Homily for CHRISTMAS VIGIL, Esmeraldas by Fr. Stan Gumula 24 December 2020
Isaiah 9:1-6; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14
Blessed Christmas, my sisters and brothers. Blessed Christmas from the monjas de la Esperanza to each one of you and to all your families.
We began our celebration singing:
In the middle of the silence, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son of the Father, full of love and truth.
In the middle of the silence. What a beautiful image, my sisters and brothers. What a fascinating image for the coming of the Word made flesh. In the middle of the silence. Jesus comes to us without any great fanfare. Jesus comes to us as we are. Jesus comes to us where we are. Jesus comes to us quietly, right in the midst of our activities. All during Advent we have been thirsting and longing for his coming. We have cried out, we have stretched out our hands and our arms. We have pleaded that God might come to save us. We have sung with pathos that the heavens might rain down a Savior, that the clouds might shower the Just One upon us. We have repeated again and again, Come. Maranatha.
And lo, here he is. Lo, he is here, right in our midst. In the middle of the silence. Let us not miss him, my dear sisters and brothers. He is here as a new born infant. He is here in the vulnerability of a tiny baby. And he is here in the weakness of a sister or brother, the sister who drives us crazy with her obsessions, the brother who frustrates us with his insensitivity. Jesus is here.
In the middle of the silence and the commonplace, in the middle of all we plan and all we do and all we are. That is where we can find him. Hidden right here in our midst, hidden in plain sight. Hidden in our own weaknesses and vulnerabilities, hidden in the longing of our hearts to give ourselves fully to his love and his faithfulness. Let us open our eyes to this deifying light, let us listen with astonished ears to the cries he utters for our love and our faithfulness.
My sisters and brothers, what better Christmas present is there than to embrace the love which comes to us in the middle of the silence?