We have come together in this Cathedral of St. Mirin’s, Paisley, to celebrate Christmas Midnight Mass for the feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, born of Mary. Along with the parish clergy, I am very pleased to welcome you all, parishioners and visitors, to the Cathedral which, as you see, is undergoing a process of repair and redecoration which will enhance its worthiness as the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Paisley and at Easter time you will see the Cathedral once again in its splendour.
Christmas is a feast which forever marks the history of mankind. In a sermon for Christmas, Pope St. Leo the Great back in the fifth century remarked that everyone should share in the joy of Christmas. Saints rejoice as they see their Saviour born; sinners rejoice as they recognise the offer of forgiveness; and even pagans rejoice because they are summed to new life, which would be a bold thing to say today since so many unbelievers are proud of their unbelief, but we must say it and we do say it. Jesus Christ is born for all mankind.
And, isn’t it true, no matter what is happening in the world round about us or in our own lives, with Christmas comes a gracious sense of wonder and joy and peace and hope which can surely be only adequately explained by the fact that Mary’s child is the Incarnate Son of God? And so our hearts thrill to the poetry of the prophet: “For there is a child born for us, a son given to us and dominion is laid on his shoulders; and this is the name they give him: Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
And is it not true too that each year, we celebrate Christmas sensing that this feast is not just the anniversary of the birth of Jesus but is something more? Christmas is an invitation to renew our faith in the Incarnation of God’s Son and to celebrate the mystery which tells us that in Jesus God has come among us as one of us and dwells with us.
In fact, the Gospel addresses each one of us, assuring us that “Today in the town of David a saviour has been born for us; he is Christ the Lord.” The word “today” in the angel’s message is important for us, indeed essential, for in that word “today” is contained the mystery of Christmas: in Jesus, God has become man and God remains man. For us who believe, the celebration of Christmas renews our certainty that God is really present with us, still man, still flesh, and not only far away in heaven. Though he is also with the Father, He remains close to us. And here is the wonder of Christmas – in that Child born in Bethlehem, God drew near to us: we can encounter him now, in a “today” which knows no ending.
I think this is so important for all of us and for the people of our age. People nowadays are so enclosed in their own world with its own laws that they find it increasingly more difficult to open their horizons and to enter the world of God. The feast of Christmas goes beyond these self-imposed limitations, assuring us that God really did become man and that God remains man and is totally committed to his creatures. The mystery of Christmas assures us that the Eternal entered once for all into the limits of time and space; in the Christmas mystery, Infinity became infancy, so that in the child born of Mary, in Jesus, we could encounter our God and Saviour “today”.
“And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” My dear brothers and sisters, God did not enter the world as prince or as a conqueror as a mighty hero. He came as a baby in the silence of the night. And when the baby grew to adulthood and the man Jesus fulfilled his destiny as a Saviour, he did not impose it with at the head of an irresistible force nor with a display of divine power, but he was subject to his captors and suffered cruelly, died on the cross and rose again on the third day in the silence of the early morning. I find this instructive: We sometimes fret about God’s silence and about God’s powerlessness in today’s world. But the mystery of the Incarnation shows that that God’s love triumphs not by a great display of force which compels the minds and hearts of men, but by a divine graciousness which invites people to respond in faith and in freedom to Jesus Christ, born of Mary, the Incarnate Son of God. And that is what we must do until, as St. Paul tells us, “the Appearing of the glory of our great God and saviour Jesus Christ.”
So, what I want you take away from this Midnight Mass is this. When we hear the Christmas message “Today a Saviour has been born for us”, this is not simply poetic language; it is not merely religious rhetoric; it is not simply a consoling pious thought, far less is it a sentimental one. Rather, we are at the heart of the Christian mystery: God Incarnate, Jesus born of Mary, offers us today, now, to me, to each one of us, the possibility of acknowledging and receiving him like the shepherds in Bethlehem. And this is real for us in our time and in our lives, and becomes really and sacramentally true for us at this Mass when the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection is made present for us in this Mass and when we receive the body of Christ, of Jesus the Incarnate Son, born of Mary, in Holy Communion.
On this day, Christmas Day, the greeting “Happy Christmas”, “Merry Christmas”, will be on the lips of all of us. We will greet one another, exchange gifts, sit down to Christmas dinner, and enjoy Christmas cheer. To you and your families, I wish a truly Christian celebration of Christmas. I hope and pray that our exchange of greetings and gifts will be expressions of the joy of knowing that God is near and wants to accompany us along life’s journey. May God bless you all this Christmas!
St. Mirin’s Cathedral, Paisley
Christmas Day, 25th December 2011