Christmas Midnight Mass 2024
Homily
[Isaiah 9:2-4, 6-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-16]
As we ponder now what has just been proclaimed in the beautiful and well-beloved passages from Sacred Scripture, I invite you to reflect with me on the Nativity scene here at the front of the Basilica. Churches throughout the world create a version of it, and I love watching parents take time either before or after mass to bring their children forward to gaze at the crèche. The point is to help the young ones learn from Mom and Dad the true reason we celebrate Christmas, something especially important in these days when our secularizing world is in danger of forgetting it altogether.
Let’s consider, in particular, the manger. The Gospel text tells us that the child Jesus is placed in one upon his birth. This action is charged with meaning. As we know, a manger is a feeding trough, and thus normally filled with feed for livestock. Right away the message is clear: the Eternal Son of God has descended from heaven to take our human nature from the Virgin Mary in order to feed us. Moreover, the nourishment he has come to give is himself. How are we to understand such a wonder?
The prophecy from Isaiah is our help here. It begins with reference to the “people who walked in darkness”. Even though this was written by the prophet thousands of years ago, it is not difficult to understand the phrase as descriptive of our current world. Right now, the peoples of our planet are living under deep shadow. By this I mean the darkness created by family fracture, societal division, war among nations, hatred between peoples, and moral confusion in our minds. In the midst of such darkness, Isaiah promises the birth of a child in whom would shine a great light to dispel those shadows. Christmas announces that child to be the son born of Mary. In other words, Jesus, in the gift he makes of himself, feeds us with light; in him, the meaning and destiny of human life is made manifest, clearing away the darkness of error and falsehood.
By giving himself to us, Jesus also nourishes the world with hope. Isaiah announces the child to come as one who would rule as Prince of Peace over a kingdom upheld by justice and righteousness. Our current geopolitical landscape offers very little to instill real hope in our hearts. Rather, global leadership is tenuous at best, and the resultant instability is giving rise to widespread fear and deep anxiety. Christmas proclaims that the ruler we need and seek is Jesus Christ. He is God made human, sent to rule not a given political system but over our hearts, guiding his people with love, mercy, truth, and justice. When we surrender to his rule, he gives order and peace to our individual lives and binds us in charity to one another. As we awaken to the truth of Jesus Christ, born of Mary, and the real possibility of lasting peace in him, he nurtures our hearts with hope.
Finally, Jesus feeds us with his personal presence among and within us. Here we touch the heart of the Eucharistic mystery we are celebrating in this Christmas mass. The Church does not tire of proclaiming the wonder that the same Jesus, born of Mary in Bethlehem so long ago, makes himself present here on our altar in the gifts of bread and wine transformed into his very Body and Blood. The placing of Jesus in the manger of old is, in fact, a symbolic declaration of the Lord’s intention to feed us with himself in the sacred meal of the Eucharist and thus remain always present within and among us as pledge of eternal life. After his death and resurrection, and prior to his ascension to heaven, Jesus promised to remain with us forever. He, who is our light and our hope, fulfills that promise in every celebration of the mass. Nourished by Jesus himself, we have clear direction for our lives and no reason to fear.
Our Lord asks of us just one thing: that we believe in him. St. Paul spells out for us what that means. Faith in Jesus Christ means accepting the truth that, in him, “the grace of God has appeared”. It follows that believing in Jesus requires the acceptance of his every word, since only Jesus can train us to “renounce impiety and worldly passions” and to “live lives that are self-controlled, upright and godly” while we await his return in glory. The light and hope he promises floods in and over us when we accept him in faith and choose to follow him as the way to eternal life.
Tonight’s Gospel text ends with the shepherds hastening to Bethlehem to find “Mary, Joseph, and the child lying in the manger”. We, too, should hasten to find Christ, yet we need go no further than the mass. Let us hasten to the Eucharist, then, not only this evening but throughout the year. Jesus has come to be our food. Nourished by him in the mass, we are filled with not only light and hope, but also life itself.
✠ Most Reverend Richard W. Smith
Saint Joseph Basilica
December 25th, 2024