Christmas Morning Mass 2013

Christmas Day, 2013                                              

 (Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-18)

When we look at the world around us and consider the overall evidence of people’s understanding of and response to the message of Christmas -- even though the majority no longer recognize and accept that message as the root inspiration of their Christmas celebrations, and even though others may distort it horribly -- we cannot fail to see that in even the most modern consciousness,   Christmas is regarded as the time for rejoicing with a joy that is singularly untouched, unaffected, by any other considerations.

I am emphasizing the joy of Christmas because it is an essential element in our Christian life.  Christmas is, of its very nature, a time for supremely good and holy rejoicing; it is not just a season which comes round, apparently willy-nilly, once a year; rather, Christmas is meant to gradually permeate and form our basic Catholic character.

However, it seems to me that too many Catholics have forgotten the joyous aspect of our Faith in their relationship with God; for they regard their practice of the Faith mainly as a duty, an obligation; and God is seen, above all, as One demanding obedience, One Whose rule in their lives -- far from liberating them and enabling them to know true joy -- they find somewhat oppressive.

Now these experiences are not totally wrong and unaccountable, for we have to endure growing-pains in our Christian discipleship -- we have to face up to the devil who is ever seeking to tempt us, weaken our faith and destroy our resolve; while, on the other hand, we constantly need to learn that humility and patient endurance which will allow the Spirit to guide us in the ways of Jesus and gradually strengthen us through His discipline.  But any resultant acceptance of an attitude that merely endures and reluctantly ‘puts-up-with’ the demands of the Faith, would be a sad distortion of the truly fulfilling and ‘mind-blowing’ experience of, and loving response to, Him Whom Jesus taught us to call ‘Our Father’.  Indeed, without the mutually complementary and fulfilling balances first of Christmas Joy and then of Easter Love and Hope, such an attitude of merely reluctant toleration of the demands of the Faith would become quite corrosive of any truly Catholic character.  Christmas, therefore, comes round each year to introduce a most holy joy into our Christian awareness and to cement it into our character as an absolutely essential part of our religious psychology and personal make-up.

Of course, the pagan rejoicing at Christmas, being so often excessive, rationally un-motivated, and even licentious, is an evil abuse and misrepresentation of Christmas joy; but, the abuse of Christmas does not, cannot, be allowed to undermine or diminish the abiding and enduring reality of that JOY which is intended by God for His children, to characterise not only this wondrous season, but the whole of their lives.  This joy cannot be sullied by human abuse because it is a joy centred on a most beautiful Child, indeed a heavenly Child: God’s all-holy and only-begotten Son, given to mankind through a totally immaculate Virgin, and sent as Son of Man to win salvation for all His brothers and sisters who will accept Him.

Christmas rejoicing has, however, even for many sincere believers, been gradually watered down into a merely human and, indeed, childish rejoicing; and then, thus robbed of its inherent inspiration and vigour, it has been further disfigured and degraded to such an extent that it has become a season of more-or-less sensual pleasure-seeking, where, at the best, that pleasure-seeking is done through gifts, and the merely human joy of giving and receiving gifts, is regarded as the holiness of Christmas.   Among non-believers, however, or among non-observant believers in a post-Christian era, Christmas rejoicing is too-often used as an excuse for licentious excesses which have become totally unchristian, involving human exploitation, drug taking, anti-social behaviour, and even openly criminal activities; in such circles, a hang-over on wakening up is commonly regarded as the amusing sign of what is considered to be a good night-out the day before.  

Among Catholics one reason for the lack of true Christmas joy in the practice of our Faith is due to the fact that we have also deformed Easter.  Because the sufferings of Christ have, in the past, been given excessive prominence in popular preaching and devotional practices, Easter has been gradually deprived of what is of supreme importance, namely, the example and inspiration of love -- Jesus’ love for His Father and for us -- and the call to hope and confidence in the Risen Lord of Glory.  Now, if the Easter message of love and hope to the Christian soul is often obscured and muted, is it any wonder that the Christmas message of joy no longer clearly characterises the life of too many Catholics today?  Duty, obedience and fear are a pretty dismal residue from the original glorious endowment of joy, love, and hope.

People of God, we should try to open our hearts anew to the joy of Christmas.  We should pray to the Holy Spirit and beg Him to renew our lives according to those parting words of Jesus:

I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11)

Joy in the Lord is an essential part of our Christian and Catholic heritage, and we should not deprive ourselves of that which is meant to characterise us in Jesus.  We must not, however, repeat past mistakes, for it is a joy that God gives, not one that we try to procure for ourselves.  Now, don’t think I am wanting you to eschew, reject, human joys; far from it, for I repeat that those human joys which are according to Christ and used as such, are also a gift from God.  However, the Christmas Gift is, above all, a cause for spiritual, supernatural, joy; it is a Gift given to those who, first of all, pray for it, and who then try to delight in the Lord and live for His glory.  

As you heard in the Gospel reading:

Jesus, the true Light, was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him;

and that is still the condition of all present-day pagan revellers who in no way intend to celebrate the Name of Jesus at Christmas.

            He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 

That too is still the present situation in the case of those who are merely nominal Christians and Catholics.

For ourselves, however, and for all who are sincerely seeking the Lord, we are then told that:

As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name;

and that is the source of our Christmas joy.  Because we sincerely believe in Jesus, we know that in our baptism we were given a new life, we were born anew:

Not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 

In Jesus, those words we heard in the second reading apply also to each of us:

            You are My son, this day I have begotten you.

            I will be a Father to (you), and (you) shall be a son to Me.

My dear People of God, we have wondrous cause for rejoicing at Christmas; or rather, wondrous cause to begin rejoicing, begin, that is, a never-ending, ever-deepening and developing spirit of rejoicing, in our lives as Christians and Catholics.   However, make no mistake: God gives the cause of our rejoicing, but He expects us, freely and personally, to do the rejoicing.  How, therefore, do we learn to rejoice as true disciples of Jesus?

For this we should turn to the other principal character in the drama that is Christmas, to Mary the one addressed by God’s angel with the command:

Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women! (Luke 1:28)

Mary began her rejoicing first of all by trusting wholeheartedly in God: adultery by one betrothed (as seemed to be the situation opening up before Mary) was punishable by stoning to death in accordance with the Law; but, far from worrying herself sick about her future predicament, Mary hurried off help her cousin Elizabeth cope with pregnancy in her old age.  Mary’s total trust in God’s word enabled her to be totally forgetful of self and totally available for others.

Mary continued, strengthened, and deepened, her rejoicing in the Lord thanks to her great gratitude: 

My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour, for He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; henceforth all generations will call me blessed, for He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. (Luke 1:47-49)

Those are the two essential ingredients for Christian rejoicing: complete trust in God, and, on the basis of that trust, the ability to look at things from His point of view and learn gratitude.  The Annunciation could have been, depending on how Mary looked at it, either a cause for great rejoici or one of deep anxiety: death and dishonour or blessing and renown.  Mary, however, had no hesitation, no doubt:

He who is mighty has done great things for me; henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

Anyone who would become a true disciple of Jesus should learn from Mary to rejoice by steadfastly trusting in the Lord; by consistently refusing to indulge solicitous considerations for personal well-being and advantage; and also by developing a grateful awareness of blessings already received from God: blessings such as good parents and family; loyal and true friends; personal talents; guidance received and help given; health of mind and body; hopes that draw you on and ideals and aspirations that inspire you … while few have all these blessings, none are bereft of all of them; every one of us has some cause for gratitude to God, and such causes, once recognised and gratefully acknowledged, readily multiply themselves so as to be seen with increasing clarity and appreciated with ever deeper gratitude as time goes on.

The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

The Law was a challenge, a requirement, written down as a legal document.  The Gospel of grace and truth, on the other hand, is a call, an invitation.  In the Gospel message and in the Person of Jesus God is manifesting Himself, making Himself known, so that He might attract and lovingly draw those who -- through faith in Jesus and baptism in the Spirit -- have or will become His children.  And surely, it is no hard thing to encourage such children to learn to trust, and show gratitude to, the Father Who so lovingly approaches them as does our heavenly Father through Jesus and in the Spirit?

Learn to trust, People of God, grow in gratitude, and joy will fill your heart.  Look at Mary; imitate her attitude to life: shall I worry about possible threats and difficulties or shall I trust God wholeheartedly?  Can one who has been reborn in Jesus by the Spirit, one who has been made a true child of the Father, one to whom the Father promises:

            I will be a Father to (you), and (You) shall be a Son to Me,

can such a one have any hesitation?  Follow Mary!  After all Jesus has given us to her and her to us as our mother.  Follow Mary, and learn to rejoice anew in your practice of the Faith: it is not just a Law to be obeyed, it is your Father’s loving invitation and call for you to learn to know and love Him more and more in and with Jesus.  And because it is your Father’s call, it does not just come from outside and hit your ears; you are His child and His call to you re-echoes in your heart, and, in the deepest -- perhaps still secret and unknown to you – recesses of your being, where its reverberation repeatedly provokes the response of like to like: 

Come my beloved (child), (there are) all manner (of blessings), new and old, which I have laid up for you.  Come. (Song of Songs 7:13)

4th Sunday of Advent Year A 2013

4^th. Sunday of Advent (A)

(Isaiah 7:10-14; St. Paul to the Romans 1:1-7; St. Matthew 1:18-24)

The People of Israel had only come into existence by God's own call: from a motley gathering of enslaved ethnic groups they became a people by God’s choice; and as the People of God they could only prosper in existence by growing in their trust of the God Who had called them into being.  As the prophet Isaiah would tell them: 

Thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: By waiting and by calm you shall be saved, in quiet and in trust your strength lies.  (30:15)

Ahaz, king of Judah the homeland of God’s Chosen People, was, however, a selfish and unreliable individual and, consequently, a faithless, indeed disastrously faithless king.  He sacrificed to the gods of the Canaanites and, when pressed by  enemies, would not trust in the Lord God of Israel as Isaiah, God’s prophet, urged him to do, but rather turned to the current super-power, the Assyrians, for more immediate and sensible help.

In the Old Testament, and in the Mediterranean world of that time, the King of a country was regarded as son of the country’s God: whoever the god of a nation might be, the king was regarded as his son and his chosen instrument to bless, guide, and protect the nation.  This was also the common understanding of the relationship between Yahweh the one true God, and the reigning king of Judah and of God’s Chosen People.  However, the faith of Israel would not tolerate any suggestion of such a son arising from the copulation of gods, or from any carnal intercourse of a god with the queen mother; for Israel, only a relationship as ‘adopted’ son of God was admissible for the proclamation and confirmation of a new sovereign on the occasion of his coronation.  Thus the words of Yahweh in Psalm 2 verse 7:  

            You are My son, today I have begotten you. 

You can imagine then the disgust Isaiah felt for this present king Ahaz who -- supposedly a ‘son of God’ for Judah, an instrument of God for the blessing of His Chosen People -- was, in reality, faithless before the God of Judah and indifferent to the well-being of his people, being entirely devoted to his own self-interest.  Therefore Isaiah prophesied in the name of the Lord as you heard:

Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God?   Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 

The Great King who was to come, the Messiah, Emmanuel, would be, quite literally, GOD-WITH-US.  Ahaz, had neither the faith, nor consequently, the trust, to live in difficult times as God's instrument of blessing for His People.  The King to come however – Emmanuel -- would be God's very presence, not simply on the basis of human faith and fidelity, but on the fact of His divine origin and dignity: truly, the only Son of the only God; no mere instrument of blessing, but God’s very Blessing Himself.

He would be no descendent of Ahaz the unworthy, because His mother would be a Virgin.  She would, indeed, be totally unlike Ahaz who was most miserably and cynically failing his people through distrust of God, for she would have such full and perfect trust in the Lord, that Elizabeth -- under the impulse of the Spirit of God -- would declare such faith and trust to be Mary the Virgin’s supreme characteristic:

Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. (Luke. 1:45)

Let us now, therefore, look at both Ahaz and Our Lady and learn what they, in their very different ways, teach us about the meaning of Emmanuel, God-with-us; for God is with us not only as Saviour for all mankind, not only with us as Head of the Body which is His Church, but also with each and every one of us who believe, for the right-living and fulfilment of our earthly lives and the attainment of our ultimate reward in heaven.

Despite the Lord's promise of divine blessing and help made through Isaiah the prophet, Ahaz perversely put his trust in the military might of Assyria, opting for a quick-fix that would provide personal advantage and security at the cost of crushing taxes for the people as a whole.  Mary, for her part, would ignore her own precarious personal standing with her neighbours and look to the Lord alone, putting her total confidence and trust in His word given her by the angel Gabriel.

Ahaz feared for his throne and his life; Mary consecrated her humility and her virginity to the Lord, despite thereby -- according to the Law – putting her life at risk.  Ahaz’ faithless gamble turned out predictably -- or should we say prophetically -- to be disastrous both for himself and his people.  Mary’s total trust that God would protect her was vindicated, and she has been proclaimed blessed above all women on earth ever since.

Therefore God-is-with-us means that He is always with us to lead us into, and protect us along, the right way if – setting aside both our human fears and our personal pride -- we will, with confidence and trust, accept His guidance.   God-is-with-us to enlighten, watch over, and help us, in all our needs; but such grace and power can only flow into us through our faith and trust in Him and our obedience to His Spirit.

Finally, we can say the God-is-with-us means precisely what it says: He wills to be with us as our constant companion: always sharing, and involving Himself with us and for us, in every aspect of our experience of life.  In all situations, He wills to be at our side -- whatever we may have made of ourselves thus far -- if only we will turn to Him, humbly open ourselves up to Him, and trust Him.  As the negro spiritual puts it most beautifully: “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, nobody knows but Jesus”.

He is there, moreover, not only for our guidance, comfort, and strength throughout our earthly pilgrimage, but also to lead us to the Father, our eternal destiny: that we might to learn to love Him as Jesus loved Him Who was, indeed, the supreme love of Jesus’ being-human on earth.  To that end we have the Scriptures of Mother Church where the very words and actions of Jesus respond to and fulfil the preparations and anticipations of both the Law and the Prophets, and inspire the writings of those disciples who most closely shared His public life and deeply understood the meaning and purpose of His sufferings and death on the cross.

However, He is with us supremely in and through the Gift of His Holy Spirit to Mother Church, and through her sacraments -- above all of Baptism and the Eucharist -- to each and every loving disciple or humble searcher.  In this aspect we do not so much imitate Jesus, His words, or His deeds, but rather He draws us -- often enough unknown to our conscious awareness -- by the gift and the power of His Spirit; for it is the work of His Spirit to form us in Jesus for the Father.  In that work we are largely being carried along, so to speak; spending all our effort to remain close, and indeed, to get ever closer, to Jesus through intimacy with the Scriptures and through prayer and the sacraments.  Then, looking most hopefully for the Spirit to guide us, we try to be attentive and understanding, responsive and obedient, to Him in all things. In that work there is so much to rejoice in and be thankful for, but also, so little, so very, very, little to boast of, since God’s prolific goodness is also most humbling.

Soon we will be able to celebrate with true joy and gratitude the birth of Emmanuel -- Jesus Christ, the Co-eternal Son of God the Eternal Father, become Son of Man.  It is eminently fitting, therefore, that today we celebrate her from whom the Son of God took flesh in order to become the Lord and Saviour of mankind.   Moreover, it is truly fitting that today, we celebrate Mary precisely as the one who most perfectly surrendered herself in trust and faith to the promise made her by the Lord, since it is in this regard, supremely, that she is our model as well as our Mother; for St. Paul tells us that faith and trust in God's word is the very essence of the Christian life for all in Mother Church, when -- as you heard in our second reading – he declares:

Through (Jesus Christ our Lord) I received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of His name, among all the Gentiles.  

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death, that we may have the grace both to live faithfully and to die peacefully trusting in the goodness of God Who, in His great compassion, has already gifted us with faith to believe in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, and has, thereby and above all, endowed us with His Holy Spirit, to form us in the likeness of our Our Lord and Saviour and lead us to that heavenly home which is  already prepared and waiting for all who will prove themselves His own true disciples, and, in Him, children able to eternal glory to their heavenly Father and rejoice the heart of You, the Mother of all believers.

           

Third Sunday of Advent Year A 2013

Third Sunday of Advent (A)

(Isaiah 35:1-6, 10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: Advent prepares us for the celebration of our Lord’s coming on earth as one of us: as an Infant destined to reveal and make manifest something of the intimate Glory of God; and as Redeemer, to save His chosen ones and all who learn to invoke His most holy Name.  However, our celebration is not meant to be a merely fond reminiscence; for it offers us an eye-piece, as it were, whereby we might be able to prepare for, and appreciate, something of what is otherwise hardly known and totally unprecedented for us:  His future coming as the glorious Lord and Judge of mankind.

In today’s Gospel reading John the Baptist is about to acknowledge the Bridegroom’s presence to the Bride in a way that brings his faithful witness to Jesus to its glorious fulfilment: for the forerunner is about to die alone in the lowest dungeon of Herod’s prison for the Truth of the God Who will be lifted-up high, to die alone on Rome’s criminal Cross.  

John was in prison awaiting his executioner and he was not absolutely sure about Jesus.  The prophets, as we have just heard in our reading from the book of Isaiah, had foretold the coming of God: 

Say to those whose hearts are frightened:  Be strong, fear not!  Here is your God, He comes with vindication; with divine recompense He comes to save you.  Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the dumb will sing. Streams will burst forth in the desert, and rivers in the steppe.

John was the one chosen not only to announce the Messiah but actually to introduce Him to the people, and John was well aware of this:

I am baptizing you with water, for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is mightier than I.   I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

John had been greatly impressed by what the prophet had foretold about God’s vengeance and retribution, and he duly forewarned the expectant people that the Messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  However,

When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism

he addressed them directly with words of divine truth indeed, but spoken with a vehemence  that was his own, saying (Matthew 3:7-12):

You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.  And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’  For I tell you, God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.    Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees.  The One Who is coming after me is mightier than I; I am not worthy to carry His sandals.  His winnowing fan is in His hand. He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.  

Such words showed something of John’s human weakness.  For though the prophets as a whole foretold the truth, they rarely knew the ‘when’, or the ‘where’, or ‘how’ their words would be fulfilled; and even the immediate forerunner of the Lord Himself, not seeing clearly the whole plan of God, was obliged at times -- as on this occasion -- to use the veiled language of metaphors in order to express what he experienced most surely and needed to proclaim so urgently.    When, therefore, John looked at Jesus and saw no direct manifestation of, nor heard any promise threatening, an imminent ‘day of vengeance’ or of awesome ‘retribution’ for sinners, his human weakness showed itself again and he was puzzled; indeed, perhaps he was even a little disappointed, because the pride and arrogance of the Pharisees and Scribes and their disdain of the poor and needy did not ‘sit well’ with him.

Jesus, however, sent him a message telling him to accept, embrace, the light which had already been afforded him:

Go and tell John what you hear and see:  the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them. 

In other words Jesus was saying, ‘Accept what has been given you; that is enough for you, for now.  As for the rest, God’s retribution will come in God’s good time; take the fulfilment which has already been given you and realize,

            Blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.’

Well, People of God, Jesus did not declare John to be the greatest of all the children born of women without good reason: John proved the truth of those words by persevering in faith and dying in the peace of complete trust in God.  Even though he could not see or understand all that he would have liked to have seen and understood, nevertheless, he knew full well that God is beyond all human comprehension, giving light enough to guide our footsteps surely and bestowing grace sufficient to keep us safe along His ways so that we can be free from all solicitude about self and thus able to open up our hearts and minds in total commitment to Him in return.  Now, there can, of course, be no such gift of self-dedication where comprehensive foreknowledge of the outcome is wanted, expected, or required.  John was being offered sufficient light; and, when asked to back it up with all his love, he did not turn back, but was willing and able to enter into the valley of the shadow of death fearing no evil.  Trusting in the word of the Lord and in the faithfulness of the God of his fathers, he was allowed to foreshadow with sublime fidelity Our Blessed Lord’s own end: 

“Father, into your hands I commend My spirit”; and when He had said this He breathed His last.  (Luke 23:46)

Jesus admired and loved John:

As they were going off, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?  Then what did you go out to see?   Someone dressed in fine clothing? Those who wear fine clothing are in royal palaces.  Then why did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.”

Note carefully here, People of God, that Our Lord’s words about John concern Mother Church also, and as such are addressed to all who, along with us today, will and do take the trouble to go out and seek for God’s truth: who are prepared to set aside, at times, worldly pre-occupations in order to look more closely for the God and Saviour Who promises eternal life to all who will open when He knocks on the door of their spiritual awareness.

Yes, John was indeed a prophet, he was the greatest, and in that respect he was like our Mother Church which is the consummation of the prophets of old.

What did you go out – out of your warm and comfy homes – for; why did you disturb your pleasant rest, leave your happy gatherings, interrupt your holidays, and the like?  Why did you go to Church?  To find a reed swaying in the breeze?  That is, a Church whose teaching changes in accordance with every contemporary doctrine of supposed science, with every whim of popular conceit, and with every plaint of human self-love and solicitude?   A nice Church, perhaps even a very nice Church, which says you can believe and do what you want so long as you have a sizeable number of people thinking along the same lines as you? 

NO, People of God, you surely do not want such a Church, whose priests simply preach and proclaim what you find least stressing or most comforting to hear!!
 

Then what have you gone out and come to Church for today?  To find someone wearing fine clothes?  That is, preaching a doctrine that will fit you really comfortably, indeed, ‘down to the ground’: not restricting or restraining any of your lower desires, but rather ‘dolling them up’ with modern fancy phrases which might enable you to think that really they are good desires, about which past generations have been sadly mistaken.  Or again, that the Church in her ancient ignorance and simplicity does not understand that Scripture’s apparently plain words and open condemnations really need to be approached with the whole panoply of modern pseudo-scholarship, so that they can be understood and adapted in accordance with the dictates of faithless self-seekers and the exigencies of ‘natural’ longings which demand free expression! 
 

No, no!!  I don’t think the vast majority of you here -- indeed, I hope that none of you here -- want that!

Then what do you go out of your homes each Sunday and come to Church for?  To see a prophet?  Yes, and much more than a prophet.

You have come to a prophet, that is, to the Church which is our true Mother and which dares to proclaim to us the saving truth of God whether it meets with popular approval or not.   Indeed, you have come to much more than a prophet, for you have come to Jesus Christ Himself, Who promised to be with His Church to the end of time; and this Church, the Catholic and universal Church, by His gift our Mother, is the only place where He has promised so to be.

This theme of ‘going out’, looking for a prophet who proclaims divine truth, this awaiting, searching, longing, for the Messiah to bestow on us personally the Salvation He brings for all, is the whole theme of Advent.  Blessed are you who have allowed yourselves to be moved by such a desire today.  

Our Christmas celebration of Jesus’ coming to us as Saviour has always held a unique attraction for us!  What humble peace, simple joy, and deep human fulfilment, have ever and always emanated from that Holy Family bound together by unbreakable bonds of mutual love and reverence, and  cherishing in its embrace the Child of divine promise and most sublime expectations!  All that now serves, as I said, as our eye-glass for appreciating and preparing for what we can hope to find when He comes again, this time in divine glory and as Judge to reward the faithful and condemn the sin of the world.  It will be most awesome and far in excess of our imaginings, expectations, or anticipations, and that is why we were given the experience and example of John the Baptist today: for, though our weakness will be tested, our faith must not be shaken, for our hopes will not be disappointed, as Isaiah said:

(You) will see the glory of the Lord, the splendour of our God.  Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not!  Here is your God, He comes with vindication; with divine recompense He come to save you!

Or, as St. James tells us:

Make your hearts firm, because the coming of the Lord is at hand.  Behold, the Judge is standing before the gates.  Take as an example of hardship and patience, brothers and sisters, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Dear People of God, as we look around us today, Christmas has become what has been long threatening, Xmas.   I pods and tablets, televisions and computers, technology of all sorts, are being constantly produced and promoted, sold and sought after … and all are worthy of praise for their testimony to humanities’ ability to overcome, master, use and administer the world in all its complexity and wonder.  But, without the gifts that only Jesus Himself -- the Lord of Christmas – brings, they make up what is but a soulless celebration of human wit without wisdom, fullness without fulfilment.

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw.  But for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.  (Malachi 4:1–2 NLT) 

Both aspects of Christmas are there; John the Baptist is there and Jesus is there. Indeed, all aspects of Christmas are there, for I love to see what I regard as a delightful reference (metaphoric, of course) to our own, very human, spirit of Christmas rejoicing, in those final words:

 And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture!!