Christmas 2013


Tonight (Today) is the great celebration of the beginning of the fulfillment of all our hopes and dreams and the dispelling of all our fears. The theme of the last four weeks of advent preparation has been hope, and here we are at Christmas, which is the great “Feast of Hope.” Tonight (today) we celebrate, liturgically, the birthday of our Hope, of Hope Himself—Jesus Christ, the Christ Child--God become Man.

In Jesus, God become one of us in order to be intimately and personally united with each one of us. In Jesus, the Majestic God descends from heaven in sublime humility in order to take each one of us to himself so that he can lift us up to a higher level of life and joy, life immersed in the inner life of God Himself. This is the great mystery, the great reality that we celebrate on the solemn feast day.

For centuries man longed for a savior, someone who would come in order to give hope, to bring light to the darkness of the world and to the darkness of man’s own heart; but even more to fill a great longing in the very depths of each human heart, the longing for greatness, a longing for love. Mankind, mainly through earthly kings and kingdoms, philosophies, occult practices and man-made religions, kept trying to lift itself up by its own boot strap, to obtain true and lasting happiness through earthly realities, only to fall deeper in sadness and despair. Oh how dark was the world before the coming of Christ into it; how the hearts of man earned for something greater than the world alone could give. All this changed with the birth of Jesus—God’s own Light has come into the darkness of our world; Love itself was born into the world.

The birth of Jesus was literally God coming down to man, man who could in no way lift himself up to God, in order to lift man up to God. "For the Son of God became a Son of man so that the sons of men could become the sons of God!" This is the real meaning of Christmas—this is the true gift of Christmas, the gift of the Father’s only begotten Son—“For God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son” (Jn 3:16). Jesus became one of us so that he could take each one of us to himself and lift us up to a high level of existence so that we could live a higher fuller life, a happier life, a life of out of this world joy. I am not here just talking about heaven after we die, but the birth of Jesus offered us and still offers the possibility of fully, a life of joy now even amidst the darkness, amidst the sufferings and trials of this present age. Jesus offers us the abundant life, a life of intimacy and friendship with God that flows out to a greater love of neighbor and our self for love of God…and so a life of true contentment and peace. He offers this to each one of us personally and to all men of good will.

In light of this great truth, the truth of Christmas, this reality of God coming to man in order to lift man to Himself, now, even amidst the continuing and ever increasing darkness of this world, a darkness which sadly is caused by man still trying to lift himself up by his own boot strap without reference to God; yet even so, there is so much to hope for; there is so much hope in our world. For Christmas is truly not just a celebration of the past, it is a celebration of what continues to happen in our midst now! Jesus Christ was truly born 2,000 years ago, yes, but He is again truly reborn anew on our sacred altars at this Mass and at every Holy Mass. This is why Christmas is made up of two words….Christ and Mass. The Holy Mass is Christ’s Mass the source of this world's true hope, the source of all our hope.

At Christ’s Mass God continues to come down from heaven, in order to lift us up to God. Through the Holy Mass Jesus continues to be come to earth, to be “born” if you will, into our world in order to be able to take you and me to Himself in order to take us into a greater and fuller life with God, life with the Blessed Trinity Himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is still truly God with us, Immanuel, as one of us, in our daily lives for He is truly physically present in the same body He was born with at Bethlehem in every tabernacle of the world in the Holy Eucharist where He continually waits for us to come and adore Him and even receive Him into us-His Body into ours, His Blood with ours, His Heart with ours, so He can fill us with His hope along with His peace and joy.

Christmas is really all about THE GIFT, the gift of the Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist is the gift of the Christ Child still offered to us; in fact still with us; the Eucharist is Emmanuel-God with us. The Holy Eucharist is the gift of the Father, the gift of His only begotten Son. In the Eucharist God continues come to us, to offer Himself on our behalf, to offer Himself to us, in order to lift us up to a fuller life, a more joyful life and life with Him. But one thing remains, hope has a condition, and that is, will we respond to the gift of His love, to the gift of himself, will we open the inn of our hearts to Him and let Him enter.

Love is then really an exchange of gifts. This is why we exchange gifts at Christmas. Our gifts to the ones we love a meant to symbolize the greater gift of our love, the gift of our hearts the gift of our self. So to truly respond to the gift of the Father—Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, we must do more than just receive Him, we must give in return the gift of our love, the gift of our hearts, the gift of our self—a sacrifice of love to the one who sacrificed Himself for in love. This is the true meaning of Christmas. God lovingly gives man the gift of Himself in order that man would respond by freely offering himself in return to God, so God could lift man to Himself in order that man and God would be united as one in Love. No greater gift is there than this, The Holy Eucharist…the meeting point of God’s heart with ours, this is the source of all hope.

Here I think of the beautiful and inspired hymn of “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Listen to the beauty and the truth of the last two verses of this Christmas Hymn of love.

How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel

And so let us celebrate Christmas with great joy and great hope. In fact let us celebrate Christ’s Mass every Sunday; dare I say, even every day if we are able. However, we must come as little children, little, that's is made pure by a good sacramental confession, so as to be able to enter more deeply 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, come with the humility and the faith of a child, receive the Heart of the Son, and give Him our heart in return.

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. The Eucharist is the God who is Love. We can’t pull our self up by our boot straps….only God can save, and God saves us through the Eucharist for the Eucharist is the Child born at Bethlehem still with us.

To help us let us turn to St. Joseph. Let us ask Him for his help. When Joseph was visited by an angel and told that he had been chosen to partake in the mystery of Mary’s pregnancy by power of the Holy Spirit, Joseph responded by taking Mary his wife into his home. By doing so He brought as well the child within her womb into His Home. Beginning this Christmas, let us more fully imitate St. Joseph. Let us welcome the Holy Virgin to cross the threshold of our hearts, the threshold of our daily activities, our prayers, our crosses, let us welcome her into our lives and into our families. By doing so we too are welcoming her child more fully in to our lives, for to invite Mary into our hearts and into our lives, is to welcome Jesus, because her heart and His heart are united as one—where she is, He is. May we like her become one with Jesus and His Sacred Heart, by offering Him fully this Christmas and every day, the gift of our hearts the gift of our self. Amen.

(On behalf of Father Parker the pastor here at St. Mary’s and myself, Fr Lange, I would like to wish all of you and your families, a very blessed and merry Christmas. God bless you all and again Merry Christmas to you and your families and all the families and friends of St. Mary’s parish!)