Just in case anyone wants a little more Christmas Homily (eta: written by my H's friend who is a priest in Miami) to lighten the heart and swell up the soul. God bless!
I. 25 years
I have been a priest for 25 years and I have not, yet, had the courage to preach on the Prologue to John’s Gospel for Christmas. This is a passage of surpassing aesthetic beauty and theological depth. Before I dare to say a word, listen again to the dawning of the Word: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made through the Word. Without the Word, nothing came to be. In the Word, was life and life was the light of all men and women. The light shines forth in the darkness and the darkness strives to overcome it. But the darkness can overcome it not. There was a man, sent from God, named John. He came to testify to the light, that all might believe. John was not the light but came to bear witness to the light. The true light was coming into the world. The light was in the world, and the world came to be through the Word, but the world did not recognize the Word, the people of his own home did not receive the Word. But all who believed became children of God. They were born not of blood or of flesh or of human desire but of God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. We have beheld the glory of the Word, the glory of an only Son coming forth from the Father.”
II. Teresa, writing with two hands
Teresa of Avila once said that she wished that she could write with two hands, so that she could get down on paper what she was thinking about before she forgot what she had just thought about. One gets the same feeling of hurried expectation when one reads John’s Prologue. All of the Gospel is crammed into these few, beautiful lines of ecstatic poetry. As you know, I often use stories to preach. But here I can find no story or example to make the point any better than the evangelist does in these hurried, ecstatic words.
III. Christmas Preface
Later in this mass, we will pray the Christmas Preface: “ Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give You thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the wonder of the incarnation Your eternal Word has brought to the eyes of faith a new and radiant vision of Your glory. In Christ, we see our God made visible and so are caught up in love of the God we cannot see. Father, may you see and love in us what you see and love in Christ.”
IV. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed
I said that could not find a story, indeed, I cannot. But a few weeks ago I was teaching the first communion class at Carrollton. I taught them Martin Luther’s “Cradle Song.” You know it better as “Away in a Manger.” A little girl, only 8 years old, said: “Father, why did Jesus have no crib for a bed? He can have my little brother’s crib. He’s too big for it anyway.” You often hear that, “Christmas is for children.” I think this is true but is often misunderstood. Christmas is for children because only children, in their innocence and moral clarity, really understand it. The Word became flesh so that the Father can see and love in us what the Father sees and loves in Christ. Whether you are 7 or 70, Christmas is about Jesus Christ being born, here and now, in our hearts and lives. Every time we love, are kind or gentle, Jesus Christ is made manifest again. Jesus Christ does not need a crib. He has us to be born in. Christ sleeps and laughs and plays in our hearts and lives. Make no mistake ... this is what Christmas is all about! The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word, continually, becomes flesh and dwells among us and within us still!