25 Dec 25, Christmas Dawn / Morning
Isaiah 62,11-12; Psalm 96; Titus 3,4-7; Luke 2,5-20
It’s Christmas! Aside from one’s own birthday, this is probably a child’s most anticipated day, as it is a day of receiving gifts. The heart pounds with joy over receiving Christmas presents, and the exuberance compounds as one discovers more of the features of those mechanical toys, electronic gadgets, activity sets, etc. There is joy in the heart!
The joy of welcoming Christ at Christmas should likewise exponentially multiply as we grow in faith and realize what Jesus came for. The shepherds were amazed to see the child Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem, just as the angels had told them. In a manger, a feeding trough for animals: Yes, Jesus came to feed us. In Bethlehem, the ‘house of bread’: Yes, Jesus is the bread of life that nourishes us. The infant Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes. His first clothes were the last piece of clothing used to wrap the dead for burial. Yes, at birth, there was already an indication that Jesus was to die for us so we may not succumb to eternal death.
How do we keep the spirit of Christmas, the growing excitement, and the ever-increasing discoveries and realizations of who and what Jesus really means to us? Mary points the way. Hearing the stories of how the shepherds were alerted by the angels, she kept everything in her heart, pondering, reflecting, and compounding her initial yes to God’s holy will until she finds herself at the foot of the Cross of her beloved Son three decades later.
Yes, joy grows exponentially when we let Jesus settle in our hearts!
Pope Leo exhorts us, “Let the tenderness of the Child Jesus illuminate our lives and make our hearts attentive and vigilant, so that His Loving presence may become the treasure of our lives and hearts forever.”
Now, as we celebrate Christmas, we come to this ‘Liturgical House of Bread’ to be nourished by the “Bread of Life.” For the One who is food for us, the One Who teaches us to ask the Father to give us our Daily Bread, and the One who died for us is the One who is born for us so that we may live and be reborn into everlasting life.
Today we praise God for this most incredible mystery, for the most wonderful of all His gifts, for a baby, for Love Incarnate, for Jesus Christ – born for us so we may be well nourished, so that our sins may be forgiven, and so that we may live forever.
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God bless us always.
Fr Gerard Jonas
