Church, Iowa Park, TX

 

          The Church actually celebrates four different Masses of Christmas and each are feasts of light. The Vigil Mass celebrated at the fading light of the previous day is an anticipation of when Christ is to come. Midnight Mass is when we Christians open our present from God our Father – Jesus Christ, while the rest of the world sleeps in darkness. The Mass at Dawn celebrated tomorrow morning when we open our eyes to the first dim light of day, we gather as a people awakening to the truth of the Nativity. At the Mass During the Day tomorrow, the prologue of John’s Gospel is proclaimed, shedding the fullness of light on the mystery of Jesus Christ, this God-Man come to us as a little baby lying in the manger.[1]

All through Advent, we have been reading from the prophet Isaiah who was writing to an Israel lost in darkness. They were a people who felt that God had abandoned them because of their unfaithfulness to Him. By the time of Christ’s birth, both the High Priest and the King of Israel were mere pretenders – they had no right to their offices. But Isaiah promised that God would restore the relationship between Him and his beloved children. God would restore the Kingdom of David. In the Vigil Mass reading, Isaiah made extensive use of wedding imagery to describe this restoration. It is quite the appropriate image to use at Christmas because in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, we see the ‘wedding’ of our human nature to the divine nature of God. When the Second Person of the Holy Trinity takes on the flesh of a human being – the flesh He received from Mary – he ‘marries’ our humanity and takes on all that we are, except sin. Forevermore, we are united to our God in a one-flesh union through Jesus Christ! God has broken into the darkness of this world and brought with Him the light of His mercy – his covenant faithfulness (hesed) – the Light of Christ Jesus Himself. Jesus, our true High Priest and our true King has come!

The readings for the Midnight Mass reveal that our world is still shrouded in the darkness of sin. We wander in uncertainty, fear, and unrest. Especially with the COVID mess, political nonsense, and economic instability we are currently experiencing. We live our lives with a deep hunger in the depths of our being that nothing in this world can satisfy. As we gaze at the image of the Holy Family in the scene before us, we recall that the name of city of Beth-lehem where He was born translates literally to ‘House of Bread.’ The manger where the baby Jesus lies is a feeding trough. The symbolism God uses to unveil His light is unmistakable. Jesus is the only one who can bring lasting peace, who can banish our fears, and who will free us from our enslavement to sin and shame. Jesus is the Bread of Life given to us in the Holy Eucharist at each and every Holy Mass, celebrated not just at Christmas, but every day. And to whom does Jesus call to Himself to heal, to feed, and to save? Who surrounds his manger scene? Not the rich and the powerful, not the perfect, not the influential and the famous. No. He is surrounded by the shepherds – the poor and outcast, the downtrodden of His society. In the darkness, Jesus Christ is the light that beckons us to Himself – the weak ones in our society, the persecuted, the addicted, the lonely, the grieving, the discriminated against, the broken, the humble, the unsure, the wounded, the weary, and the sick. He calls us sinners to Himself to heal us, to feed us, to love us, and to make us whole in Him.

On Christmas Day, we hear the prologue of the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . .the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God, existed before time began. He was there at the Big Bang. He was there when the stars and the sun and the earth were formed. He was there in the Garden with Adam and Eve. He was there with Moses in the Burning Bush. He was there 2000 years ago in the manger in Bethlehem. And He is here right now in His church, with His people! I love how St. John wrote ‘the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ In the Greek, it can also be translated as ‘the darkness has not understood it.’ John is telling us that the light of the truth of the Gospel can neither be overcome by the godless, nor understood by them. On this celebration of Christmas, Jesus Christ, who is the Light of Truth come into the world, invites us – invites you – to enter into the light with Him. Jesus wants you to live the Gospel truth – to come to understand it, be changed by it, and to overcome the world by it!

It is not enough to come to Mass once or twice a year. It is not enough to come to Mass every week, if all we do is warm the pew where we sit. Our faith must become action or it means nothing. To be a Catholic Christian means to actively and frequently participate in the sacramental life of the Church, to receive the grace necessary to be able to love sacrificially, the way God desires. The Eucharist is the Body of Christ. Taking it into ourselves, we become the new Temple, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. The Word becomes flesh and dwells within us at this Mass and at every Mass. Let Christ be our Light. Let us become Light to the world. Merry Christmas!

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[1] Publication / Usccb Communications, vol. No. 7-517, Homiletic Directory (Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2015), 53-54.