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"Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime." – Martin Luther King Jr.

At this special time of year, we have books to inspire and delight you. Accompany your little ones 'On the Road to Emmaus' or through 'Via Lucis: The Way of the Light'. Or perhaps, reflect with Fr Michael on the Gospel resurrection narratives in 'Alive'.

Christmas: Midnight Mass

Christmas: Midnight Mass

Posted: Sat, 25 Dec 2021 00:37

Christmas: Midnight Mass

Tonight, we gather to begin our Christmas season, as we remember the actual birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The danger is, if we are not careful, that Christmas began in November as we have been told again and again that we must make this Christmas the one 'to savour' according to the supermarket, Sainsbury's. We have come here tonight to honour Jesus Christ as our real saviour. Tesco tells us that, after problems of this past year, 'nothing is stopping us now'; however, even in the depth of the lockdown when we felt so lonely and socially isolated, 'nothing can separate us from the love of God' (Eph 1:3). The bargain retailer, Aldi have brought back their popular 'Kevin the Carrot' who plays the 'Bob Cratchit' character in their take on the ever popular 'Christmas Carol': 'Scrooge', lovingly played by a banana, teams up with the real-life campaigning footballer, Marcus Rashford to provide nearly two million Christmas meals to those experiencing real poverty this Christmas. At the other end of the social, and cost, scale the popular Marks & Spenser advertisement shows what happens when their store closes down for the night. Their popular Percy the Pig comes to life with the cheeky fairy, voiced by Dawn French; now I realise she is loved for being the 'Vicar of Dibley' but we must question her assertion that 'Christmas IS M&S food isn't it? Tonight, we are here to affirm that we can really have an amazing Christmas with or without the iconic M&S. Christmas IS basking in the total and unconditional love of God. As we gaze into our crib tonight, we can see the eternal beauty of the Christmas message.

In case you are concerned that our special mass tonight is being sponsored by the powerful agents of consumerism, we are invited tonight to place the glitz and glamour of the advertising agencies into the context of the crib. The alien in the John Lewis advert is welcomed and experiences the wonder of giving, love and appreciation. We are invited to share the little we have with the 'stranger, the widow and the orphan'—in biblical times, the ones who were at the bottom of the social scale, the ones who could never pay you back. What we have witnessed over these past few weeks on our televisions has, in a strange way, prepared us for this night.

Tonight we are gathered with our families and friends to share the gift of who we are. This night further blesses the world, created in goodness by a loving God. This night beckons us to see the real meaning of the feast, to see beyond the sparkling lights, heaving tables, silly jumpers, and the Eastenders' Christmas special. Tonight, is a call to return to the simplicity of that first wonderful Christmas and meet a family in crisis. Tonight, we remember those millions in similar crisis—they too are far from home, they too are poor and without a proper home, they too welcome others into the simplicity of a crib in a land and a time far from us.

The stable of Bethlehem helps to imagine how Mary and Joseph were the first people to see and hold the Son of God. The first visitors to the stable were shepherds, humble people who take care of the animals who lived around the stable. They heard heavenly music from the angels who came to announce the holy birth of the Christ Child. How different was our birth in time! Most of us were born in hospitals or maybe at home with midwives—there was safety and security. The whole Christmas story involves people taking risks: from young Mary responding to an Angel, Joseph agreeing to be a loving husband, and strangers from the East following a star. When baby Jesus was born in the dark and cold night, he was laid in the manger – a feed trough for donkeys, cattle, and sheep. Poor people from the area followed the angel voices which led them to the manger. It must have been a strange and wondrous sight – shepherd folk visiting the One who one day would call Himself 'The Good Shepherd.'

These past twenty months have made us aware of just how fragile our world is: pre-pandemic we could hop on a plane and be whisked off to a hot paradise with the minimum of fuss. Now that same trip involves deep consideration, planning and thought for the safety of others, and the care of the planet. We have a duty of care for our planet that was entrusted to us, not to spoil and exploit, but to look after as good landlords—what legacy are we handing on to the next generation? Jesus came into the chaos of Palestine in the first century Roman occupation. Tonight, we remind ourselves that He is still with us, in the mess and chaos of Covid-19, and a planet that is dying unless we do something positive. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk, helps our meditation this night, as we pray for those who are still on edge, being ignored:

Into this world, this demented inn, in which there is absolutely no room for him at all, Christ comes uninvited. But because he cannot be at home in it, because he is out of place in it, and yet he must be in it, his place is with those others for whom there is no room. His place is with those who do not belong, who are rejected by power because they are regarded as weak, those who are discredited, who are denied the status of persons, tortured, exterminated. With those for whom there is no room, Christ is present in this world. He is mysteriously present in those for whom there seems to be nothing but the world at its worst. ('The Time of the End is the Time of No Room')

Go to the crib here in Church tonight, better still place a crib on your Christmas table: show the cynics that this is sacred time and that you are walking on holy ground. See beyond the messages of these adverts, see beyond the robins and snowy Dickensian scenes on your Christmas cards. Show that there is room in your homes and hearts for Jesus this Christmas. Please enjoy this sacred season and make sure that Christmas is celebrated until twelfth night: you do not have to dance to Asda's tune, but a little bit of the 'Bollero' never hurt anyone. We do not need Jenna Coleman's 'Mary Poppins' bag to provide magnificent and extravagant gifts, but something small, even from Boots, shows that you actually do care. Never, ever discredit genuine generosity: there are people who enjoy giving with no ulterior motives, or expectation of anything in return.

Perhaps this year, we are invited to see beyond pandemic to the greatness that is all around us. As the great Jesuit poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins reminds us as we walk forward together:

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
('God's Grandeur')

From all of us in Don Bosco Publication and Salesian Link, I wish you the happiest of Christmas—May the joy of the Christ-child be yours always.

God grant you lightness in your step,
A smile on every face you meet,
Loved ones gathered at your hearth,
And at your door, good friends to greet
A holy hymn upon your lips,
A window candle burning bright
And may the Good Lord bless your heart
And come to dwell here Christmas night.
(Irish blessing)

Author: Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB

Photo: Walter Chávez on Unsplash

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