Christmas 2010
All the Christmas lights are hung, the Christmas tree is up, and our houses are decorated. The last month has been a flurry of activity. The retailers are hoping to have rung up record sales this season as the shoppers looked for and bought what they hope will be that perfect gift for those they love. Children have been waiting to see what gifts they are going to get…will they get what they want come morning?
Christmas is a truly a time for exchanging gifts. It is a time of showing our friends and family how much we care about them by the gift that we give them. And they do the same. But this exchanging of gifts points to something deeper, to a much deeper meaning behind the Mystery of Christmas.
First, Christmas is time to give the gift of ourselves to those we love. When it is all said and done, the greatest gift we can give to those we care about is our love; is ourselves. This is what our presents are meant to be, they are meant to be a reflection of our love, of the gift of ourselves in love to the one we love.
Christmas is meant to be time for an exchange of gifts, gifts of love. This reveals the great mystery that is Christmas. Christmas is the feast of Love, the feast to give ourselves to the one we love and receive the gift of their love in return. Our material gifts can only be a symbol of this, if we try to use them to make up or replace the gift of ourselves to those we love, we not only miss the point, but we fail to really see the reason for the season.
But the meaning of the Mystery of Christmas and gift giving and giving ourselves as a gift to those we love goes even farther… At Christmas what we are really celebrating is that this is what our God has done for the world; He has given men the gift of His love, the gift of Himself to men. God loved the world so much that He gave Himself to it as a gift of love by sending His only Son. In Jesus, God the Father has given Himself as a gift to men. This awesome gift of our God to the world is what we celebrate at Christmas. God’s gift to the world was the gift of the baby Jesus at that first Christmas.
Yet, the Mystery of Christmas goes much beyond what God has done for us, and this points to the ultimate meaning of Christmas. The Mystery of Christmas reveals what God continues to do for us, the gift He continues to offer to us. In other words, the mystery of Christmas is not just about something that God did for us, but it is about something that God continues to do to us.
IN other words, we celebrate Christmas not just by remembering that gift of God, Jesus, who was given to us 2000 years ago, but Christmas is a celebration of that God continues to give the gift of Jesus to us here and now. And so Christmas is not just a mystery to be remembered, but also a mystery to enter into and to experience now in order to be transformed by love, God’s love.
And so Jesus, the awesome gift of the father, hasn’t just come two thousand years ago, He continues to come still. Christmas continues to happen in our day, everyday, where?....Where ever and when ever Holy Mass is offered. In fact, Christmas points to the Holy Mass, every Holy Mass is Christmas. The Mystery of Christmas is the Mystery of Christ’s Mass, the Holy Mass. This is why Christmas is made up of two words, Christ and Mass.
The Holy Mass is the way in which God the Father continues to offer us, who weren’t around two thousand years ago, the gift of His Son. At every Holy Mass Christ comes from heaven, from the Father anew, and is born anew on our altars in the Holy Eucharist, in order for us to adore and worship, love and receive. God’s gift to us is the Holy Eucharist, for the Holy Eucharist is Jesus the only Son of the Father who came down and who comes down again from heaven anew in order to give Himself as the Heavenly Father’s gift to us here and now.
However, to receive this gift fully we must do more than just show up or to receive Jesus in Holy Communion. To receive this gift fully, we must first give ourselves as a gift to Him in return. The Holy Mass, like Christ-mass is meant to be an exchange of gifts-the gift of Jesus to us from the Father and the gift of ourselves to the Father through Jesus His Son.
Jesus is the gift that we are really longing for; he is that gift for which our hearts long, and all hearts long. Two thousand years ago, the world was very much like our own; so much suffering cause by the political and economic situation of the day, so many who were suffering from losing loved ones or from abuse and poverty. Human life back then, like today, was cheap and the dignity of the human person was denigrated in so many ways. The ultimate cause however of all this suffering was sin.
It was to this suffering, to this sinful situation of the world, that Jesus enter into; and this is why is first coming gave the world so much joy. Jesus entered into the sufferings of this world to give it joy by showing it and giving it the Love of the Father and the forgiveness of the Father. Jesus did this by giving Himself on the cross for the salvation of the World.
So many in our own day are suffering so much just like the world back then, the world isn’t a very kind place any more that it was then. And so, the Father continues to offer the world His mercy and forgiveness in the person of Jesus His Son. If we accept the great gift of our Father, who is Jesus by offering our self as a gift in return we too can have the Joy of those who experienced his first birth at Bethlehem. And we can experience this great joy no matter what our circumstances may be, no matter what suffering we may be experiencing in lives.
Christ’s first coming, His birth, brought joy and hope to the whole world. His continual coming on our Altars at Holy Mass, His being born anew on our altars at every Christ-Mass still can bring joy and hope not only to the whole world, but also to each of us and to our families. His offering of Himself anew on the Altar of Sacrifice can still free us and save us from our sins and give us great Joy and peace. But for our part, we must open ourselves to this great and awesome gift of the Father.
And we must come to celebrate Christ mass every Sunday, do I say even every day if we are able. However, we must come as little children, little so as to be able to enter into the mystery of the Holy Mass. No one likes presents more than children; and so we must come as children then to receive the great gift of the Father Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.
When Jesus came the first time He was the answer and gift of the father to longing of millions throughout the years. Jesus is still the answer and the gift of the Father to longing of the hearts of millions in our own day. Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is the He is the answer and gift of the Father to the longing, to the hopes and fears of all of the millions of hearts in our own age.
Let us turn to Jesus’ Mother for Help. Let us begin by thanking her for the gift of her Son. Let us ask her to help us to give our lives as a Birthday gift to her divine baby as he lay on the crib of this Holy altar. Tonight (today) Imagine giving your heart (symbolizing all that you are and all your love) to the Blessed Mother asking her to give it to her son, wrapped in her merits and holiness, and then using the imagination of child, watch as she places it as a gift on the paten along with the bread as the priest offers it to the Father; then as the bread is transformed into Jesus Himself and you receive Him in Holy Communion, realize that you are receiving no mere bread, but Jesus the awesome gift of the Father the answer to longing of all your own longings and desires.
On behalf of Fr. William, the Parish staff, I would like to wish all of you and your families a Merry and blessed Christ Mass! God bless you all.
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