Mass at Dawn, Christmas 2009

LUKE 2:15-20
WE TRY SO HARD TO MAKE CHRISTMAS LIKE IT USED TO BE. MOST OF US FIRST BECAME AWARE OF CHRISTMAS IN THE TRADITIONS OF OUR OWN FAMILIES. EACH YEAR AS CHILDREN WE WOULD REMEMBER THE LAST CHRISTMAS, AND WE GRADUALLY BEGAN TO NOTICE WHAT WAS DIFFERENT THIS YEAR, AND WHAT WAS THE SAME. WHEN I WAS LITTLE, WE USED A LOT OF TINSEL EVERY YEAR. WE DON'T ANYMORE IN MY HOUSE. BUT TINSEL WAS THIN STRIPS OF SOME KIND OF FLEXIBLE METAL, PROBABLY LEAD BASED, THAT WAS DRAPED OVER THE TREE AFTER ALL THE ORNAMENTS AND LIGHTS WERE HUNG. AFTER CHRISTMAS, MY MOTHER WOULD TAKE IT DOWN AND CAREFULLY PACK IT AWAY, AND WE WOULD BE PICKING UP STRAY PIECES OF TINSEL FOR A MONTH OR TWO. DESPITE ALL HER CARE, WE USUALLY HAD TO BUY MORE THE NEXT YEAR, BECAUSE SOMEHOW IT GOT TANGLED INTO A MESS WHILE HIDDEN AWAY.
ONE YEAR, WHEN I WAS ABOUT 10, MY MOTHER DECIDED WE WOULD NOT PUT TINSEL ON THE TREE. MY SISTER AND I WAILED AND MOANED AND FINALLY SHE RELENTED. SHE MADE US HANG THE TINSEL AND PUT IT AWAY, SO THE NEXT YEAR WE DIDN'T PROTEST AS MUCH.
WHEN JOAN AND I MARRIED AND HAD CHILDREN, WE BEGAN TO BLEND THE TRADITIONS OF OUR TWO FAMILIES, AND NOW WE SEE OUR MARRIED DAUGHTERS DOING THE SAME. THE AIM FOR ALL OF THIS EFFORT IS TO KEEP SOMETHING ABOUT THE SEASON, THE MORE, THE BETTER, CONSTANT DOWN THROUGH THE YEARS. WE LIKE THE WAY CHRISTMAS REMINDS US OF THE DAYS WHEN WE WERE LITTLE AND IT WAS A MAGICAL SEASON.
AND IT'S IRONIC; WE LOVE THE UNCHANGEABLE NATURE OF THE CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION. WE REVEL IN THE SAME OLD ORNAMENTS, THE SAME GIFT-OPENING TRADITIONS, THE SAME EGGNOG – ALL THOSE RITUALS – BUT WE ARE REALLY CELEBRATING THE MOMENT IN ALL OF HISTORY WHEN THINGS CHANGED FOREVER. GOD BROKE INTO TIME AND SPACE. GOD BECAME MAN, SO MAN COULD SHARE GOD'S LIFE. AND NOTHING WOULD EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.
THERE ARE LEGENDS SURROUNDING THE BIRTHS OF OTHER GREAT MEN AND WOMEN DOWN THROUGH THE AGES. THEIR BIRTHS ARE PROPHESIED, AS WAS CHRIST'S. SOMETIMES COMETS OR STRANGE STARS OR OTHER COSMIC PHENOMENA SIGNALED THE BIRTH, AS THE STAR DID CHRIST'S. NATURE BEHAVED IN UNUSUAL WAYS. AND IT WASN'T UNUSUAL FOR UNEARTHLY SPIRITS TO ANNOUNCE THE BIRTH OF THE GREAT ONE. BUT HERE IS WHERE JESUS' BIRTH CHANGED EVERYTHING. HEAVENLY BEINGS DID ANNOUNCE HIS BIRTH, BUT TO SHEPHERDS, NOT NOBLEMEN OR KINGS. SHEPHERDS. PROBABLY NOBODY CARED WHETHER THEY REGISTERED FOR THE CENSUS AT ALL, WHICH IS WHY THEY WERE OUT IN THE FIELDS. AFTER ALL, THEY MOVED AROUND A GREAT DEAL, THEY HAD NO MONEY OR PROPERTY SO COULDN'T BE TAXED; THEY WERE ALWAYS RITUALLY UNCLEAN, SINCE YOU REALLY COULDN'T KEEP THE LAW WHEN YOUR SCHEDULE DEPENDED ON SHEEP, AND WHEN YOU HAD TO GROOM THEM AND CLEAN THEM EVERY DAY. AND THE SHEPHERDS PROBABLY DIDN'T CARE ANYWAY. IF THEY THOUGHT ABOUT IT AT ALL, THEY FIGURED THEY DIDN'T HAVE A CHANCE AT SALVATION, BECAUSE IF YOU BELIEVED THE PRIESTS AND THE PHARISEES, YOU HAD TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME DOING THE THINGS THAT MADE YOU HOLY, AND THE PROOF THAT YOU WERE LOVED BY GOD WAS THAT YOU WERE RICH AND LIVED IN A FINE HOUSE. AND THESE WERE THE FIRST WITNESSES OF THE MOST DISRUPTIVE CHANGE, THE GREATEST CHANGE, IN ALL OF HISTORY. THE WORLD HAD BEEN TURNED UPSIDE DOWN. THE POOR HAD THE GOOD NEWS PREACHED TO THEM.
AND THEY WENT DOWN TO SEE FOR THEMSELVES. AND AS THEY DREW NEAR LOVE ITSELF, LOVE CHANGED THEM; THEY KNELT BEFORE A BABY, A BABY WHO LOOKED LIKE ANY OTHER BABY, AND ALTHOUGH THEY WERE ROUGH AND UNEDUCATED, EVEN THEIR INSENSITIVE SOULS FELT THE BURNING PRESENCE OF GOD WHO BROKE INTO THE WORLD, THE FIRE AT THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE. THE UNIMAGINABLE PRESENCE THAT BROUGHT EVERYTHING INTO BEING, THAT HELD THE WORLD TOGETHER, WAS THERE IN THE BABY. LOVE WAS THERE.
AND THEY WERE CHANGED. ALL WE KNOW IS THAT THEY LEFT GLORIFYING GOD AND PRAISING HIM, AND THEY WERE SO CHANGED BY THEIR APPROACH TO LOVE IN PERSON THAT SOMEHOW THE WORDS THEY SPOKE TO OTHERS DID NOT BRING ABOUT RIDICULE, DID NOT FALL ON DEAF EARS, BUT ASTONISHED THOSE WHO LISTENED TO THEM. AND SOME OF THOSE WHO LISTENED, WHO HAD BEEN CHANGED BY THE SHEPHERDS' WORDS BECAUSE THEY TOO COULD SENSE THAT LOVE HAD DONE SOMETHING TO THESE MEN, AND WAITED TO DO SOMETHING TO THEM AS WELL. LOVE IS LIKE THE FLAME ON A CANDLE, WHICH CAN GIVE ITSELF AWAY INDEFINITELY, AND NEVER BE DIMINISHED.
SO TODAY I'M GOING TO GO HOME AND DIVE INTO THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT. THERE WILL BE GRANDCHILDREN WHO ARE WAITING ANXIOUSLY TO OPEN THEIR PRESENTS. AND I LOOK FORWARD AS WELL; EVERY NEW TIE WILL BE A SURPRISE. AND WE'LL SING A FEW OLD CAROLS, AND PLAY CHRISTMAS MUSIC ALL DAY, AND DRINK SOME EGGNOG AND EAT A VERY SPECIAL SUPPER, SOME DISHES WHICH ARE LIKE THOSE OF MY CHILDHOOD AND AND SOME LIKE THOSE OF JOAN'S, AND WE MIGHT REMINISCE ABOUT CHRISTMASES IN THE PAST AND TRY TO CONVEY OUR OWN WONDER TO OUR GRANDCHILDREN, WHO ARE STORING UP THEIR OWN MEMORIES.
BUT THE MOST WONDERFUL PART OF CHRISTMAS, THE PART THAT HAS BEEN CARRIED FORWARD FROM THAT MOMENT IN A LITTLE TOWN IN A FAR CORNER OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, WILL BE THAT MOMENT WHEN WE APPROACH BETHLEHEM, THE HOUSE OF BREAD, AND WE SEE AND TAKE INTO OURSELVES THE PERSON IN THE MANGER, LOVE WHO GIVES HIMSELF FOR FOOD IN THE FORM OF BREAD AND WINE. AND IF WE ONLY LET OUR SOULS SEE AND FEEL, WE WILL BE LIKE THOSE SHEPHERDS, WE WILL FEEL THE LOVE WHICH HAS BROKEN THROUGH OUR WORLD AND CHANGED IT FOREVER, AND GOD WILLING, WE WILL LET IT CHANGE US AND SET US ON FIRE.
CHRISTMAS, THE REAL UNCHANGEABLE PART OF CHRISTMAS, COMES EVERY DAY, EVERY WEEK, AT EVERY MASS, WHEN WE REMEMBER THAT MOMENT WHEN LOVE BROKE INTO THE WORLD, AND STILL DOES, AND STILL FEEDS US, AND STILL CHANGES US.
THE CHURCH IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS IS ILL. FEWER AND FEWER YOUNG COUPLES RECEIVE THE HOLY SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY TO BEGIN THEIR LIVES TOGETHER. IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT MUCH TO THEM. FEWER AND FEWER CATHOLICS BOTHER TO ATTEND SUNDAY MASS. FEWER AND FEWER YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN CATCH ON FIRE AND DEVOTE THEMSELVES TO GOD AND HIS CHURCH. AND CHURCHES ARE BOARDED UP, AND PARISHES ARE CONSOLIDATED, AND THE DECLINE CONTINUES. AND THERE IS ONLY ONE ANSWER – DRAW NEAR TO LOVE-- IT IS RIGHT HERE, JUST AS TRULY AS IT WAS IN BETHLEHEM. AND CATCH ON FIRE, AND TELL OTHERS, AND SPREAD THE FIRE ANEW, LIKE THOSE SHEPHERDS ON THE HILLSIDES ON THAT STARRY NIGHT WHEN THINGS CHANGED FOREVER.