Christmas
Dawn Mass (Year A)
First
Reading: Isaiah 62:11-12 Second
Reading: Titus 3:4-7 Gospel
Reading: Luke 2:15-20
“LET'S
GO! LET US GO TO BETHLEHEM...”
There
is a story told of a young man who sent his parents a microwave oven
one Christmas. They were very excited that now they, too, could be a
part of the instant generation. When the man's Dad unpacked the
microwave and plugged it in, literally within seconds, the microwave
transformed the two smiles into a frown! Even after reading the
directions, to their utter disappointment, they couldn't make it work
at all.
Two
days later the man's Mom was playing bridge with a friend and she
told her about the Christmas gift her son had sent them. But with
great sadness in her heart, she confessed her inability to get that
microwave oven even to boil water. “To get this darn thing to
work,” she exclaimed, “I really don't need better
directions; I just needed my son to come along with the gift!”
When
God gave the gift of salvation
to mankind, He didn't send a booklet of complicated
instructions for us to figure out.
He rather sent His
only Son
– “Emmanuel,
which means 'God is with us.'”
Today, with great joy and
solemnity we celebrate Christmas - the feast of God's magnanimous and
unconditional love, the feast of God's Self-gift to mankind. For
Christmas is 'God's gift laid in human
hands.' The Christmas event,
i.e. the birth of our Lord Jesus in a stable in the small village of
Bethlehem of Judea is one of the most important events in the history
of mankind, an event when God takes the human form in the person of
Jesus and comes into the world to save mankind from sin and death.
So, today “LET'S
GO! LET US GO TO BETHLEHEM...”
Originally,
the Romans celebrated a feast on this day, called the 'festum
solis invicti,'
- the festival of
the unconquered sun. The winter solstice has
just passed and we are now moving into longer days, with more light
and the resurgence of life in the soil. One can almost see Nature
slowly waking up after its long winter hibernation. The trees look
dead with their bare branches but in a matter of weeks they will be
decked in all their leafy glory. All these speak of the Christmas
phenomena of light and its joyful atmosphere, filling everyone with
the hope of salvation.
Joy
everywhere....
The
Christmas story resonates with the theme of light and the baby
in the manger is the Light of the World. Light surrounds the
shepherds as the angels sing their praises of God: "Glory
to God in the highest and, on earth, peace to all who are favored by
God." The whole atmosphere is also suffused with joy,
the joy of the angels and of the shepherds as they hasten to
Bethlehem to find the new-born child. Joy is a theme which goes right
through Luke's gospel. Let us also today joyfully say, “LET'S
GO! LET US GO TO BETHLEHEM...”
....
and liberation
Another
cause for joy is the liberation
that Jesus brings. The first reading from all four Christmas
Masses is from the prophet Isaiah who tells of the restoration of
Jerusalem from total destruction. This morning’s passage proclaims
boldly: “Your Savior has come and you are
made holy by this coming.” Isaiah makes it
clear that we are made holy by God’s
presence in our midst - 'He
is Emmanuel.'
In the
Gospel Reading, the angel too joyfully announces to the shepherds the
message of salvation - “To
you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, Who is the
Messiah, the Lord.”
and
joining together with the shepherds let us say -
“LET'S
GO! LET US GO TO BETHLEHEM...”
Christmas is the Good News of our salvation, and in
the Second Reading in his letter to Titus, St. Paul makes it clear
that the Good News of our salvation has nothing to do with
commandments and laws. He says, "not
because of any righteous deeds that we have done, but because of
God’s mercy."
Now,
we began our Christmas celebration with Night Mass, and the story of
the birth of Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem, told in a very
matter-of-fact way: St Luke at his pithiest. There is a striking
contrast, in fact, between the humble ordinariness of Christ's birth
and the dramatic scene when the angel of the Lord, and the whole
heavenly host, appear to the shepherds in the nearby countryside.
In fact, we left the
angels singing the 'Gloria'
until the Dawn Mass, when the story is taken up again with the
departure of the angels. The shepherds then dash off to see the child
for themselves. It's rather a great idea that the angels are left
singing all night by the liturgical arrangement of these two gospels.
It reminds us that the heavenly choirs are joined in perpetual
adoration of God, that heaven never sleeps; and that our
participation in the liturgy, such as when we sing the
'Gloria'
at Dawn Mass, is a share in the eternal worship of the angels
– the very life of heaven itself.
The Gospel Reading this morning shows
us how to exactly connect with Christmas. The shepherds lead us in
the way of action: “LET'S
GO!” they say. “LET
US GO TO BETHLEHEM.” It's the road we also must take to
meet Jesus—not in a dream world, not in theory, but in the concrete
circumstances of our lives. We need to ask ourselves right now 'Where
should I be heading? Where concretely is Jesus waiting for me?'
On
the First Christmas night infant Jesus, Mary and Joseph were alone.
But God sought out simple people as their companions: some shepherds,
perhaps because, as they were poor and humble, they would not be
dismayed at finding the Messiah in a cave, wrapped in swaddling
clothes. Perhaps, it is to the shepherds of that district that
prophet Isaiah referred: “Those who dwelt
in the land of deep darkness, on them light has shone.”
Never again will they be despised as having a menial task, or as
being derelicts, worthless scruff on the edge of society. A whole new
dignity will descend upon them as Jesus will one day dignify himself
by calling himself the good and gentle shepherd.
The shepherds, though,
don't seem to pause to reflect on the extraordinary privilege they
have been granted of witnessing the heavens opened: they go straight
into town to “see
this thing that has happened.” And it is this –
the apparently ordinary birth of a child in inauspicious
circumstances – that really impresses them. But the shepherds know
that in this particular child, in this particular time and place,
they are encountering something much more. The angels have told them
that this child, wrapped in swaddling cloths, is Christ, the Lord,
the Savior of the world. Their little glimpse of heaven has
encouraged them to go back to look at the world with new eyes, to see
the real meaning of events that look, outwardly, perfectly ordinary.
This is what causes them to go back “glorifying
and praising God.”
It is a wonderful thing
that the story should tell that the first announcement of God came to
some simple shepherds. It was to simple men of the fields that God's
message came first. But these were in all likelihood very special
shepherds. They lived in the outskirts of Bethlehem, close to
Jerusalem where the temple was, where every morning and evening , an
unblemished lamb (that must have come from them) was offered as a
sacrifice to God. It is therefore a lovely thought that shepherds who
looked after the lambs for temple sacrifices were the first to see
“the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world.”
Again, God also wanted
those shepherds to be the first bearers of the news that they would
go around telling “all they had heard and
seen. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.”
In the same way Jesus reveals himself to us in the midst of the
ordinary incidents of each day; and we need the same dispositions of
simplicity and humility in order to reach him. It is possible that
throughout our lives he gives us signs that mean nothing to us if we
see him merely humanly. We have to be alert so as to discover Jesus
in the simplicity of ordinary life, “wrapped
in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger,” without any
showy manifestations, and proclaim him to the world.
Christmas
is God's gift to us, an opportunity for new beginnings. It is not
that we have found him; but that we have allowed him to find us, and
fill us with wonder and surprise and dignity. It is inconceivable
that the shepherds would not have set out without taking gifts for
the baby – most probably the choicest of lambs. Nor, can we go to
the cave of Bethlehem without taking our gifts. So, “LET'S
GO! LET US GO TO BETHLEHEM...”
let
us hasten today to Bethlehem with our gifts. But what gifts? Some
attractive and valuable packages? Perhaps better, we can give some
gifts this Christmas which are beyond monetary value: Mending a
quarrel, dismissing suspicion, telling someone, 'I
love you.' Giving something
away - anonymously. Forgiving someone who has treated us wrong.
Turning away wrath with a soft answer. Visiting someone in a nursing
home. Apologizing if we were wrong. Being especially kind to someone
with whom we work. Giving as God gave to us in Christ, without
obligation, or announcement, or reservation, or hypocrisy.
Let us enjoy and
celebrate our Christmas today, but let us also not forget what
exactly we are celebrating and that the message of Christmas extends
well beyond the festivities. Moreover, we must make Christmas a
reality in the present, in the present of every moment throughout the
year, each and every day.
May your Christmas be merry, happy, holy, and may you know your dignity every day of your life!
****************************
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