Christmas Homily

Merry Christmas!

Tonight we acknowledge the great fact that God’s love is so great that He chose to make His dwelling place among us. He does not come with thunder nor armies, but with great vulnerability. We see this vulnerability in the form of the Christ child who was small and helpless and entrusted to the care of the family.

Without His coming we would be unable to be healed from the effects of the Fall from which we have inherited sin and death. Through the Incarnation God declares that our human nature is worth saving. As we come to venerate this child God is revealed to us and we are reminded of who we are meant to become.

 As Saint Leo the Great would state, “Christian, remember your dignity.” In our day and age many forget that their dignity is a gift from God. Whenever we forget our dignity or the dignity of another we do not treat them as if they are one who has been created in the image and likeness of God. It is this image and likeness that we are reminded of whenever we look upon Christ.

Saint Athanasius would state, “God became man so that man might become god.” This statement does not mean that humans are able to take on the nature of God for there is only one God. This quotation points towards our participation. Through the Incarnation we are able to share in God’s life through grace.

From 2 Peter we are told, “He gave us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakes of the divine nature.” Through Christ, we are lifted beyond whatever we could ever achieve of our own. Through the sacramental life of the Church we are aided in this journey of faith through the gift of God’s grace.

Saint Augustine preached, “we are transformed into what we receive.” This is precisely what happens when we receive Christ into our life through the gift of the Most Holy Eucharist. We must learn to humbly approach Him for in doing so we come to be aided in all that we will encounter in this life and be assisted in living out a good and holy life.

Christmas must not only be something that is remembered, but something that must be lived. Through our celebration of Christmas we orient our sight towards God’s taking on our human flesh and make our profession to be sent forth to live a life which has forever been oriented onto Him.

Throughout the Christmas message many came to encounter Him from shepherds to magi. Each of them came to adore and they left forever changed. Let us too come to adore this child for He is the Savior of the world and let us be sent forth from His midst, not to be conformed to world, but to be forever transformed by the one who has made His dwelling place among us.