Vigil and Midnight Mass

Nativitas D.N.I.C.

Vigil &Midnight Mass

 24-25 December 2019

 [Announce genuflection at Creed]

 When a woman is blessed to find out that she is pregnant one of the first things she and her husband learn is the expected due date for the child.  Much focus and planning goes into this due date so that the couple can be prepared for all the things they can expect with the arrival of a child.  The couple will announce a child is on the way.  They will prepare a room in their house and furnish it with things the baby will need.  They will have a shower and begin to collect clothing and items for the baby’s well-being.  They will pick a name.  There are so many things that can be expected and predicted surrounding the arrival of a child.

 However, any parent would tell you that those things you can expect about the arrival of a baby basically carry you as far as the birth date, and no further, because after the baby arrives … you have no idea what might happen next!  A whole series of things you can’t predict or expect await you once the child sees the light of day.  The child’s appearance, the sleeping habits, the early signs of its unique personality traits, its disposition, its likes and dislikes… these things you cannot expect or predict.  And beyond infancy, the child has an entire life still to be lived and you have no idea where it might go and what it might bring: the good and the bad, the joys and the sorrows, the triumphs and the defeats.  With the arrival of a child, you can plan for what you can expect but there is so much, much more that you cannot expect.

In the holy season of expectation that is Advent we have heard of and considered in prayer and worship the mysterious prophecies of the promised Messiah, the anointed one, called Christ.  But biblical prophecy also spoke of the coming of God Himself.  The first reading [of the Mass at Night] is an example of a prophecy about the Messiah that begins to take on more than expected.  Listening to the promise of the child born from David’s throne one gets the distinct sense that something more is going on than the promises associated with the Messiah who would be a king-priest.  One begins to hear something more, something divine.  The Prophet Isaiah said that this child to be born would be called “God-Hero and Father-Forever.”  There is something more going on in this prophecy.  This is important to note in order to catch something in the Christmas Gospel in the message of the angel to the shepherds.  The angel tells the shepherds that the one who is born is a savior who is “Christ and Lord.”  ‘Christ’ is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew word ‘Messiah.’  It means the Anointed One.  The word used over and over in the Scriptures to refer to God is what we have in English as ‘Lord.’  Notice the angel’s message to the shepherds.  The angel indicates the birth of Jesus fulfills both prophecies in one because the angel says that the savior born is both Christ AND Lord!  Our unique Christian contribution is that Jesus fulfills the prophecies of the Messiah, the Christ, and that he fulfills the promises that God Himself would come into this world and to His people.  I suggest that the angel’s message is a signal to the shepherds and to all of us to whom Jesus came to save that tells us that Jesus fulfills our hopes and expectations, but also that he does still more… he fulfills more than we dare to hope!  Like the birth of a child, we can predict and expect many things; yet, there is still so much more beyond our expectations.  The message that a savior has been born in the city of David points to the expected Messiah.  Yet, the comment that he is Christ and Lord points to so much more.  Jesus arrives in fulfillment of so many messianic expectations; yet, he is still more.  He is Lord.  He is God.  The arrival of God is so much more than one dared to hope in the stillness of a Bethlehem night.  God’s glory shone round the angel as he made the announcement to the shepherds.  Their natural reaction to God’s breaking into their time was fear.  Yet the angel reminds them to not be afraid and speaks to them of peace.

 The birth of Jesus fulfills certain expectations.  Perhaps that is why we come on a day like this.  We expect this day and come to celebrate a special birthday.  But a birth brings so much more than can be expected, so much more that carries you beyond the due date itself.  Maybe that is the part that should keep us coming back here well after today to draw near to Jesus who first came near to us in history at his birth and who comes near to us at each Holy Mass.  The shepherds learned that the arrival of Jesus was more than they might have expected or even dared to hope in the midst of their night watch.  Might that be our focal point for a spiritual lesson this Christmas?  What do we dare not to even hope for from God?  God wants to fulfill the promises that his Kingdom will be firm and last forever and that His anointed one will lead His people in right relationship with God.  But He also wants entrance into what we dare not hope, where we still live in darkness and gloom and where unrest, burdens, and lack of peace still rule our hearts and minds.

 Discover and name the parts of your life – your family, your job, your struggles and sins, your joys and sorrows – those places where you dare not expect or hope that God can be present to do the unexpected for you.  Be not afraid to let the glory of God do the unexpected.  To permit Jesus entrance into all the expected and unexpected areas of our lives is what can keep, to borrow words of the second reading, the grace of God appearing in us well beyond Christmas Day.  I proclaim to you good news of great joy; a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord!