Fr. Michael Silloway
Homily for the
Solemnity of the Nativity
24 December 2012
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Enkindle in them the fire your love. Send forth your spirit and they shall be
created and you shall renew the face of the earth.
There is a song that is sung leading up to these days of Christmas
joy: It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Christmas has personally always been my favorite time of the
year. There’s just something about it;
families travel crazy distances to be with one another. The excitement of children over what will be
under the tree. A time to splurge in
caloric indulgence. We rejoice. We celebrate.
Even the cosmos echo the celebration. Think about it: how appropriate is it that
right after the shortest day of the year (Dec. 21, the Winter Solstice), that
Jesus Christ is born, the Light of the World.
When the Earth is at its darkest, when it seems the darkness is
conquering the day, BAM! In comes the true light, the light that the darkness
cannot overcome.
Yet our experience of Christmas and its wonder down here in metro
Atlanta doesn’t exactly line up with the words of that holiday song. Much of the Northeast and Midwest are being
pounded with snow, cancelling flights and snarling holiday traffic; but besides
a freak winter storm once every other decade, we don’t get the chance to go
caroling out in the snow. In fact, in my
20 Christmases here in Georgia, it’s rained for at least half of them. Not good caroling weather.
I don’t know of many families who set aside marshmallows for
roasting, and no one has ever come up to me and said “BE OF GOOD CHEER!”
So perhaps the lyrics of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
don’t apply so readily down here in a Southern Christmas.
But there are two Christmas songs in particular that no matter
where you are, or where you’re from, will ring out with true Christmas
spirit. They happen to by my two
favorite Christmas songs, and when I think of the nativity scene that our
Gospel from Luke portrays, these two songs hit the nail on the head, and will
hopefully speak something to our hearts about this simple yet profound, this
solemn and utterly joyful event.
Silent Night and O Holy Night
Silent Night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin mother and child, holy
infant so tender and mild. Sleep in
heavenly peace.
It’s a lullaby. How
perfect. And at the same time how
strange. “Silent night?” Why silent? Have you ever thought about how
strange it is that when the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the savior who,
as God, bears divine and immense power, when he is born into the world, we sing
a lullaby.
How strange, but yet how perfect.
God’s plan of salvation involved him sending his Son to be like us
in all things but sin. Only one like us
could undo the original disobedience of Adam and Eve. And only one like God had the power to do
it. So here we have the baby savior,
being cradled right up to the heart of his mother. He is God almighty and Lord of Hosts, the One
whose hands made the universe, yet he humbled himself so much that his chubby
little baby arms can’t even touch the snouts of the cattle that surround his
manger.
The silence and stillness of the nativity urge us to slow
down. Silence can be unnerving. The lack of distractions makes us listen to
our inmost thoughts and feelings. We
become open to really experience what’s happening around us.
No quick movements: you’ll wake the baby! No loud noises, no sudden jolts or
sounds. Just watch the baby. Have you ever watched a baby sleep? It is
holy. It does something to you to watch
a baby sleep. The innocence, the purity,
the hopefulness. Your heart goes out to
them.
Imagine Mary rocking her newborn to sleep. Imagine the stillness and peacefullness. You moms out there know the feeling; that
feeling of holding your baby. And it
doesn’t go away…it never goes away. Even
when your baby is 25 years old, something burns within as you hold your baby. There is a mystery of love so real that words
fail to give it adequate description.
There is a love there that cannot be put into words. Silent night.
Holy Night.
And as the silence and serenity of this sacred moment washes over
us, we hear the soothing melody of O Holy Night, a truly stirring Christmas
song that plunges us into the depth of meaning and importance of this tender
moment.
O Holy
Night, the stars are brightly shining.
It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.
The scene is set. It’s a
nice night. The stars are out.
Long lay
the world in sin and error pining, till he appeared and the soul felt its
worth.
From the fall onward to this moment, sin has reigned in the
world. Without the light we stumble in
the darkness, without the truth, we fall into all kinds of error. Nothing makes sense in a world without
truth. But then came Jesus, the Way, the
Truth, and the Life. He gives meaning to
our lives. Loving him and following him
are the way to true happiness. The soul
feels its worth because it is resting in the hands of the One who created it!
A thrill
of hope the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
When you work extra long hours and your brain is fried and you see
there’s only 10 minutes left before you can bolt out the door, you get a thrill
of hope. This day will end!
When you’ve wandered long through the desert of life, lost,
parched, famished, tired, beat and emotionally spent, and you finally see relief,
your wearied world rejoices. I’m going
to make it out alive!
When you’ve been trapped in sin for days, weeks, or years, and you hear
the good news that Jesus Christ can and will set you free, then you rejoice.
Fall on
your knees! O hear the angel
voices! O Night divine! O night when Christ was born. O night, o Holy Night! O night divine!
The music takes on a stark and serious character. There’s a sudden gravity as we’re told to
drop down to our knees in adoration before this baby. He’s no normal baby. This is the Son of God. This is the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of the world. The wood of the cross
he will mount for us is foreshadowed in the wood of his manger-crib. He is born in Bethlehem, the city foretold to
be the place where the King would be born, the city whose name literally
translates “House of Bread”. And in this
divine bakery is a manger, an eating trough for the beasts, and in this eating
trough is placed the one who will proclaim himself the Bread of Life and who
will tell us in the Gospel that his flesh is true food and his blood is true
drink, and that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we will not have life within us.
The angels cry out that the savior has come! Emmanuel, God-with-us is born. A child has been born for us, a Son has been
given. Glory to God in the highest and
on earth peace to people of good will!
This is where we get the Gloria
that we sing on Sundays—we’re singing the song of the angels as they praise God
for sending his Son. We JOIN THE
ANGELS! I love being Catholic!
Do we see God’s mysterious plan of salvation unfolding right in
front of us? Do you see what God is
doing? Jesus himself is the bread that
came down from heaven, the food that nourishes us, the daily bread we pray for
each time we recite the Our Father. Blessed
John Paul II, on his last Christmas before he died, said that “on this Holy
Night, adoration of the Child Jesus becomes Eucharistic
adoration.”
To look upon the baby Jesus is to see the lengths God will go to
show us his love. From the very first
moment of his existence, he is given for us.
His life was not his own. He
sacrificed for us. Every beat of his
heart says “I am here for you.”
You’ve probably heard that every Mass is a little Easter. Well, it’s also a little Christmas. The Holy Spirit makes Jesus Christ truly
present in the Eucharist. We sing him
songs, we cry out with the angels, we sit in silence to speak to him heart to
heart.
As individuals and as families, take this Christmas as an
opportunity to slow down, to make room for silence and stillness. Let your heart take in the depths of Divine
Love, of this Silent Night, of this Holy Night.
As Jesus Christ came to be our forgiveness, offer the gift of
forgiveness to someone who has wronged you.
Perhaps make a New Years’ resolution to sit with Jesus in the Eucharist
for a little time each week. Or recommit
yourself to ridding your life of a sin or vice that has long plagued you.
Christmas reveals how simple a relationship
with God is and how powerful simplicity is.
He came as a baby, just like you and I did. Do not be afraid to hold and cherish this
precious child. Do not be afraid to fall
to your knees and to give him everything.
It is through him and him alone that you will find this to be
absolutely, without doubt, the most wonderful time of the year.
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
Merry Christmas!
