Christmas Day, 2008

JOHN 1:1-18
IF YOU HAD COME TO MASS YESTERDAY, OR AT MIDNIGHT, YOU WOULD HAVE HEARD THOSE FAMILIAR GOSPELS; THE STORY OF JOSEPH THE JUST MAN, WHO TOOK MARY INTO HIS HOME AFTER AN ANGEL CAME TO HIM IN A DREAM. THE STORY OF BETHLEHEM, THE MANGER, THE SHEPHERDS, THE CHORUS OF ANGELS. BUT THE CHURCH HAS ANOTHER STORY ABOUT THE COMING OF JESUS, AND WE LISTENED TO THAT STORY IN THIS GOSPEL. “IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD. ALL THINGS COME INTO BEING THROUGH HIM; HE IS LIFE, HE IS LIGHT, AND HE CHOOSES TO DWELL WITH US.
THAT GOSPEL USED TO BE READ AT THE END OF EVERY MASS IN THE DAYS WHEN I WAS AN ALTAR BOY, AND I LIKED THE POETRY OF THE GOSPEL SO MUCH THAT I USED TO BE ABLE TO RECITE IT FROM MEMORY.
AND THERE IS ONE LINE: “THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, BUT THE DARKNESS DID NOT OVERCOME IT.” WHAT THAT USED TO MEAN TO ME WAS THAT THE LIGHT WOULD TRIUMPH, THE DARKNESS WOULD VANISH AND BE NO MORE. BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT THE TEXT SAYS. THE DARKNESS REMAINS, BUT CANNOT OVERCOME THE LIGHT.
IMAGINE BEING IN A ROOM, AS BIG AS A FOOTBALL FIELD, WITHOUT WINDOWS, A ROOM WHERE THE DOOR SEALS OUT EVERY RAY OF LIGHT FROM OUTSIDE. YOU ARE IN THIS DARKNESS. YOU CAN'T SEE ANYTHING, NO SHADOWS, NO MOVEMENT. IF YOU'VE EVER BEEN IN THIS KIND OF DARKNESS, YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. YOU LOSE TRACK OF THE PASSAGE OF TIME; YOU BEGIN TO LISTEN TO YOUR OWN BREATHING. SOMETIMES YOU HAVE A FEELING OF PANIC. YOU ARE DISORIENTED, AND IN YOUR ANXIETY AND DISORIENTATION, YOU CAN THINK OF NOTHING BUT YOURSELF. WHAT WILL BECOME OF ME IN THE DARKNESS?
AND THEN SOMEONE LIGHTS A CANDLE – NOT A BIG CANDLE, JUST A LITTLE ONE. AND BECAUSE OF THAT LIGHT, EVERYTHING CHANGES. YOU STILL CAN'T SEE VERY FAR INTO THE DARKNESS; THE LIGHT FROM THE CANDLE ISN'T THAT BRIGHT. BUT NOW YOU CAN SEE THAT THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE IN THE ROOM. YOU CAN SEE THE EXPRESSIONS ON THEIR FACES; YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU TALK, THEY WILL ANSWER. YOU CAN COME TO KNOW THEM BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE THEM, EVEN IF ONLY A LITTLE BIT, AND YOUR ALONE-NESS BECOMES LESS LONELY.
AND YOU CAN EVEN COME TO KNOW THE FLAME OF THE CANDLE, THE SOURCE OF THE LIGHT WHICH ILLUMINATES YOU AND THE OTHERS IN THE ROOM.
BUT THE DARKNESS DOES NOT GO AWAY; WHEN YOU TURN YOUR EYES AWAY FROM THE CANDLE, YOU SEE THAT THE DARKNESS IS STILL THERE.
THIS, I THINK, IS THE IDEA THAT JOHN IS DESCRIBING. A LIGHT, YES, BUT NOT ONE WHICH ILLUMINATES EVERY CORNER OF THE ROOM; A LIGHT THAT IS FAINT AND TENTATIVE, JUST ENOUGH SO THAT WE CAN SEE A LITTLE, ENOUGH SO THAT WE CAN SEE THAT WE ARE NOT ALONE, THAT WE ARE BROTHERS AND SISTERS, THAT IN SOME WAY, THE ONE LIGHT TIES US TOGETHER. THE LIGHT CANNOT BE SNUFFED OUT BY THE DARKNESS, BUT THE DARKNESS REMAINS, IT LIVES ON THE EDGES IN A SORT OF A TENSION WITH THE LIGHT. IN THIS VERY LARGE ROOM, IF YOU CHOSE, YOU COULD EVEN WALK AWAY FROM THE LIGHT BACK INTO TOTAL DARKNESS, DARKNESS WHERE YOU WERE AWARE ONLY OF YOURSELF, WHERE YOU WERE AGAIN ALONE; BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH THE LIGHT COMES TO HIS PEOPLE, NOT ALL ACCEPT THE LIGHT. THERE ARE SOME WHO STILL PREFER TO LIVE ONLY FOR THEMSELVES.
PERHAPS YOU KNOW OF SOMEONE, OR PERHAPS YOU ARE SOMEONE, WHO LONGS FOR THE COMPANY OF OTHER PEOPLE. IT'S SO TRUE OF MANY SENIOR CITIZENS, WHO SPEND MOST OF THEIR TIME BY THEMSELVES. IF YOU WERE TO WALK THROUGH A HOSPITAL OR A JAIL OR A NURSING HOME, YOU WOULD FIND SOME WHO HAVE NO VISITORS, NO ONE WHO COMES TO SEE THEM. THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE WHO LONG FOR THE PRESENCE OF SOMEONE ELSE, AND THIS FEELING BECOMES SO MUCH STRONGER AROUND CHRISTMAS. BUT WE ALL ARE LONELY SPIRITUALLY.
EVEN WHEN WE ARE SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE, OVERWHELMED BY FAMILY, THERE IS A PART OF US THAT IS STILL ALONE, A PART THAT SITS ALONE IN THE DARKNESS, IN THE SPIRITUAL DARKNESS THAT BEGAN WHEN OUR FIRST PARENTS CHOSE TO DISOBEY GOD AND LEAVE HIS PRESENCE.
AND THAT IS WHY THE WORD COMES TO DWELL WITH US, OR AS IT SAYS IN ANOTHER TRANSLATION, TO PITCH HIS TENT WITH US. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE DARKNESS AND LONELINESS ON THIS SIDE OF THE GRAVE, SOME DAYS MORE, SOME DAYS LESS. BUT THE WORD WHICH COMES TO US AND BECOMES THE LIGHT, GIVES US REASON TO HOPE. THE LIGHT REVEALS THAT WE ARE NEVER ALONE, AND THROUGH THE LIGHT WE CAN RELIEVE THE LONELINESS OF EACH OTHER, IF ONLY PARTLY, IF ONLY FOR A LITTLE WHILE.
BUT THE LIGHT CANNOT BE SNUFFED OUT, THE DARKNESS CANNOT OVERCOME IT.
TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE LIGHT THAT COMES INTO THE WORLD, THE LIGHT THAT REVEALS US TO OURSELVES, REVEALS OTHERS, REVEALS ITSELF; THE LIGHT THAT IS THE SOURCE OF HEAT AND WARMTH AND REVELATION.
SO THE STORIES OF CHRISTMAS ARE WONDERFUL, THEY FIRE OUR IMAGINATIONS, AS WE FEEL JOSEPH'S PAIN WHEN HE BELIEVES HIS MARY HAS BETRAYED HIM; AS WE ACCOMPANY THE HOLY COUPLE LOOKING FOR SOMEPLACE WARM AND OUT OF THE WIND WHERE THE BABY CAN BE BORN. WE SEE THE REVERENCE OF THE SHEPHERDS, AND WE IMAGINE THAT EVEN THE DUMB BEASTS WORSHIP THE CHILD. WE WATCH THE WISE MEN AS THE ANGEL TELLS THEM TO RETURN BY A DIFFERENT ROUTE, RATHER THAN REPORT BACK TO KING HEROD. THESE IMAGES OF CHRISTMAS ARE ALMOST MAGICAL IN THE PICTURES THEY INVOKE, THE MEMORIES OF PAST CHRISTMASES THEY CALL UP.
BUT JOHN REMINDS US THAT THE REAL MIRACLE IS A LIGHT, A HEAVENLY LIGHT WHICH ENTERS OUR DARKNESS, BRINGING LIFE AND HOPE AND WARMTH AND CONNECTION WITH EACH OTHER. AND THAT IS WHAT WE NEED TO CARRY INTO THE NEW YEAR – THE CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE THAT THE LIGHT ACCOMPANIES US NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, THE LIGHT THAT NO DARKNESS CAN OVERCOME.