THE NEWS OF GREAT JOY

HOMILY FOR THE MIDNIGHT MASS OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

When it comes to family matters, everybody knows that the birth of a child is no childish matter! The entry of the new-born baby into the world will have an impact upon every member of the family in one way or another. Not only will the child wield some influence upon his or her parents and siblings through his individual needs, desires and demands, his character, temperament and disposition, his challenges, difficulties and accomplishments, but the child himself will also absorb some of the virtues and prejudices, talents and wisdom, culture and tradition of the wider family. 

Tonight, families of the world come together to focus upon the birth of the wondrous Child, Jesus the Christ. This is the night of contrasts when, according to the prophet Isaiah (First Reading: Is. 9:1-7), the people that walked in darkness saw a great light, and when the people who lived in sorrow and distress experienced great joy. Here, Isaiah is speaking of ‘darkness’ in the context of the experience of anguish and destruction as a direct result of the deportation of the Israelites from their homeland in the Northern kingdom. Foreigners were deliberately brought in to resettle the area. Although the Israelites were going through a horrendous experience at the time, Isaiah prophesied that the situation would not last for ever, and that the People of God would see a great light and experience great joy. How come? Because it was this land, this country and culture of the Israelites, that would ultimately produce the Saviour of the whole world. Tonight, the Saviour is born for us. He is the Christ, the Lord; and, as St. Paul wrote to Titus (Second Reading: Titus 2:11-14), the grace of God in Jesus has been revealed to the world to make possible salvation for the whole human race! Salvation is freely available to everyone – including you and me, if we choose to opt in – because sin and death have been overcome by Our Lord Jesus. The birth of the Holy Child marks the beginning of our redemption from sin and death. 

Have you ever wondered why the Lord was born in Bethlehem? The name ‘Beth-le-hem’ in Hebrew means ‘house of bread’. Bethlehem was (and is) a town associated with food. Our Lord was born in the ‘house of bread’ specifically to counteract the original sin of the human race’s first parents who took and ate of the fruit of good and evil (Gen. 3:6). Our Lord was laid in a manger to indicate that He gives us Himself to eat. Our Lord gives us Himself to eat whenever the food of the Eucharist - His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity - is confected for us in the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass. Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Messiah, comes to replace the carnal insatiability of mankind with souls longing constantly for God. St. Augustine knew that feeling so well when he said, “my soul is restless until it finds its rest in Thee”. How well each and every one of us knows that feeling.

When a child is born, he can see a bit, but his visual powers are not yet fully developed and he can’t discern much. He cannot yet make sense of what his eyes are telling him. It must be rather like being in the dark. The experience of Christmas is rather like that for us: initially we may be surrounded by the darkness of secular life. This darkness might be due to lost hopes, individual pressures, family problems or social politics. However, to continue with the analogy, within the experience of darkness, the child will still be born and alive. Neither the decree of Caesar Augustus nor the hostile situation that surrounded the birth of Jesus (cf. The Gospel: Luke 2:1-14) could prevent history from taking its course and prevent Him from being born; correspondingly, neither the events and politics of the world, nor our individual experiences, can hinder the birth of the Babe, the God-Man, in our midst and in our hearts. 

We ought to imitate the example of those shepherds in Bethlehem, who went out into the darkness of the night to meet the brightness of the new-born King. Their vigil at the manger caused the glory of God to shine on them. They were given the news of great joy by the angel, news to be shared by all. This is the news of great joy which is given to each one of us today: the Messiah has been born. He is here! Nothing can hinder God’s will. The New Adam – the Christ- has taken human flesh in order to restore the sanctity of the First Adam. The New Eve – Mary - has by her fiat and obedience corrected the gullibility and disobedience of the First Eve. The Word, Who spoke creation from nothing, took flesh in the Incarnation. God, who has the power to make man out of dust, has made Himself subject to human powers by taking flesh.

I’d like to share with you some more words of St. Augustine of Hippo, this time from one of his sermons on Christmas Day: “For your sake, God has become man. Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man. You would have suffered eternal death, had He not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had He not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for His mercy. You would never have returned to life, had He not shared your death. You would have been lost if He had not hastened to your aid. You would have perished, had He not come.” 

Dear friends, Christmas, being the feast of children, speaks directly to the child within us, to our ‘inner child’. Tonight, by His birth, each and every of us is freed from our personal fears and prejudices, and from our personal sorrow and distress. Tonight, by His birth, hostile situations, mundane politics and ideologies will no longer victimize us and will no longer prevent us from giving birth to goodness, mercy, peace and joy. Tonight, with Jesus, we aspire to renewed sanctity and holiness. Tonight, like the Infant Jesus, we possess once more a childlike innocence and hope. Let us, then, invite this child within us, our ‘inner child’, to absorb the virtues of the Infant Jesus, to be on our guard against prejudice, so that we may influence the world around us with our talents, wisdom and selflessness. “Let it glow, let it glow, let it glow!” It is Christmas! May I wish you all the compliments of the Season. God bless you.