What have we come in search of this Christmas night?
Perhaps you’ve come to give worship and thanksgiving to the living God, who was born in a stable.
Maybe you’ve come to experience something: a sense of tradition, a bit of Christmas cheer, the singing of carols or kolędy. Perhaps you’ve come to share in something called the “Christmas spirit”, which makes people gentler, kinder, and more patient in the run up to the holidays. Maybe you’ve arrived here out of curiosity, like the shepherds, to see what makes this night different from other nights.
We have prepared for this night by 4 weeks of Advent, when our liturgies have reminded us: Jesus Christ is coming at the end of the age, as the Pantokrator, the King, to judge the living and the dead. The Lord is indeed coming. At Christmas, we celebrate His coming in the flesh, His arrival as the babe in the manger. What makes this night different? This is the night when light came into the world. As the prophet Isaiah says in the first reading, “I will not keep silent” until Zion’s “vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch”. He also repeats, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” During Rorate Masses in Advent, those early morning Masses in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the whole church was dark, lit only by the flickering candles. However, as Mass progressed, you could see the dawn coming, as the light was rising in the East. And now, on Christmas, the dawn has arrived. As St. Ambrose puts it, “He [Jesus] comes forth from the womb, yet shines resplendent in heaven; He lies in an earthly resting place, but abounds in light celestial” (The Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, M.F. Toal, ed., vol. 1, 1957, 104)
As human beings, we are drawn to the light. We need light, like we need air. For most, a bright, sunny, airy day is much better than a day shrouded in dark cloud and fog. We are most active in the light, during the day, when we are most energized. Yet, my friends, we need another type of light: the light of the soul. Too many times our interior selves are weighed down with darkness, grief, uncertainty, and aimlessness. Too many times we feel that we have lost our moral compass, and have become bound by our disordered passions. And so, whether consciously or subconsciously, we yearn for the light that does not pass away, the light that is unchanging, and faithful. Two thousand years ago this Light did really come into the world, in the person of the God-Man, Jesus Christ. My brothers and sisters, they account of God being born in a manger is something more than just a pious fairy-tale. First of all, the Evangelist Luke takes great pains to sketch the historical background of Christ’s birth: the reign of the Emperor Cesar Augustus, the governorate of Quirinius in Syria, finally, the path that Joseph and Mary took from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Yet why else is the account of Jesus’ birth so life-changing for those who take it seriously? The words of our Pope Emeritus, Pope Benedict are helpful: “Man can only accept himself if he is accepted by another. ... This sense of being accepted comes in the first instance from other human beings. But all human acceptance is fragile”. Don’t we know that – human acceptance is fragile. Our deepest hurts arise from those times when someone, whom we have loved, stops accepting us and betrays our trust. Pope Benedict continues “Ultimately we need a sense of being accepted unconditionally. Only if God accepts me, and I become convinced of this, do I know definitively: it is good that I exist” (Pope Benedict XVI, Address on the Occasion of Christmas Greetings to the Roman Curia, Dec. 22, 2011, 5). It is good that I exist – this is something we all need to hear. Despite the baggage of sin and weakness, it is good that I exist. When we come to realize, “It is good that I exist”, then it is easier to regain the moral compass that was lost. As Paul says in the letter to Titus: “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright and godly”. Freedom from the bondage of sin is possible: Christ, our Light, has come into the world.
So, the greatest present that Christ desires to share with us, His greatest gift, is Himself. He, the God-Man, became incarnate, gave himself into the hands of humanity, and he was born in a stable. And with his death on the cross, he sealed the covenant between God and humanity forever. When you look at the creche in the church, just look up – the cross of Christ is just above. And yet, the Infant in the creche looks up at Mary, Joseph and the Shepherds, and smiles. Pope Francis speaks of Jesus as “the smile of God”. The Pope mentions in a Christmas message, “let us allow ourselves to be purified, and we too can bring others a humble, simple smile” (Pope Francis, Christmas Greetings to the Employees of the Holy See and the Vatican City State, 21 December 2019). The good news of Christmas is the Good News of Jesus Christ, the God-Man, who comes to set us free, gives us charity, and ultimately, gives us Himself as the greatest gift.
My brothers and sisters, may Mary, our Mother, of whom was born the Light of the World, together with her faithful St. Joseph, envelop us with Her maternal protection. Let us allow Jesus to smile at us this Christmas.
(Fr. Pawel Ratajczak, OMI, Dec. 25, 2019)