Christmas Morning Mass:  2019

Eight-year-old Benny died of AIDS in 1987. CBS made a movie drama about the trauma called Moving Toward the Light. As Benny lies dying in his mother’s arms, he asks, “What will it be like?” His mother whispers softly in his ear, “You will see a light, Benny, far away — a beautiful, shining light at the end of a long tunnel. And your spirit will lift you out of your body and start to travel toward the light. And as you go, a veil will be lifted from your eyes, and suddenly, you will see everything … but most of all, you will feel a tremendous sense of love.” “Will it take long?” Benny asks. “No,” his mother answers, “not long at all. Like the twinkling of an eye.” Many families have been devastated by AIDS. Amid the darkness and despair an eight-year-old boy and his mother witnessed to the sustaining power of the light of God’s presence. They have touched the lives of a multitude of people. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. — 1 John 1:5

The gospel we just read tells us that the “Word became Flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Pope Benedict once asked, “What did Jesus actually bring? We still have wars. We still get sick. People still suffer. We still die. What did Jesus bring?”

His answer? “Jesus brings us God.”

This is what we celebrate at Christmas. Jesus brings us God. 

The cause of Christian joy isn’t presents. The cause of Christian joy isn’t a trouble-free life. The cause of Christian joy is Jesus Christ, God-With-Us.

Christ is still present in the world today. In a unique way, he’s present in mystery in the sacraments. When we receive the Eucharist, we receive him. If we’re ready to receive him, after a good confession, he’s truly present in our souls. And he wants us to make him present to others.

We need to experience Jesus as Emmanuel. The real meaning of Christmas actually is Emmanuel, God-with-us – God coming down to us; God seeking us out; God coming alongside us; God revealing Himself to us; God bringing us forgiveness, healing, comfort, moral strength, and guidance — God dwelling within us. Each one of us has, deep down in our soul, an incredible hunger: a hunger for purpose and meaning; a hunger to feel and celebrate the redeeming, forgiving, sustaining love of God; a hunger to be in the presence of God. Christmas is special because it reminds us concretely that God is, indeed, with us. In every circumstance of life, even when we are frightened or lonely or in sorrow, God is with us. As we celebrate the Incarnation of the Word of God this Christmas, we might make a conscious effort both to remember that Jesus is always with us in our hearts and in the Eucharist and to share our joy in His presence with others.

Years ago a young man was riding a bus from Chicago to Miami. He had a stop-over in Atlanta. While he was sitting at the lunch counter, a woman came out of the ladies’ rest room carrying a tiny baby. She walked up to this man and asked, “Would you hold my baby for me, I left my purse in the rest room.” He did. But as the woman neared the front door of the bus station, she darted out into the crowded street and was immediately lost in the crowd. This guy couldn’t believe his eyes. He rushed to the door to call the woman but couldn’t see her anywhere. Now what should he do? Put the baby down and run? When calmness finally settled in, he went to the Traveler’s Aid booth and together with the local Police, they soon found the real mother. You see, the woman who’d left him holding the baby wasn’t the baby’s real mother. She’d taken the child. Maybe it was to satisfy some motherly urge to hold a child or something else. No one really knows. But we do know that this man, breathed a sigh of relief when the real mother was found. After all, what was he going to do with a baby? In a way, each of us, is in the same sort of situation as this young man. Every Christmas God Himself walks up to us and asks, “Would you hold My Baby for Me, please?” And then thrusts the Christ Child into our arms.  And we’re left with the question, “What are we going to do with this Baby?” Take him with us or leave him back in the church and go home and celebrate Christmas? Don’t we all feel comfortable with Jesus in a manger? And not coming with us and becoming part of our lives? If we take him with us we need to remember to feed him, nurture him daily and make him grow in our life through prayer and sacraments. Let’s make the choice now, take him with us or leave him right here and come and see him only on Sundays?