Christmas Midnight Mass: The People who Walked in Darkness have seen a Great Light

Tonight’s liturgy and readings of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Mass during midnight, is full of contrasting words and images.

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah proclaims,

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone” (Isaiah 9: 1).

These prophetic words from Isaiah truly express the paradoxical challenge of living the spirit of Christmas: Christmas is to see and to walk towards the light amidst the darkness in our lives and our world

The second reading, St. Paul in his letter to Titus, also speaks of contrast. St. Paul speaks of the contrast of the two comings of Christ: (1) “the grace of God has appeared,” that is, in the Christ event (and Bethlehem marks the inception of its appearance); (2) “while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory…” Jesus already came into this world but he is still to come in the fullness of his glory.

Of all the readings, the gospel has the most contrasting images. Christmas is the birth of the king. But the new king wasn’t born in a palace, his birth wasn’t hailed by heralds fanning out to every corner of the empire. Instead, his family were refugees: They couldn’t find room at the inn; Mary gave birth in a stable; and the child had to rest in a manger.

There is darkness in the night, and yet the radiance of  God’s love is in the child. The winter is cold, but the baby brings the fire of God’s love to earth. The baby is so small and helpless; and yet he is the Word, who in the beginning was God and was with God. The humble animals surround the child, but the angels of God sing his birth. The child is poor and lowly in origin, and yet all the power of God is his. The stable is lowly, but it is the king of kings who is born into it.

It is in these contrasts, indeed, that we can find the wonder of Christmas. Christmas is not the eradication of contrast but the acceptance of diversity. It is the welcoming of the other who is unique and different from me and you. It is not the elimination of differences. Moreover, Christmas is not the absence of conflict. Chrismas is not the escape from the chaos, misery and suffering in our lives.

Contrast, is at the core of God’s incarnation. The wonder of Christmas, most of all, is the immersion of God into our human experience, even the messiest, the muddiest and the darkest side of our humanity. The wonder of Christmas is God’s becoming human by not resorting to human power, prestige, wealth and fame. God became fully human without God stripping of God’s divinity and human becoming divine without human stripping of humanity.

This year, 2020, for many of us, is perhaps, the toughest year of our lives. Who would have thought, at the beginning of this year, that a pandemic would spread so fast into every corner of the world, making millions ill and killing thousands because of the virus. Many lost their jobs, many became hungry, homeless, depressed and abandoned. Many are worried and uncertain about the coming new year and beyond.

Because of the pandemic, many were saying that Christmas this year will be the saddest Charistmas of their lives. Many, in fact, did not have any money to spare to spend for their usual noche buena. Many Christmas parties and reunions were cancelled. The usual Christmas decorations and the firework display were either subdued or cancelled altogether.

But we cannot accept the reality that we cannot experience the joy of Christmas just because of the pandemic. On the other hand, the tremendous misery and difficulties brought by the pandemic did not dampen the spirit of Christimas. On the contrary, we rediscovered the wonder of Christmas in the compassionate embrace especially of those who suffered most and miserable during the pandemic. The pandemic gave us great fervour to feed the hungry, provide shelter to the homeless and give comfort to the sick and lonely. Indeed, the pandemic did not fizzle out the light of Christmas. The utter darkness that we now find ourselves, all the more convince us to be super spreaders of the good news of Jesus gospel and bearers of Christmas light. The Christmas spirit has become a pandemic itself, as the song of the Redemptorist goes,

gawing pandemya ang pasko, (Make Christmas a pandemic)
hawaan ng pag-asa ang bawat tao (contaminate every person with hope)

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, the prophet Isaiah proclaims thousands of years ago. We proclaim it now, once again, that in the darkness of the pandemic, we have seen the light of Christmas, we have felt love, acted with justice, truth, and peace and most of all experienced God as Emmannuel–God-with-us.

No amount of suffering and misery can dampen the Christmas spirit. No amount of gloom can postpone the joy of Christmas. No amount of tyranny can silence the true calling of Christmas. In other words, Christmas is a defiance! The more the world is plunged into darkness, the light of Christmas shines brighter. The more the world is plunged into death and suffering due to the pandemic, the original Christmas event of Jesus dwelling among us all the more bonds us into deeper social solidarity. The more the world is plunged into senseless impunity of killings and violence, the voice of Christmas shout much louder for peace and justice. The more the world is plunged into hunger and poverty, the aspiration of Christmas for sharing of creation’s resources for all becomes greater and greater. The more the world is plunged into materialism and vanity, the proclamation of the spirit of Christmas which is love, forgiveness and acceptance of all becomes stronger and stronger. As the world is plunged into sadness and misery, the challenge to spread the joy of Christmas all the more become urgent especially among the abandoned, homeless and lonely.

During the past 9 days of the Simbang Gabi we listened once again to the Christmas story. We heard how God’s story entered humanity through the lives of ordinary people who did not come from the nobility, wealthy and powerful. The response and participation of Mary, John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph, and many other prophets and characters showed how God’s plan and dream for all humanity and creation has defied all wordly odds and proclaimed a true message of hope, peace and love.

Like the characters in the Christmas story, we are not passive observer of the great event of incarnation. We are all part of the wonder of Christmas not through the baby-cult, admiring the cute baby Jesus on the manger from the outside but not receiving Christ from the inside of our being. The wonder of Christmas is the reception of the Christmas story into our lives and like Mary, John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph, and many other prophets and characters, it is allowing ourselves to become instruments and heralds of the building of God’s kingdom, here and now.

This Christmas, let us once again welcome in wonder and awe the greatest event of God’s coming into our lives. Together with the whole world let us bow down and adore our savior Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us humbly receive the birth of Jesus in our hearts and resoundingly accept our becoming part of the Christmas wonder.

A most blessed Christmas to all!

THE INCARNATION | A CHRISTMAS REFLECTION BY JOHN YOCUM

Nativity of Christ Icon from ancientanswers.org

While we are still very much into the Christmas season, I would like to share with you a beautiful reflection about the meaning of incarnation–the main event that we celebrate in Christmas.

Our speaker is Brother John Yocum, a brother of  the Servants of the Word. He speaks about the incarnation  – God becoming man – at the brothers’ Christmas Celebration on December 25, 2018. In this talk, John looks at the incarnation through the lens of 1 Corinthians 1:24: “But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Take a listen or click here to download. Merry Christmas!

 

Christmas Day Mass: Jesus, Our True Savior

Photo by Redemptorist Manila

Today we begin the Christmas season. Yes, this is just the beginning of Christmas in the liturgical calendar of the church. All that we have done in the past four weeks, in what we call the Advent season, are just preparations for Christmas.

For many of us, this maybe the climax of a long Christmas celebration which may have began as early as September. Many of us are perhaps exhausted, sleepy and have spent all our money from all the food, drinks and celebration of the past weeks. Despite these, the church invites us, all Christians, to celebrate the deeper mystery of Christmas. The incarnation of Jesus, the main event of Christmas, after all, is not dependent on how much money, material things, food, drinks, external decorations we have now but how much are we open, humble and alive to the promptings of the profound spiritual reality of the coming of Jesus in our lives.

The gospel on this Christmas day, is from the opening of John’s Gospel. There is no mention of Bethlehem, of Mary, of shepherds, or the stable and the manger. Nevertheless, this is a magnificent passage which delves into the deeper meaning of Christmas.

The most quoted text in the gospel is the words:

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14)

Literally in Greek it reads, “the Word became flesh and pitched his tent/tabernacle among us.” These words allude to the tent of meeting (or tabernacle) that was the place of God’s presence among the people during their wandering through the desert in the Exodus (Ex 25:8-9). Now, it it not just the tent/tabernacle but Jesus is God’s presence among human beings.

He came into the world yet “his own” did not accept him (Jn 1:11).  “His own” could be Jesus’ immediate kinship group (Jn 7:1-7; 19:27), or his clan or people.

He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.

Sadly, this pitiable reality has been repeated throughout history. Even if God has already come down to redeem us, yet humanity still looked for another saviour who it perceives can grant its immediate needs. This is also true today. The world has recently become attracted to saviours who promise quick fix solution to the problems of society. Their solutions, however, often involves hating, excluding, ostracising certain groups or race for the sake of the security and comfort of the majority.

Indeed, Jesus is not the typical savior that the world knows. Jesus as savior came not to solve our problems or answer all our questions or fulfill all our personal ambitions or praise all our successes but to reveal all our problems, to challenge all our certainties, to expose us to our vulnerabilities, and to lead us to His Kingdom.  In Christ, God entered the world to overturn our world.  And we are confused and not contented.

How beautiful the world would have been if the Messiah who had come was a superhero, who would wipe out all our enemies and get rid of all evils in this world.  Then our world today is like a paradise, peaceful, prosperous and everyone is happy.

But he is not a God who came to be served but to serve.  He is not a God who lord it over everyone but became the slave of all.  He is not a God who is undependable but a God who is just and compassionate to all. He did not come to the world to lecture us, to scold us, to judge us.  He did not come for the healthy and strong but for the sinners.  He did not tolerate our sins but gave us the strength to rise above our weaknesses and sins.

He entered into our history, identified with our struggles, lived in the midst of our evil world, experienced our fears and anxieties and marveled with our dreams and aspirations.  As Pope Francis, when he visited Tacloban in 2015, said: “We have a Lord who is capable of crying with us, capable of walking with us in the most difficult moments of life”.  He is one of us.  He is indeed Emmanuel, God who is with us!

Jesus is our true savior. Let us not be seduced by fake saviors in our world today. Let us reject all their lies and manipulations. Let us renew our loyalty to Jesus, our true savior.

Only Jesus can liberate us from our particular enslavement. Jesus entered our world to bless it and to liberate us from all form of enslavement whether oppression, hunger, homelessness, addictive habits and substances, fear, anger, resentment, hatred, or loneliness. At the same time, we are called to work together with him, to help others break the chains of their enslavements, so that, in the words of the prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading,

“All the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God”.

A most blessed Christmas to all!

 

Here is the schedule of Christmas Day masses at the Baclaran Shrine (Philippine Time). All Christmas Day masses at the shrine are streamed live. Click this link to watch and listen to the Christmas Day masses at the shrine.

 

 

 

 

Christmas Midnight Mass: The Wonder of Christmas

Tonight’s liturgy and readings of the Nativity of the Lord, Christmas Mass during midnight, is full of contrasting words and images.

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah proclaims,

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone” (Isaiah 9: 1).

These prophetic words from Isaiah truly express the paradoxical challenge of living the spirit of Christmas: Christmas is to see and to walk towards the light amidst the darkness of our lives and our world

The second reading, St. Paul in his letter to Titus, speaks of the two comings of Christ: (1) “the grace of God has appeared,” that is, in the Christ event (and Bethlehem marks the inception of its appearance); (2) “while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory…”

In the Nativity, Christ comes first in great humility in anticipation of his coming again in majesty and great glory. It is especially fitting that this note should be struck at the Midnight Mass of Christmas, for much of the traditional imagery speaks of the Lord’s Second Coming as taking place at midnight. This imagery, for example, is found in the parable of the ten virgins: “At midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom!’” (Mt 25:6).

Lest we sentimentalize Christmas into a “Baby Jesus” cult, we need to remember that it is only in the light of the Second Coming that we can celebrate the first coming.  We are kind of living in-between times. Jesus has already come more than 2,000 years ago but we still await the fullness of his coming when we partake of his glory at the end of time.

Of all the readings, the gospel has the most contrasting images. Christmas is the birth of the king. But the new king wasn’t born in a palace, his birth wasn’t hailed by heralds fanning out to every corner of the empire. Instead, his family were refugees: They couldn’t find room at the inn; Mary gave birth in a stable; and the child had to rest in a manger.

There is darkness in the night, and yet the radiance of  God’s love is in the child. The winter is cold, but the baby brings the fire of God’s love to earth. The baby is so small and helpless; and yet he is the Word, who in the beginning was God and was with God. The humble animals surround the child, but the angels of God sing his birth. The child is poor and lowly in origin, and yet all the power of God is his. The stable is lowly, but it is the king of kings who is born into it.

It is in these contrasts that we can find the wonder of Christmas. Indeed, Christmas is not the eradication of contrast. Christmas is not the absence of conflict. It is not the deleting of differences. On the contrary, it is the acceptance of diversity. It is the welcoming of the other who is unique and different from me. Contrast, is at the core of God’s incarnation: God became fully human without God stripping of God’s divinity and human becoming divine without human stripping of humanity.

The wonder of Christmas is the story of God coming down from heaven and embracing the world and humanity despite all its darkness, messiness, sinfulness, and muddiness.  The wonder of Christmas is God’s becoming human by not resorting to human power, prestige, wealth and fame.

The wonder of Christmas, however, is not just God coming down to become human. The wonder of Christmas is also human going up to God by welcoming God’s word and plan in human life. The greatest joy of Christmas for humanity is this very sublime dignity that God has imparted to all of us through Jesus Christ–the opportunity to partake of God’s divine life and all its qualities–peace, justice, wisdom, joy, unity, generosity and prosperity.

Saint Athanasius, the renowned fourth-century bishop of Alexandria and the greatest apologetic of the doctrine of God as the Trinity, in his classic work, Incarnation of the Word, said that the incarnation of Christ occurred not just in order for God to become human but also for human to become God, Similarly, the Benedictine monk Julian of Vezelay (c. 1080 – 1165) highlights the double movement of the Christmas wonder–God’s becoming human and human becoming divine:

And so from his royal throne the Word of God came to us, humbling himself in order to raise us up, becoming poor to make us rich, and human to make us divine.

It is in this light that Mary’s yes is very important to the Christmas story. Mary’s fiat (yes) is a turning point in the history of the world. The turning point involved the incarnation as God’s coming down from heaven to become human and Mary’s yes which represents humanity’s aspiration of going up to God. Mary’s yes is the prototype of humanity’s yes, or more precisely, Mary’s yes represents humanity’s yes par excellence.

Mary’s yes is replicated by the shepherds who came to worship the baby in the manger and the different characters in the Christmas story that we have heard during the 9 days of Simbang Gabi or Christian academy. They are all part of the wonder of Christmas.

The wonder of Christmas will not be complete with just the birth of Jesus. The response and participation of Mary, John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph, and many other prophets and characters who allowed God to make them an instrument of God’s plan and dream for all humanity and creation, are part of the Christmas wonder. The wonder of Christmas cannot be complete with merely God’s action; it includes and necessarily involves human response and participation.

We can never, therefore, experience the wonder of Christmas if we become passive observer of the great event of incarnation. You are part of the wonder of Christmas. God wants you to be part of the wonder of Christmas. We can be part of the wonder of Christmas not through the baby-cult, admiring the cute baby Jesus on the manger from the outside but not receiving Christ from the inside of our being. The wonder of Christmas is the reception of the Christmas story into our lives and like Mary, John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph, and many other prophets and characters, it is allowing ourselves to become instruments and heralds of the building of God’s kingdom, here and now.

This Christmas, let us once again welcome in wonder and awe the greatest event of God’s coming into our lives. Together with the whole world let us bow down and adore our savior Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us humbly receive the birth of Jesus in our hearts and resoundingly accept our becoming part of the Christmas wonder.

A most blessed Christmas to all!

 

Here is the schedule of Christmas Day masses at the Baclaran Shrine (Philippine Time). All Christmas Day masses at the shrine are streamed live. Click this link to watch and listen to the Christmas Day masses at the shrine.

 

The Nativity of the Lord: Celebrating an Authentic Christmas

One of the most sought after values today is authenticity. In this time of the proliferation of fake news, we long for the truth being systematically concealed from the people. In this time of massive mistrust in most of the traditional institutions and authority, we long for authentic leaders whom we can trust. In this age of so much wealth and economic development we long for true progress for all especially the poor. In this age of digital interconnectedness we long for genuine friendship and connection. In this time of widespread commercialization and materialization of Christmas, we long for the true spirit of Christmas.

I remember a story of Cardinal Chito Tagle, archbishop of Manila when he visited Tacloban in 2013. Tacloban was devastated by supertyphoon Yolanda in November, 2013. Cardinal Tagle went to Tacloban in December, 2013 to sympathize with the typhoon victims, bring relief goods and celebrate mass. Before the mass, he mingled with the people. Trying to come up with the right words to sympathize with the victims, Tagle told one lady, “It must be so hard for you experiencing Christmas after this devastating typhoon.” To Tagle’s surprise, the lady replied, “No Cardinal, on the contrary, for the first time in my life, I truly experienced the spirit of Christmas.  People genuinely helped and cared for each other. Old differences were suddenly forgotten and we have become united. Aren’t those the meaning of Christmas?”

For a moment, Tagle stood there speechless. He was just awed by the lady’s authentic and sincere words.

Every year, Christmas is the wonderful time that each of us experience joy, awe and wonder.  There is no denying the fact that there are so much festivities, cheers and color during the season.  More often than not, however, it is the revelries, material things, personal feats and human pleasures that give us joy, awe and wonder. Missing desperately is Jesus’ birth as an event of cosmic proportions and the profound hope that it brings to humanity. We are no longer awed by the incredible event of Jesus incarnation inasmuch as we are awed by the colorful Christmas lights, the bountiful food, the many gifts we received and the raucous parties we attended.

That is why every year; the church through its liturgies and ministries goes back to the original Christmas story. We need to retell the Christmas story over and over again amidst the drifting away of the world to the original Christmas story. How are we closer to the real Christmas story than in previous years?  Absorbed deeply into the world, we cannot assume that we know the meaning of Christmas already; and this includes the preacher.  We need to embody the meaning of Christmas and not just assume its importance.

Thus, every Christmas is an invitation to a re-enchantment of the incarnation of God. Every Christmas, the church calls us to be amazed again at the wonderful mystery of God’s entry to the human race. By coming into the world, we believe that the world can be changed by God’s activity and God’s love. The world can be a different kind of place—a place of peace and justice, a place of welcome and wonder and a place of mystery and surprise through Jesus our savior.

But Jesus is not the typical savior that the world knows. Jesus as savior came not to solve our problems or answer all our questions or fulfill all our personal ambitions or praise all our successes but to reveal all our problems, to challenge all our certainties, to expose us to our vulnerabilities, to lead us to His Kingdom.  In Christ, God entered the world to overturn our world.  And we are confused and not contented.

How beautiful the world would have been if the Mesiah who had come was a superhero, who would wipe out all our enemies and get rid of all evils in this world.  Then our world today is like paradise, peaceful, prosperous and everyone is happy.

But he is not a God who came to be served but to serve.  He is not a God who lord it over everyone but became the slave of all.  He is not a God who is undependable but a God who is just and compassionate to all. He did not come to the world to lecture us, to scold us, to judge us.  He did not come for the healthy and strong but for the sinners.  He did not tolerate our sins but gave us the strength to rise above our weaknesses and sins.

He entered into our history, identified with our struggles, lived in the midst of our evil world, experienced our fears and anxieties and marveled with our dreams and aspirations.  As Pope Francis during his 2015 visit to the Philippines said: “We have a Lord who is capable of crying with us, capable of walking with us in the most difficult moments of life”.  He is one of us.  He is indeed Emmanuel, God who is with us!

Christ did not come down, however, in order for us to just remain in the mud. Christ immersed himself into the mud of our lives so us to lift us up from our messiest and dirtiest existence so that we can live dignified lives. Thus, Christmas is the refusal to live in darkness and the acceptance of the joy of living in the light.

We remain in the mud when we are not affected anymore by the suffering of our brothers and sisters. When we applaud when there is another round of killings of supposedly addicts and pushers. We have gone so low in despair, that we can accept the evil around us as normal. We have become so low as to accept present system as it is and nothing can’t be done anymore.

We can also get stuck in the mud if it always my joy, my needs, my ambition, my plans, my works, my successes, me as the center of our celebrations.  Unless we take away the center of Christmas on ourselves and return it to Christ we can never experience the real joy of Christmas, its mystery and magic.  And unless we become poor like Jesus we cannot truly understand the meaning of Christmas.  As the Martyr Archbishop Oscar Romero said,

No one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, whose who have no need even of God—for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God-with-us. Without poverty of spirit there can be no abundance of God.

This Christmas, let us once again welcome in wonder and awe the greatest event of God’s coming into our lives. Together with the whole world let us bow down and adore our savior Jesus Christ our Lord.

A blessed Christmas to everyone!