Christmas Homily Notes 2011

[As usual, these are notes and what I actually say at Mass will change a bit.]


We live in a time of celebrity.


Our lives are filled up with news of the rich and powerful - what they're doing, who they're spending time with, how great they are or how bad they are.


I don't blame these movie stars and politicians and musicians. They are living in a world that's been given to them. 


I think that it's a natural human tendency to place importance on the great people of the world.
We see them as the ones who make the changes, who make the important decisions.


But that's not the story we hear tonight/today on this Christmas Eve/Day.


We have a big-name character right at the beginning of this Gospel:


Caesar Augustus - He's the emperor who brought about the Pax Romana (Roman peace), a time of prosperity when the Empire defeated its enemies and there was peace in the Mediterranean. His subjects even called him a god and proclaimed him as the savior.
But Caesar, as powerful as he was, is not the main character of this story.


Next we hear about a couple traveling to Bethlehem because of the decree that families had to return to their ancestral homes for the census. This couple is just another family coming into town and when they get there, they have no place to stay.


So, this ordinary couple stays in what was probably a cave - used as a stable to keep animals - and there Mary has her baby.


To the eyes of the world, this is just a poor couple who have a son. There's nothing significant going on here.


But to the eyes of God, this is a pivotal point of history. Perhaps the pivotal point of history.
This isn't just the birth of an unknown child to unknown parents in some small corner of the world, just as it's happened since the beginning of the human race.


This is something new, something unprecedented; because this baby, though he can't talk or walk or do anything for himself, is God coming into the world.


This isn't just another person to be added to Caesar's list of his subjects.
This is eternity, this is divinity, this is the One who made the universe, who put the stars in their place, who thought up lions and whales and eagles. This is the One who, out of an abundance of love, made mankind.


And now he's here with us.


And it's fitting that the angels don't appear to Caesar or any of the other kings of the world. They don't go to find the religious leaders to tell them that prophecies are being fulfilled. They don't even tell the people of the town of Bethlehem.


They go to shepherds. Men who weren't staying in their homes that night, but were keeping watch over their flocks. These are lowly, average people - and they are the first ones to hear the greatest news heard up to that point.


A savior has come. Someone who will deliver us from ourselves - from our weaknesses and our jealousies and our faults.
And he's not a powerful ruler like Caesar Augustus. He's not even famous.
He's a baby lying on a bed of straw.


Our God loves us that much.


He doesn't come and remake the world or destroy all the sinners or demand our worship.


He gave us the gift of himself. And it's the best kind of gift because we didn't even know we wanted it.


The world was going along, people were living their lives, making mistakes but hoping for something better.
But that something better came in a way no one expected. It came quietly, in the cry of a baby.


And it's only a group small people, insignificant people, who get to see angels in the sky singing glory to God.


Where does that leave us 2000 years later?


Well, it leaves us with a decision: we can either take this as a nice story to think about once a year, something that makes us feel good ...
OR we can accept the gift God has offered.


That gift is more than just happiness or comfort or pleasure - the things the world offers.
We are given the gift of Love Itself. God wants to be a part if our lives.


Whether you are here at Mass every weekend or only a couple times a year, this is an invitation to every single one of us:


God our Father loves us enough to give us his Son so that we can share in that love.
There are only two proper responses to that gift: we say YES. And we say: Thank you, thank you, thank you.


Before you leave after Mass, take a moment - in your pew or over by the Nativity - and say to God: Thank you for coming into the world and into my life. How can I, on this Christmas, accept that gift?