Homily for Christmas Mass at Dawn
Dec. 25, 2021
Titus 3: 4-7
St. Thomas More,
Hauppauge, N.Y.
“The kindness and generous love of God our
savior appeared” (Titus 3: 4).
When the shepherds hastened to Bethlehem to see what the Lord had made know to them thru angels, they found only a simple family staying as humble guests in a relative’s home. Speaking historically and culturally, St. Joseph would’ve had no trouble finding lodging with one of his kinsmen in his ancestral hometown; where there was no room for him and Mary was in the house’s guest room (which is the word that St. Luke actually uses[1]; he never mentions a stable or an innkeeper, in spite of our lovely traditions). So Mary and Joseph were put in the space where the family kept their livestock. All over the world it was and is common for peasants to bring their cow or a few goats indoors at nite to protect them and to provide some warmth to the house. So there would be a manger, a feeding trough, there. And there, perhaps observed by an ox or a donkey, Mary gave birth to Jesus in truly humble circumstances.
But what did the shepherds see when they
found Mary, Joseph, and in the manger a newborn child? With eyes of faith, they saw “the kindness
and generous love of God our savior.”
For the angels had announced to them “good news of great joy…. A savior has been born for you who is Messiah
and Lord” (Luke 2:10-11). This humble,
almost homeless child lying in straw is the Savior of the world, God’s own Son
born in our human flesh. The shepherds
recognized the Messiah, and they amazed “all who heard” them speak about the
angelic message (2:17-18).
What do we recognize in that child? Are we amazed that God brings us his kindness
and generous love in that child? That child
bears to us divine mercy; “he saves us thru the bath of rebirth and renewal by
the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5), i.e., thru Baptism and the gift of God’s own
Spirit conveying to us divine grace, “richly poured out on us thru Jesus
Christ” (3:6). Are we amazed enuf that
we have committed our lives to this Savior “that we might be justified by his
grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life” (4:7)?
Whether we picture baby Jesus in a stable or
in a house, it’s insufficient for our salvation just to look and admire. The shepherds proclaimed him and “glorified
and praised God for all they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:20). The Virgin Mother “kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart” (2:19).
She internalized these blessed events, made them her own, made them part
of her life.
We must do the same. In the Collect (opening prayer of the Mass) we prayed that Christ’s coming might “illumine our minds and also shine thru in our deeds.” Seeing and recognizing the Savior of the world in this humble child lying in a feed trough has to lead us to praise God like the shepherds, make Christ’s life part of our own interior make-up like Mary, so that our words and deeds reveal God’s kindness and generous love to our families, co-workers, acquaintances, and even strangers, so that the coming of God as man has an effect in our lives.
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