|
 |
|
Homilies are posted no later than during the week
prior to the Sunday they are needed |
|
Christmas
|
Christmas Day - Cycle C
John 1:1-18
The story is told of a young lay missionary carefully picking her way through
the killing fields of Rwanda. She met a boy whom she knew to be Catholic.
Shortly before he had witnessed his parents, brothers, and sisters being hacked
to death by rampaging terrorists. He told her he no longer believed Jesus is
God. Though she suspected the reason, she asked why. He replied, "If Jesus is
God, he should be able to do the things that God does. God made the trees and
the trees make other trees. God made elephants and the elephants make other
elephants. Now if Jesus is God, he should be able to make other Jesuses. Yet I
have never seen another Jesus."
This Christmas the best gift we might give the Christ and this disillusioned
boy as well as our family and friends is to become "another Jesus." You and I
should not merely be Christian and Catholic. Rather, we should be Christ
figures. Perhaps we may have forgotten to put this item on our Christmas list.
Why not do so this very instant?Last minute gifts it is said are oftentimes the
best and most prized.
What would happen if we do not choose this way to go? We unhappily would lay
ourselves open to a serious indictment this Christmas. People examining our
Christian lives would be forced to agree with the wordsmith who declared that
many of the dead are still walking about. And, if we are not afraid of the
truth, most of us would have to place ourselves among them.
The Trappist Thomas Merton puts the case for a fresh understanding of Christmas
this way. "Christ is born to us today so that He may appear to the whole world
through us. This one day is the day of His birth, but every day of our mortal
lives must be His manifestation." That unhappy boy in Rwanda would heartily
agree. So too would that young lay missionary. So would all of us after even
brief reflection on this Christmas day.
George Orwell summed up the thoughts of Charles Dickens on this season in ten
words. "If men would behave decently, the world would be decent." Is there
anyone of us who would dispute Orwell's judgment? Mr Dickens you will recall
wrote "A Christmas Carol" in 1843. There he argued a self-cleansing of the
heart of each of us is the only genuine way to change the world about us. His
exact words were, "I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all
year..."
Christmas does not merely tell a story about a Jewish Infant. Rather it points
to an adult Man named Jesus who proved to be most singular. He not only changed
the small country about Him but also He possesses the capacity to change us.
Through Him, we can cease being selfish people and become noble individuals
ourselves.
It could be, said one preacher, that the only Jesus we ever envision is the
Babe in the manger. But the Babe became a challenging Man. He is much too large
for a manger. And, if you attempt to squeeze Him back into it, all you will
receive for your efforts will be powerfully painful splinters in both hands. In
fact, He is larger than life itself.
Accept Him then as He is - the Lord. Allow Him to turn your life inside out and
upside down.
You may feel that your contribution to the commonweal is so Lilliputian as not
to count. If so, listen to this ancient story. A warrior was coming down a road
on a mighty mount. Everyone got out of his way. He came upon a sparrow lying on
his back with his feet up in the air. Demanded the warrior, "What are you
doing, you silly twit?" The sparrow replied, "I was told the sky was going to
fall down and I am attempting to hold it up." The warrior laughed and laughed
till the tears ran down his scarred face. He shouted, "Even if the sky were to
fall down, what help would you be with those thin little legs?" The sparrow,
completely nonplussed, said softly, "You do what you can."
Have we not been told often that no one of us can do everything, but each one
can do something? Today is the day for you to begin. Do what you can. And
notice the difference in yourself and others. I share with you a greeting a
friend sent to me: "Carols to sing slightly off key, a family found in easy
laughter, and instant replay ever after."
|
|
http://www.st.ignatius.net/pastor.html
Christmas
|
Christmas: He Enters Our World To Draw Us Into His Presence.
We gather in prayer on Christmas day to celebrate the center event of God's
creation.This is the Christ event.All creation leads to Jesus Christ.All
creation takes its meaning from Jesus Christ.The Christ event begins with the
Nativity of the Lord, Christmas, and concludes with His sharing His Spirit and
the Spirit of the Father on Pentecost.
We have gathered to celebrate Jesus Christ.He enters into our world to draw us
into His Presence.
The great promise to the people that God chose to be His own, the ancient
Hebrew people, was that He would be their God and they would be His people.
There are many places in the Hebrew scriptures where God renews this promise.
The one passage most of us know so well is in Isaiah 7 when the prophettells
the King about the transformation of the world: "A virgin shall conceive and
bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, a name that means God is with us."
The second part of Isaiah speaks about the coming of Emmanuel as a time of
peace. I am sure you also know this passage from Isaiah 40 very well, Handel
framed it beautifully in his Christmas oratorio, The Messiah.
Comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to herthat her warfare is ended, that her
iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all
her sins.
A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in
the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;the
uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it
together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your
voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear
not;say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"
The Christian Scriptures speak over and over about the fulfillment of these
promises in Jesus Christ.The Gospel of Matthew ends with Jesus telling us:
"Know that I am with you always until the end of time."
And shepherds and Kings, and pagans and Jews are drawn into the Presence, the
Presence in Bethlehem.And, we, whether we be rich or poor by the world's
standards, whether we be weak or powerful by the world's standards, we are
drawn into His Presence.
We are drawn into His Presence, and are drawn away from all that rejects His
Presence.We are separated from the emptiness of a world that rejects God.We are
called away.We are called to holiness; for to be holy is to be separate for the
Lord.
And yes, you and I can be holy.We can be His People.The Divine Presence that
gives meaning to our lives also gives us the power, the courage, the strength
to walk away, to run away from the vacuum that so much of society has been
sucked into, that I, that perhaps you, have often been sucked into.For when I
choose to live for myself, when you choose to live for yourselves, we choose
lives void of meaning, empty lives. But when I choose to live for others, when
you choose to put others before yourselves, we choose lives that reflect the
Presence of Love Incarnate, the Presence of Jesus Christ.We choose lives that
are full, full of the Love of the Lord, full of meaning.
He gives us the power to step into His world, to leap into His world.He gives
us the power to be holy.
Recently, a member of our parish of no small means told me that he wanted to go
to Africa.I, with one foot still firmly planted in the world, asked him if he
wanted to go on a Safari or just tour the many beautiful places of this
continent.He responded, "No, Father, I want to go to Darfur or someplace where
I can help the dying children."
I thought he wanted to go to Jerusalem.But he wanted to go to Bethlehem.
Whether there are angels calling shepherds or a star appearing to Kings, or
reports of people in dire need a continent away or in the house next door, or
in our own homes, we are called to step away from our comforts and step into
the Presence of the Lord.Christ identifies with those who are suffering."I was
hungry, or thirsty, a stranger, or naked, sick orimprisoned."We are called to
him.We are called to holiness.
Who is it in our families who need special care?Is it an elderly relative,
sick, impatient, quarrelsome, helpless?Is it a husband or wife, brother or
sister who is unsettled with life, and who dives into one disastrous experience
after another?Is it a teen with difficult challenges or a child with special
needs?They are there.Every family has members calling out to the rest for help,
calling others into holiness.
Who is it in our parish who draw us to sacrifice and to service?Is it the women
who come to our pregnancy center, the young who come to our school,religious
education and youth ministry, the poor who come to community life, the sick and
bereaved who come to Caritas, the community who calls us to share our talents
in music ministry and other liturgical ministries?There are many who are
calling us to be stewards of the treasures of our parish, calling us into
holiness.
Who is it in the world who call us to care, to sacrifice, to love? The poor,
the sick, the suffering are all calling us into holiness.
St. Francis of Assisi understood the message of the manger clearer than
most.The world had little compassion for a young girl in labor.She was offered
a spot in a stable, with the animals.There was no semblance of royalty about
the scene, other than the royalty at its center.That was sufficient.The King of
Kings was born into poverty to draw us away from the riches of the world and
into His Presence.Francis saw this birth as a call to holiness, a call away
from the world's riches and a call to the wealth of the Lord.It was, of course,
St. Francis who constructed the first nativity scene.
And so we greet one another today by saying "Merry Christmas."Be merry,
celebrate the birth of the Lord.Be joyful, not just because a baby was born
2,000 years ago, but because God has entered into our world to draw us into His
Presence.
Merry Christmas, Be Joyful, for we have been chosen by the Son of God to be
holy.
|
|
http://www.geocities.com/seapadre_1999/
* available in Spanish - see Spanish homilies
Christmas
|
|
|
http://www.agreeley.com/homilies.html
Christmas
|
|
|
http://www.saintvincentarchabbey.org/homilies/index.lasso
Christmas
|
|
|
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/lowhome.html
Meeting Christ in the Liturgy
Christmas
|
|
|
http://www.ctk-thornbury.org.uk/
Christmas
|
|
|
Father Bonar will not be posting homilies for Cycle B to allow himself time for
other projects. His collection of homilies (including homilies for Cycle B) is
available at www.clydebonar.com.
Christmas |
|
|
|
|
These homilies may be copied and adapted for
your own use;
however, they may not be commercially published without permission of the
author.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
