by Fr Francis Anthony
Isaiah 52:7-10
Psalm 97:1-6
Hebrews 1:1-6
John 1:1-18
Theme: Universal Salvation
Dear friends,
We have come back to celebrate Christmas and when we celebrate Christmas we go back to more than 2000 years, imagining and depicting, like this crib here, the things that happened then. And we will be dwelling in that situation:
~ Joseph and Mary anxious, where to give birth;
~ There is no place in the inn;
~ The angels appearing to the shepherds;
~ Joy to the world, peace to men of goodwill;
~ The Magis making all their way to visit the baby Jesus.
And we will be focusing our attention in that reality. It is true.
But what is happening?
God created the world in a wonderful way. He just said the word and it was created. But disaster came into the world due to sin. And God recreates. He is coming back. He is not saying: I give up on this people. His love is so great He sends His only son. And that was the first Christmas.
And as we celebrate Christmas today, we are celebrating God’s love for us, today. We are not celebrating God loved the people 2000 years ago. Today He is sending His son. And today as we celebrate Christmas, we are also celebrating the promise of the second coming of Christ. The second coming of Christ is to conquer the world once and for all and to be able to have a people with Him or with God forever.
And so today, let us ask ourselves and place a few words floating in our mind.
The first is, yes, God loves. What about that love in me? Am I a person making real God’s love in the world today by my word, by my action, by my attitude. Am I a source of inspiration to others? Yes, Christmas is complete not just because we gather in the church and receive holy communion. That we are out in the world making Christ present by our presence, making Christ to be real in today’s society.
It is only then we as people, as disciple of Christ, can be people of Hope for others. Christ is not walking around. He is walking around through us and in us. Christ has given us hope and we, first we love, now through our words and actions we bring hope to the people. Look at the world situation. Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Hamas or Palestine, Sudan (the north and the south), Nigeria (the people there with the Bokaram). What is their hope? That someone will come around and to bring peace, the reality. It is not a dream.
They are going through big disaster. And in Sudan, people are starving. A few days ago the news was saying 5 Million people are in that category of starvation. Living alone, the children who are suffering. Living alone, the people who are not able to get medical help. Yes, we are far away from those places. Have in mind, through our prayer that they would not lose hope in the love of God.
Let us be people God brought love, brought hope. He brought love. God so loved the world He sent His son. Now He wants us to make God’s Son present today, not 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. To be able to bring about peace and maybe in a very concrete way, peace in our own families. Yes, the narrow family of father, mother, children might be okay. What about the extended families? Bringing peace?
Let us not say: We will pray for peace. We act for peace. God sent His Son to us. So when we look at Christmas in this way, then the birth of Jesus is challenging us today not to be looking and dreaming all those shepherds and the angels and the Magi. Today, am I a Jesus? Am I born in today’s society? And through my words and action and attitude, am I a minister or a disciple of love, of hope, of peace? Yes.
So Christmas is a daily event not just 25 December. Whether we sing ‘Silent Night’ or ‘Holy Night’, it is a night where, a day where we are making Christ present. Let us ask our Lord to help us. You will see in the crib, the Magis are not there yet, people making their way to Jesus. Let us make our way to Jesus, not to the crib, to Jesus in the tabernacle. Let us polish our faith life and let us ask God to help us to be His disciple.
Today is a big joyous day, not for us personally but through us to the society among whom we are living. Let us make them recognised and loved by God, knowing God loves us. They do not know, those outside of the Christian faith, but they are also God’s children and that God loves them just as much as He loves us each one of us.
Click below to listen to the homily and watch the video:-
Click to live-stream Mass on 25 December 2023