Readings of the day (for Christmas Mass at Night): Isaiah 9:1-6; Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14
Merry Christmas! “Do not be afraid; for
behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the
people.” What is this “good news of great joy” that the angel once proclaimed
to shepherds in a field, and that we still proclaim today, more than two
thousand years later? Why do we still proclaim this “good news”?
Do not the answers to these questions
seem obvious? The “good news of great joy” that the angel proclaimed to the
shepherds, of which we hear in our Gospel reading, is the news of the birth of
Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Lord. The birth of Jesus is for us the great sign
of a promise God made to us long ago, in the prophet Isaiah’s words: “The
people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in
the land of gloom a light has shone.”
Why do we continue to proclaim this
“good news of great joy” to this day? Is it not because, deep within every one
of us, we believe that Jesus’ birth was not just a one-time event over two
thousand years ago, but is significant for us here and now? The Son of God’s
becoming human and Jesus’ birth has changed our world; has saved our world. “A
Savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord,” the angel says to the
shepherds near Bethlehem.
“A Savior has been born” for us. And it is not the first time, nor
will it be the last, when God keeps his promise to us, for our salvation; to
lift us from darkness; from gloom; from sin; to shine the light of God’s own
presence on our world. We wait for the fulfillment; the end goal of God’s
promise for our salvation: The return of Jesus Christ among us at the end of
time. And yet God is present among us now. God is saving us now. Deep within
us, do we not believe this?
This belief is reason enough for us to
proclaim, as an angel did more than two thousand years ago, “good news of great
joy… for all the people.” I imagine that we all hold this belief deep within
us: Jesus’ birth has changed our world; has saved our world. And God is still
working in our world here and now to save us. I imagine this because I look out
and see all of us here, gathered as one Church to celebrate the birth of our
Lord Jesus. Were this event not world-changing; world-saving, would we be here?
Surely we would not celebrate the birth of just any baby, for just any reason,
over two thousand years in a manger.
We could find many reasons, some justifiable,
not to be here. This is perhaps the busiest time of the year, not only at the
stores and shopping malls. This is the time of year to receive family and
friends; to give and to receive gifts; to prepare our homes by cleaning,
cooking, and baking… Many of us will travel or have traveled long distances
over these Christmas and New Year holidays. Many of us care for small children
or elderly, sick, or homebound relatives, which can make it more difficult for
us to attend Mass, even if it is Christmas.
Many of us mourn the loss of loved ones.
Many more of us struggle to make ends meet. Still more of us may have been
estranged from the Church for a long time; have had bad experiences with Christians;
with the Church; with a priest or other leader of the Church. Others have
simply drifted away from the Church. Many of us experience broken families and
households. Some of us may question: What is the “good news of great joy” we
are to proclaim at Christmas? What is the point?
For some of us, our world is mired in as
much “darkness” and “gloom” as in Isaiah’s time or Jesus’ time. Nations
continue to oppress one another as our Gospel reading says the Romans oppressed
Jesus’ homeland in his time. Wars begin or continue. On the streets of our city
and our nation there continues to be a divide between rich and poor; racism;
violence.
And yet there is something or, better
yet, somebody, who draws us, deep down, to this Eucharistic celebration; to
“proclaim” once again “good news of great joy… for all… people”: “A Savior has
been born” for us. And the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, has
changed our world; has saved our world.
We proclaim this message because we
believe it. Who am I to judge what aspect of our celebration has drawn each of
us here today? For those of us who, for whatever reason, have been away from
the Church, I am not here to judge you either. Let me simply welcome all of us
to this celebration; to our proclamation of “good news of great joy.” Christ
“has been born for” all of us; has redeemed all of us; has brought all of us,
without exception, a chance at salvation.
But the birth of Jesus Christ is just
the beginning of God’s saving work. God is saving us now; is changing our world
now; saving our world and us now. Our Christmas proclamation of “good news of
great joy” brings with it a challenging invitation to all of us: To participate
in God’s work of our salvation that is at work in our midst now.
How might we participate in God’s work
of salvation, here and now? How might we participate in bringing God’s work of
salvation toward its goal, when Jesus Christ returns at the end of time? Our
second reading, from the Letter to Titus, gives us some idea of how we might
participate in God’s work of our own salvation. “Live temperately, justly, and
devoutly in this age, as we await” Christ’s return.
Be “eager to do good,” we hear from the
Letter to Titus. Build peace from the smallest of our actions to the greatest;
from our hearts, to our homes, to our nation, to our world. Be kind to one
another. Act and speak against divisiveness; gossip; any form of violence in
speech or action. Protect and nurture life, from the yet to be born to the
elderly and the sick in their last days. Encourage one another when we see one
another acting faithfully, rightly, and justly. Pray for one another; we are
participants in God’s work of salvation together.
Above all, “do not be afraid,” even if
participation in God’s work of our salvation seems daunting. “Do not be
afraid”: God’s work of our salvation, in which we participate; which we
celebrate here today, is only beginning. It has begun with the proclamation of
angels to shepherds near Bethlehem over two thousand years ago: “Do not be
afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for
all the people… For today in the city of David a Savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.”
Today, in this city of Rochester; in
this St. Kateri Parish and around the world, we ring out anew this same
proclamation. We make it our own proclamation of “good news of great joy” by
our words; our actions; our being here, participating in this celebration. Why?
We proclaim this “good news of great joy” because, deep within us, we believe
it. We participate in it. Through us, God’s people; Christ’s people, God is
overcoming the darkness and gloom with light and salvation.
Beginning with the
birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and continuing through us until
Jesus Christ returns in glory at the end of time, God has changed our world;
has saved our world; is changing us; is saving us.
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