christmas homily
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CHRISTMAS 2011
Exactly 150 years ago, on Christmas, 1861, Mass was celebrated for
the first time in this church. St. Michaels wasnt a cathedral then but anewly-built parish church, and the celebration of the first Mass culminated a
long struggle by the Catholics of Springfield to erect a fitting house of
worship.
That first Mass took place at a time in our nations history when the
outlook was very dark. The country was rent asunder by the Civil War.
Union armies had suffered blistering defeats at Bull Run and Balls Bluff.
Families, here in Springfield, worried about their young men; for already
Springfield had provided two regiments of 1000 soldiers each to the Union
Army. President Lincolns popularity had plummeted. Mills in New England
were laying people off because their supply of cotton from the south had
dried up. Yet, in the midst of all that, the Christmas celebration of St.
Michaels first Mass was a joyful sign of hope.
800 gaslights illuminated the church so that it was literally true that
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The
gaslights illumined the building, but the light of Christ illumined their hearts.
While not as extreme as in 1861, this past year has been dark for
many as well. Natures fury certainly has hammered western
Massachusetts: the blizzards last winter, the storms in the spring, the June
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tornado, the microbursts that followed, the flooding from Hurricane Irene,the earthquakes, and, of course, the October snowstorm that left thousands
without power or light for days. There are homes and businesses still
awaiting repair. There are communities that still must rebuild. In the
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diocese, we are working toward the restoration of Cathedral High School,
St. Michaels Academy Middle School and Pre-school, and the residence
for retired priests. Add to all that a continuing economic crisis and a
political stalemate that seems to have paralyzed government and you have
the makings of what can certainly be considered a dark time.
Still, here we are 150 years after the first Mass, celebrating another
Christmas Mass in this selfsame church and realizing that despite
everything, hope lives.
Why? Because the light of Christ continues to illumine our hearts.
God loved the world so much that he sent us his only Son, and the Son
loved us so much he became one with us, like us in all things but sin. The
child born at Bethlehem was to grow to adulthood and lay down his life that
we might live into eternity. The hope of Christmas is that the world can be
made different because the light of the world was born into it.
Christian faith accepts that at a certain moment in time God in His
love for us stepped into our history, clad in our flesh and blood, in order to
heal our sinfulness and draw us to himself. St John expressed the mystery
in one short sentence: The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
There is always an appealing freshness about the Christmas story.
We never tire of hearing how the infant Jesus lay in swaddling clothes in a
manger at Bethlehem. The shepherds guarding their flocks on the nearby
hillside were filled with awe as the chorus of angels broke the silence of the
night with their joyous song of praise: Glory to God in the highest and
peace to his people on earth. The great feast of the Nativity celebrates the
closeness of God to us, born into our ordinary life. Its a mystery which
stretches our minds beyond their limits, moving us towards that horizon
where time touches eternity. The new-born child is our living link with God.
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We are amazed and surprised that God should come among us in such
humble circumstances, that God should love us so much.
Our celebration of the birth of our Lord is more than a remembrance
of the happenings in Bethlehem on a starry night 2,000 years ago. It is a
reminder that God loves us so much that he sent his only Son among us to
save us, to forgive our sins and to shine light on the way to our heavenly
home. In compassion, he broke the sacred barrier between creature and
creator, by reaching down and presenting himself to us as a child, inspiring
love rather than fear. Since that night, the new-born child is our living link
with God, who is always near to those who welcome him with an open
heart. As heaven comes down to earth, it carries with it timeless blessings
which overcome any darkness.
Christmas focuses not only on what Jesus did by making his home
with us, but on what we must do, as it reveals that we are loved by God as
part of the family.
The consequences of that in our daily living are truly enormous.
Everyone else is part of the family as well. We saw that this past year as
people rallied in a tremendous way to help others who had suffered loss of
house and home, business and school. We surprised each other by an
outpouring of generosity, of helping hands and loving hearts. We stepped
out of our conventional roles and created oases of light in a dark world. In
so doing, we become signs of the hope that arises from the birth of Jesus.
That birth reassures us that God loves us, that he is with us now and
always. His presence within and among us enables us to step beyond our
limited selves again and again and so bring true love to everyone whose
lives we touch not simply at Christmas but throughout the year..
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The stupendous gift of God is a savior to a sinful world: a shepherd to
lost sheep: a light to those in darkness: the healing of God for our wounds:
the side-by-side companionship of God for all of us on the road of life, the
love of God for us all.
Christmas is about love, about giving and about the returning of love
for love. Its the time of year when our hearts are focused in the right place,
when we truly realize that it is more blessed to give than to receive. We are
more alive, more sensitive to the many needs of the poor who are crying
out for our generosity and caring. We are more sensitive to those who find
the going tough, whose lives at this particular time find the shadow of the
cross upon the crib. Because Christmas highlights Gods love for us, it
makes us more mindful of the love we are called to share with others.
But Christmas is more it is the reminder that God-is-with-us every
day. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
And, if God is with us every day, shouldnt we make the reality of
Christmas happen every day? Isnt the fact of Gods love for us something
to share not just once a year, but all the time? Isnt that the lesson we
showed as we rallied to help each other this past year? We met the
Christmas challenge to be signs of hope for others throughout the year.
May that continue! May love of and for Christ reign in our hearts;
may we show it to others not only at Christmas but every day. Merry
Christmas! Feliz Navidad, VE-SO-WEESVI-ONT, Joyeaux Noel, Buon Natale. I
wish I could say it in every tongue. For Christ shows his love anew today
Christ is alive, Christ is here, Christ is with you. And he wants you with him
forever and ever. Amen.
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