24 December 2024 – Christmas Eve (Year C)

by Fr Joachim Robert

Dear friends,

As we come to celebrate the Lord’s Nativity today, we began with a time of preparation, acknowledging that we need God in our lives. And as we reflected in areas of our lives that we need to pay attention, areas of our lives that we need to take stock, areas of our lives that we need to focus, and as we reflected in those moments, I am not sure what went through your minds. But that is an attempt to see how sometimes we have been distant from God, giving in to so many distractions that is around us that robs us away from God, robs away from what is important.

And this whole celebration of the Lord’s Nativity, the simple act of coming to light the candle and place Jesus in the manger is a sign of what we celebrate today. A celebration of God’s love for humanity. It may seem simple, it may seem insignificant, it may seem that this is just a story that happened 2000 years ago.

But the church continues to revisit, to remember and to reenact the whole journey of salvation history again and again and again, every year, so that we as a community come close to the centrality of what God has done for us. A centrality of God’s love – God becoming Man to dwell among us so that we can be saved.

If we take a look at the First Reading of today, from the Prophet Isaiah, we see that it was a community filled with darkness, filled with darkness, filled with so many situations that they were only able to see gloominess and helpless and hopeless situation. 

And very often, dear friends, we may feel that God is distant from us. God is too far away from us, God perhaps do not listen to our prayers and God perhaps doesn’t care for us. But in those moments of that, Prophet Isaiah he says:
The people that walk in darkness has seen a great light. And those who live in the land of deep shadow, a light has shone.

And that, dear friends, gives us reason to hope because God was never, never distant from us. God was indeed close to us but we were blinded from being able to see the closeness of God in our lives. And this also can happen to people whom are very close to us – our family, our loved ones, our community. People whom we care about.

And very often, dear friends, it is easy to go and help others. But when we take a deep look at our own self and our own families, sometimes we do not even speak to one another because of disagreements, disillusionment, perhaps our sense of frustration. And if we do not check those darkness or the areas of darkness in our lives, then we can continue to drift, drift away from where God wants of us.

But in that whole situation, dear friends, the story of the incarnation brings us a new perspective. 

As you look at the Gospel of today, we see that Mary and Joseph goes to find an inn to place Jesus and to allow Jesus to be born. But there was never an inn because they were full. And very often, dear friends, we do not make space for one another. We do not allow ourselves to be emptied of all the busyness and set our priorities in the right place. And when we don’t do or put our priorities in the right place, then gradually we see that our life will be filled with busyness, things that we are often occupied with but not occupied with what God wants of us.

But today’s simple story of Christmas invites us to see how God through the Annunciation was able to make that announcement through Angel Gabriel and to announce to Mary that she was to have a child. And we see, dear friends, how God become close to her. In her own problems, in her own situation, God becomes close to the family so that they are able to find hope.

And as they journeyed through the whole country of Judea leading to Bethlehem, they knew that the journey that they took was never easy. It was filled with challenges, was filled with obstacles but they persevered, trusting in God’s accompaniment, trusting that God will never, never abandon them.

And the story that we celebrate today, dear friends, the story of God’s closeness to us, must reawaken in us of that deep desire of what God wants of us. A deep desire to remain close to us even though when we are distant from Him. And very often we may feel that we seek, we find, we search for God.

But today’s simple story of the incarnation invites us to acknowledge that God looks for us. God searches for us with our own brokenness, God searches for us in our own limitations and in the imperfection of all that you see today in the crib. God chooses to allow His grace, His perfect love to make a home in the manger.

And as we look at our own lives, our whole journey, our own families, our families may be imperfect in many, many, many different ways. Our communities too can be imperfect in so many different ways but the invitation of Christmas is that God wants to remain close to us, God wants to come to close to us and be part of our journey, part of our history. And how Mary and Joseph comes to this awareness is by not being afraid and to be obedient.

And here we see, dear friends, of how Jesus becomes a hope for Mary and Joseph. And it also brings up that whole history of salvation – people who are waiting in darkness have seen a great light.

And that message of salvation leads us to find hope in this Jesus who wants to be part of our lives.

But are we ready?

Are we ready to allow Him to enter into our lives and make a dwelling there?

And as I mentioned, the crib is so full of imperfection but that is where God chose to make a dwelling, a dwelling place of love so that we can have hope in Him.

And as we look at the image of Mary, Mary when she gave birth to Jesus, she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger. And that wrapping of that swaddling clothes and being focused on Jesus, Mary pondered what was happening, what has indeed happened in her whole journey of life. And when she was able to acknowledge the life that she has given birth to comes from God, she comes with a deeper appreciation of God’s plan in her life.

And I am sure, dear friends, many of you are mothers. And when you know that a child has been born, that that child has a special place in your heart, all through the gestation period, all through the pregnancy, you carry those burdens, you carry those duty of parenthood with you. And after carrying it for nine months, you find that the fruit of your labour is being born.

And that is how whenever we get in touch with situations and the lives of another, when we get in touch with problems and issues of our families, and if we bring Jesus into those circumstances and those situations of life, then Jesus become the centre of our hope, Jesus become the centre of our lives, Jesus become our everything.

And today, when we are able to proclaim that Jesus has been born as expressed in the Responsorial Psalm:
Today a Saviour has been born to us, He is Christ the Lord.

And that is a message of proclamation that God gives us today, that our lives has been blessed by God, our lives has been favoured by God, our lives has opened itself to that graciousness of God. Because when we lead to Him, dear friends, when we move towards Him, Jesus breaks open the channels of His mercy to flow in our lives, in the same way of how Jesus allowed that simple imperfect manger to be a place of comfort, a place of God’s dwelling, a place where God makes His hope known to humanity.

And as you can see in the Gospel as well, Mary and Joseph saw the child first. Then the angel went to announce the Good News to the shepherds. And later you will see the three wise men also come together all because of this child, all because of the hope that we can find in Jesus.

So let us pray, dear friends, let us pray that we become proclaimers of that Good News. And as the last line of today’s Gospel says:
And suddenly, with the angels, there was a great throng of the heavenly host praising God and singing: Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace to men who enjoy His favour.

Dear friends, each one of us enjoys God’s favour today. Each time we allow Him to draw close to us, each time when we celebrate the Eucharist, each time we go for confessions, each time we celebrate the Sacraments, God draws closer to us again and again.

And that is the message of salvation that we need to spread – that God never, never, never abandons us but He reaches out to us in love and when He reaches out to us in love, our lives get transformed, in the same way of how the life of Mary and Joseph was transformed because of Jesus. The life of the shepherds was transformed because of the announcement of the angels.

And today you and I, dear friends, have heard, have listened to this message that Jesus is born. So let us give glory to God in the highest heaven and peace to men who enjoy His favour.

And let us praise and thank God that we may become people who are favoured by God and when we acknowledge the favouredness of God in our lives, then we can become proclaimers of the Good News to one another.

And that is the message of Christian hope, the message of Christmas today.

So let us pray that each one of you may be messengers of hope today. That when you go back to your own families, when you go back to your own communities, when you go back to your own lives, that you become an agent of hope to one another because you know that Jesus is the one who is bring proclaimed.

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