{"id":3069,"date":"2019-12-25T11:26:06","date_gmt":"2019-12-25T16:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=3069"},"modified":"2019-12-25T11:28:36","modified_gmt":"2019-12-25T16:28:36","slug":"christmas-homily-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/christmas-homily-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Christmas 2019
Mass During the Night<\/a>
Isaiah 9:1-6
Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13 (Luke 2:11)
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14
December 25, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is much\njoy in seeing so many people here at Christmas as we celebrate something very\nspecial, very sacred<\/em><\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes\nthis time of year so special?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not just\nhere in church.  You can see signs of\nChristmas in many places and in many ways. \nEver since Thanksgiving, there has been Christmas music on the\nradio.  You can see Christmas in the\ndecorations.  Even before Thanksgiving,\nyou could see Christmas in the stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, what\nis Christmas really about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are\nmore and more people who celebrate Christmas without having any faith.  For them, it is about the gifts and\nparties.  For us, Christmas has a deeper\nmeaning, something that draws many to Church looking for hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s\nnothing wrong with gifts and parties at Christmas as long as we remember why we\ncelebrate Christmas.  Christmas is the\nday we celebrate the gift God gives us, Jesus, the gift of love<\/em>.  Christmas\ngifts and parties can be expressions of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas\nmusic can express what happened at the first Christmas for it was a holy night,\na silent night.  In the song, O Come All\nYe Faithful, all are invited to participate in our celebration of the sacred\nevent of Jesus\u2019 birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas\ndecorations also point us to the true meaning of Christmas.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas\ntrees are evergreen trees, evergreen reminding us of everlasting life.  If you look at the shape of a Christmas tree,\nyou can see an arrow pointing up to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the\nlights on the Christmas trees and on many houses finds their origin in the\nsacred meaning of Christmas.  Think of\nthe light of th star that guided the Magi. \nJesus comes to be the light of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people\nput up trees and decorations out of tradition without recognizing the origin\nand meaning of Christmas.  However, we\nhave one decoration that very clearly shows the sacred meaning of Christmas,\nthe creche.  We also call it a nativity\nscene or a manger scene.  Whatever name\nyou give it, it depicts the scene of Jesus\u2019 birth, the story that we hear in\nour gospel for this Mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a scene\nthat can warm our hearts.  It brings us \u201cpeace<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/em> and \u201chope<\/em><\/strong>\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We live busy\nlives.  Leading up to Christmas, life\nbecomes all the more busy with the preparations.  I think the hecticness of the preparation\nmakes us long all the more for the \u201cpeace<\/em>\u201d\nthat Jesus brings.  That\u2019s why we are\nhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the ordinary\nevents of life we might feel like we walk in \u201cdarkness<\/em>\u201d.  When we see bad\nthings in the world at large, we might feel like we are in a \u201cland of gloom<\/em>\u201d.  Jesus comes to be a great light to shine in\nthe darkness and gloom.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do\nwe see in the creche?  We see Jesus as a humble<\/em><\/strong>\nlittle baby.  Jesus does not come in\ntriumphant glory.  He comes in humble\ncircumstances.  He isn\u2019t even born at\nhome for Joseph and Mary were traveling for the census when \u201cthe time came for her to have her child<\/em>.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They looked\nfor a place to stay in Bethlehem (the place prophesized for Jesus\u2019 birth) but\nno one let the Son of God into their homes. \nThe only place available for Mary to give birth to the Son of God was a\nstable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once born,\nJesus was not dressed in fine royal garments. \nInstead, he was wrapped in \u201cswaddling\nclothes<\/em>\u201d, another sign of his emptying of his divinity so that He might\ncome among us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us not\nneglect what is at the center of the creche, Jesus but what is Jesus lying\nin?  A manger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A manger is\nno crib for a babe.  A manger is a food\ntrough for animals.  It was no place for\na babe but the symbolism is perfect when we see Jesus in the manger and realize\nHe is the Bread of Life, the spiritual food that we need, the food that we can\nreceive every <\/em><\/strong>Sunday at Mass, the Eucharist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a sign of\nwho Jesus comes for, who was it that were the first to see baby Jesus?  It was not kings or magi.  They would come because Jesus comes to save\nall but, again in humility, shepherds were the first to here the \u201cgood news of great joy<\/em>\u201d that \u201ctoday in the city of David a savior has been\nborn for you who is Christ and Lord<\/em>.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was \u201cno room for them in the inn.<\/em>\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there \u201croom<\/em>\u201d in your heart for Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why should we\nmake room for Jesus?  I\u2019ve already\nmentioned the \u201cpeace\u201d and \u201chope\u201d that Jesus brings us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gives us\n\u201cpeace\u201d by giving us light to see the world differently than the rest of\nhumanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gives us\n\u201chope\u201d when we know the purpose for which He came, to save us \u201call<\/em><\/strong>\u201d.  He came to give \u201chimself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness<\/em>.\u201d  Thank you Jesus for the gift of salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we need\nto make room for Jesus in our hearts and souls by rejecting \u201cgodless ways and worldly desires and to live\ntemperately, justly, and devoutly in this age<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the\nway we show our gratitude as \u201ca child is\nborn to us, a son is given to us<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what\nChristmas is all about.  The gift of\nJesus.  It is a gift that began at the\nfirst Christmas but it is a gift we receive every time we receive the\nEucharist.  It is a gift that we receive\nin each of the Sacraments.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, keep the\nreal meaning of Christmas alive in your hearts. \nTake a moment on your own to look at our nativity scene.  See Jesus and see the gift He is to us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas 2019Mass During the NightIsaiah 9:1-6Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13 (Luke 2:11)Titus 2:11-14Luke 2:1-14December 25, 2019 There is much joy in seeing so many people here at Christmas as we celebrate something very special, very sacred. What makes this time of year so special? It\u2019s not just here in church.  You can see signs of …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Christmas Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[62,82],"tags":[129,227],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Nv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3069"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3071,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3069\/revisions\/3071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}