Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
When news leaked that Kate Middleton was pregnant the media went wild. Only the news of an alien landing in Times Square could have been more sensational. BBC called this child the ‘global’ child. Of course, this child is destined to be ‘royal’ in every sense of the word. The child will be born in a palace, in the safest place ever, and with the best care possible. The world will love this child, the media adore this child and celebrities worldwide will come to bestow lavish gifts upon this child. This child will be a phenomenon.
A few weeks after I had written the above introduction to this homily, Newtown, Connecticut captured the spotlight with devastatingly tragic news also about children. Twenty first-graders were mowed to death by a troubled twenty-year-old. Even as we have gathered here to celebrate this mass, the last of the funerals is barely over. This Christmas is very different from the past Christmases. This tragedy is already a phenomenon.
Today, we think of these two very sensational stories about children against the background of the birth of another child thousand years ago. His name was Jesus. He was born not in a palace but in a stable. It wasn’t the safest place and no one was barred from coming to see him. Even poor shepherds showed up. Now, HE was the real ‘global’ baby for he ushered in the salvation of the whole world. There were no televisions or social media then, but the choirs of angels and one bright star led people to the manger. He was the phenomenon of all phenomena. However, that good news was also marred with tragedy. There were those who sought to kill this child and another troubled man killed hundreds of innocent children.
In three points I would like to reflect on the meaning of Christmas in light of these events.
a)Today we celebrate the birth of every child. As the royal baby is due, the world waits breathlessly for the baby to be born. This baby will be exclusive. He or she will grow in the world but will be apart from the world. It is not some accidental irony that Jesus was not born in an exclusive palace, cut off the rest of humanity. That would have made salvation itself exclusive. Jesus’ birth in a stable gives dignity to every human baby that is ever conceived. From the slums in Mumbai to the Buckingham palace, from war ravaged Congo to the White House, every child born comes with a dignity that is uncompromised. The fact that God came a baby in the lowliest of all places means that all babies even the lowliest has a divine dignity. Because of the birth of God as a baby every baby’s birth is a divine event. Today we celebrate the birth of every child.
b) Today is about God's love.Today is not just about the birth of a child. It is about how much God loves the world. The birth of Jesus is symbolic of how God thinks about us. God loved the whole world and every person in it from the beginning of the world until when the world ends. God came to us as a baby so that every time we hold a baby we can know how God holds us in God’s arms. But this love is not some fluffy sentimental stuff like tinsel on a Christmas tree. This kind of love takes some guts. This kind of love takes courage, strength and character. This is the kind of love that a stable, a manger or even a cross could not cease. This is the kind of love that saves and redeems.
I want you to think about it this way. These days I have become some kind of an animal rescuer. The staff here and I have tried to find home for all the cats abandoned at the church. I feel for them. I do not wish for them to die out in the cold. But my care for animals has a limit. No matter how deeply I love them there is no way I would let my child become a cat or a dog to rescue them from their condition. But with God there is no such limit. God became who God is not so that humanity is not abandoned in its misery. Christmas truly happens for each person when the tender yet limitless love of God touches us. And unless this happens Christmas remains tinsel on a Christmas tree. Today, I invite each one of you to let the depth of God’s love enter the depth of your being. Let Christmas happen within you.
c)This child will lead us to salvation. This child in the manger would soon grow up. He would soon share with us, God. He was God but he chose to live as a human person. However, as a human person he taught us how to think like God. He taught us to make heaven on earth. And if we just took seriously what he told us, today our world would be a better place.
In reaction or response to the tragedy in Connecticut, numerous people have suggested numerous things that our nation can do to avert similar situations. But one of things we can do is to love our children like God loves us so that when they grow up they can love their kids in the same way instead of arming them with weapons. Let us teach our children that our world has been touched by God and that it is a good place. When we buy our children video games let us also teach them that violence is not Jesus’ way. Let us teach them that there is difference between killing an enemy on the screen and killing someone on the street. Let us teach them that unlike the video games, our world is mostly filled with good people and that most of them long to love and be loved. Let us teach them that Jesus came so that the spear can be turned into a pruning hook and that one day the lion with dwell with the lamb. Let us teach them that true love takes courage, strength and character. Let us teach them to be like Christ.
I am not sure if you realize this or not but Christmas happens at every mass. Today especially, we remember how God became one of us. The bread and wine will soon take flesh and Christ will be born again right here in front of our eyes. Let us allow this great miracle of love to transform us and our world, Amen.
-Fr. Satish Joseph