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(25th December) Homily for Christmas, the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord

Read: (Isa 9:2-4, 6-7; Tit 2:11-14; Lk 2: 1-14)

REFLECT: Christmas – a call to be merciful, faithful and joyful…

Dear friends, today we celebrate the birthday of Jesus, our Savior, the Word made Flesh…We all of us know what is Christmas? It is the birth of Jesus, it is incarnation (God becoming human for love of us), the first and best of all love. I would add that It is not merely a birth of Jesus. It is rather ‘Immanuel-Event,” an event of God-being-with-us and a time of God-dwelling with us, in us, for us, through us. That’s what we find in the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew (His name shall be called ‘Immanuel’ ‘God-with-us’) (Matt 1:23) and at the end of the Gospel “I am with you always, to the end of ages (matt 28:20). Therefore, Christmas is purely God pitching his tent among us to lift us up from the pit of destruction and darkness to the well-spring of life and light. Today the Lord has set his eye upon us, have we opened our eyes to see him close? Today the Lord has set his heart to pour forth his love, have we set our heart to receive him? It is the appointed time of God that we open eyes to see the reality of God’s love, to open our hearts receive the love of God and to repay God by loving each and every one in the world.

Some of us must have watched movie by name “ant-Man” 2015, an American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name: Scott Lang and Hank Pym. It is a media and technology based movie, which really mesmerizes by the fact, how a hero tries to save the world from danger by shrinking himself in a small scale like an ant but invincible and great in strength and power. The villain was obsessed with the idea of ant-man suit and wished to use it for his own purpose or to give it to the terrorist group. But however the hero tries to save the world from the misuse of the technology of ant-man suit by a man who seeks to militarize the ant-man technology (Pym- Hero and Darren Cross- Villain). This is just a movie based on technology and media. But there is a story of a rich man who became an ant to save the ant-family in the ant-hill.

There is a story of a farmer and an ant-hill. The Rich farmer was living near a farm house. He was merciful, faithful and joyful person indeed. He used to render help to all those in need and approached him for help. But he always treasured, loved and visited the ant-hill everyday without fail which was near the farm house. One day it so happened that he overhears from the Government officials discussing a plan and project for a fly over, near the farm house where the ant-hill was. The rich man felt so bad, became so restless, and he wanted somehow to help the ants to be safe and secure. So the Rich man everyday whispered to the little ants telling them to quit the place or to go some other place, where they can be held safe and secure otherwise they will be all dead. Whatever the way he tried to communicate was in vain, because the ants did not understand the language, signs and symbols that the rich man spoke. Ultimately the Rich man prays to God to make him an ant so that he could communicate the message of fly-over project and save the little ants and save the ant-family from destruction and losing lives. God was well-pleased, merciful and gracious, heard his plea, the man became an ant and saved the entire ant family.

Yes! This is what Jesus did too. Time and again God send his messengers, prophets, saints to communicate the message of God to people to live a holy and happy life. But nobody paid heed to him, ultimately it was Jesus the Son of God who took a human form to save the human family from destruction and peril.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen very clearly states what it like was for God to be born a man on earth. He says, if we are dog-lovers we empty ourselves of our bodies, take our minds and put it into the body of a dog. This would involve definitely first of all, the humiliation of having a mind which far transcended your organism. One might have mind which could scan the stars but we would follow only the instinct of a dog. You could speak but you could only bark. The other humiliation would be to spend the rest of your life with dogs- sick and tired of hydrants. Then at the end, they turn on you and tear into pieces. If it would be hard for us to become a dog, to teach dogs to be good, what was it for God to become a man, humbling himself, making himself a zero to make us all hero, making himself completely empty, so that we are fully filled with the grace of God. Yes! That is what we celebrate today, God becoming a human to make us all the true image of God, in which we were one’s made. Therefore, how can we get back to our original form and nature that God has created us to be. There are three important of getting back to our original form and nature with God. I would like to share them to you…

1.     A time to be merciful

God has shown mercy on this world by sending his only son on earth in a human nature like ours. The mercy of God can never be measured.  God has been infinitely merciful to the world time and again. It is true indeed that God is merciful to all but in a special way he is merciful towards the sinners, poor people, for they are weak and feeble, they are in need of grace and strength. The love of God was such that he has given the privilege and pleasure to the shepherd to see Christ.

The shepherds were poor, look after the sheep, take the sheep on the road to happiness, green pasture, lays down life for the sheep, is always walks at the forefront of the sheep as a model and leader. That’s why perhaps Pope Francis says, “The shepherds were the first to see this “tent”, to receive the news of Jesus’ birth. They were the first because they were among the last, the outcast. They were the first because they were awake, keeping watch in the night, guarding their flocks.”

God has proved what it means to be merciful, that is what we find in many of the scriptural verses, but I would like to mention a few;

Matt 5:7 Blessed are the merciful and God will be merciful to you; Matt 9:13, I Desire mercy and not Sacrifice; Lk 6: 36, “Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.” Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need; Psalms 145:9 The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Furthermore, this year is an added joy to all of us for Pope Francis has declared this year 2015-16 as an extra-ordinary Jubilee year of Mercy. It is an opportunity to place the sacrament of God’s mercy - which is the sacrament of penance and reconciliation - into the central pastoral life for the Church.” The pope has asked the door of Mercy to be opened in every church of the diocese. It is a time for all of us to open the door of our hearts, so that the mercy of God rest upon each one of us and that we may lavishly and magnanimously show the mercy of God to all people.

2.     A call to be Faithful

The year Oct 11 2012-13 Nov 24 was declared as the year of Faith by Pope Benedict XVI. The Year of Faith Year of Faith was an opportunity for every Catholic to turn towards Jesus Christ, encounter him in the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and rediscover the Faith and Church. Let our faithfulness to God just not remain with the year of faith that ended rather throughout our lives we are called to be faithful to God for the grace that he has bestowed on us lavishly. God has shown His everlasting faithfulness by giving his only son as a ransom for us all.

We find the assuring words in the following scriptural verses;

Psalms 36:5 Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds; 1 Cor 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the  fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; 2 Thes 3:3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against  the evil one; 2 Tim 2:13 if we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny himself.

Therefore, let us be faithful to God on this day and the days to come, so that our faithfulness will make us vibrant and authentic witnesses, faithfulness will assist us to increase our faith in God and in others, so that our faithfulness to God may establish a relationship that is ever closely bonded together as a Father, Mother and children.

3.     A call to be Joyful

We hear in Phil 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice.” Yes! Today is the day of rejoicing. For we have a new born baby Jesus to born into our hearts, to take complete possession of us, to take us all to the Father by whom we were created and in whose likeness were we made.

Dear friends, If a child is born in a family, the parents are happy, the relatives and neighbors are happy and they rejoice in it. Today too a child is born; a child to the entire human family, our rejoicing should be much more than ever. Because, this child Jesus is come not to live for himself but for us, this child Jesus has come not to bring violence and tension but warmth and love, peace and joy, this child Jesus is come into the world not to make us worldly oriented people but God-oriented people. This child Jesus has not entered this world with fear and trembling, knowing the fact that he would be taken into task of persecution and death rather with joy, joy unending, joy unfathomable, joy that can never be equivalent to the things of the world. That’s what we find in Jn 3:16 “God so loved the world….”

It is a time of joy because the shadow of darkness has   been vanished and the light has dawned in and through Jesus Christ. That’s what we have heard from the First reading, “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and the Lord has multiplied the nation, and has increased its joy.” Therefore, as in 1 Thess 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” we need to rejoice in God, through Jesus Christ, the baby come to save us all.

As Pope Francis in Evangeli Gaudium, speaks of a joy ever new, a joy which is shared. He calls every Christian to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ or allow Jesus to encounter you personally. No one is excluded from such privilege and joy of experiencing and encountering Christ. The lord does not disappoint those who take this risk, whenever we take small step towards Jesus, we realize that He is already there for us waiting and wanting to help. Today, the Lord has taken thousands of miles to reach our homeland to dwell with us and to make us participate in the joy the Lord has prepared. So let us be joyful; joyful in celebrating the birth of Christ, joyful in sharing his message, joyful in experiencing his love for us.

This shall be our tribute to Jesus who has descended from heaven to earth. For God has never been unkind and merciless, God was never been faithless to us God has never sorrowful for the fact that he had to lose his only son as a ransom for our redemption. Therefore Christmas is a time to be Merciful to God and to others, Faithful to God and to one another and Joyful messengers of God sharing the message of Joy to others. Let’s pray that God’s mercy encompasses entire human race that we begin to show mercy and be merciful to one another and ourselves. Let’s pray that the Faithfulness of God instilled in each of us that we may increase our faith in Jesus Christ and live our lives faithfully. Lets pray that Joy and peace of Christ envelope entire humanity, so that the Joy of Christ birth we may share it with others, to be joyful and carry around the joy of Christ who have not experienced and encountered him, that we may become the source of their joy through the joy of the Gospel.

RESPOND:

Are we merciful to others as God is always merciful to us?

Are we faithful to God as he is always faithful to us?

Are we joyful by the birth of Jesus and share our joy with others?

Let us pray that we become merciful, faithful and joyful in our lives and experience God’s blessing though Jesus’ incarnation in our lives. Amen.

May Baby Jesus bless us all. Happy Christmas! Live Jesus!