Most parishes do not celebrate the Vigil Mass of the Nativity of the Lord. Instead they use the “Mass during the Night” at their Christmas Eve service. That liturgy uses the story of the birth of Jesus as told by St. Luke — no room at the inn, the manger, angels, shepherds. By skipping the Vigil Mass we miss St. Matthew’s version of “how the birth of Jesus came about.” In that telling the dream of St. Joseph provided the key to the story. Joseph trusted the dream and God could work a miracle. Perhaps this Christmas we are being invited to trust the dream that God has for the world — a dream of peace, of love, of joy for “Emmanuel — God is with us.”
