Christmas Homily

Merry Christmas to all of you. Christmas is known as being a night of peace. It was in the lowliness of a manger that Christ our Lord came to dwell among us to usher this peace into the world. Here we discover He who is known as the Word made flesh, which means that God in the event known as the Incarnation took on our humanity and thus came to dwell with us. We refer to this as being a night of peace which is further reflected in the encounter that the shepherds had with Christ. They were found by angels going about the busyness of their everyday life, but they were called to encounter the peace and solace of a little child found in a manger. We to live a life that is busy and which is also filled with many set backs along the way. Our world is filled with injustice, we only have to look at the news to see that this is so, but despite this God takes on human flesh and dwells with us this day to usher peace and joy into our life and into the world.

I have heard this story told many times at Christmas Mass, but today does mark the 100th anniversary of the unofficial Christmas truce of 1914. This truce took place during World War I when soldiers from both sides promised to stop fighting for one night. Instead of battling each other they called truce on Christmas where they joined together to sing "Silent Night." In one soldiers' diary we are told: "Germans shout over us and ask us to play football, and also not to fire and they would do likewise." Another solider would go on to state: "You have no idea how pleasant everything seems with no rifle bullets or shells flying about." Indeed through the coming of the Messiah the world can and does discover peace. The reality that we proclaim today is that God took on our human flesh and thus came to dwell with us.

It should be hard for us to fathom the reality that we proclaim today. So many desire to become God themselves by the way that they live their life searching after passions and anything which one perceives may be able to make them happy. Some may say we have to keep trying over and over again at this life until we get it right through our own merit as is displayed through the belief of reincarnation. But, what we celebrate today is far different from these two philosophies because for the first time in human history we are able to proclaim through the coming of Christ that God desired to lower Himself to us in all things but sin, by becoming one of us. Through this reality we are not left to work out our salvation for ourself nor are we left to be God for ourself because we lack a standard towards which we should orient our life. By God taking on our humanity we are given the aid that is necessary to overcome all the struggles that life may present and we are also given a standard of how life should be lived out if we are ever to claim that we have lived it to its fullest.

What was is it then that the shepherds or the wise men encountered, but a little child who has been born into the world in the lowliness of a manger. This little child is God in the second person of the Holy Trinity and yet He is found in a manger left poor and defenseless, here He lacks a great palace and Kingdom, here He cannot feed Himself nor can He speak, but He whom shepherds adore and angels sing is truly God made man. Here and now we each give our own response to what we encounter here, by the way that we orient our life towards Him. We are found here at this Church keeping Christ in Christmas and also the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in Christmas. We are found here with hearts that desire to be filled with the hope and joy that He alone can usher into the world. This hope and joy could never have been found if God never desired to take on our humanity. Yes, He came here in order to free us from our sin, but He also came here out of love for us in order to elevate us towards Him. According to Blessed John Duns Scotus: "God would have become man even if Adam had not sinned, since He willed that in Christ humanity and the world should be united with Himself by the closest possible bond."

Indeed God is love because He desired for us to be united with Him by the fact that He was willing to take on our lowliness. God is love because He realized that there was no other way to atone for the sin that had entered into the world except through the offering of His Son as the perfect sacrifice that was made once and for all. By God taking on our human flesh He ushered joy and hope into a world that had been cast into darkness. With this coming light that is the Word made flesh the whole world now rejoices because it Has been released from its bonds to darkness. Despite the pains that we encounter in our life or see within this world brought about due to the effects of sin, suffering, or loss we know that it is Christ alone who has come to redeem us and to elevate each of these hardships that we endure to a greater purpose where in   time peace and joy will once again spring forth from the darkness.

As we depart from this Church this day we must remember the Christmas message and thus the great love that God continues to shower down upon us. After today most of the world will forget about the sacred mysteries of our faith that have been celebrated here today and will move onto the next secular holiday. We must remember that Christmas does not end here today, but instead the season only begins here and extends on for us until the Baptism of our Lord. We must remember Christ who we encounter today in the lowliness of a manger and thus never forget that our whole life should follow in adoration to Him as the shepherds and magi were able to do. We must also remember this Holy Sacrifice of the Mass that we have assisted with and thus never forget its importance in our daily life because it is here alone where we come to join our prayers and our needs to Christ's salvific act upon the cross and it is here alone where we come to be nourished by the Holy Eucharist which is truly Christ's Body and Blood. May we continue to rejoice during this Christmas season at the hope and the joy that is ushered into the world through God's great love for us. This hope and this joy can be found nowhere except through the love that God shows us by taking on our human flesh in Christ our Lord whom we adore this night.