CHRISTMAS DAY: Mass at Dawn
Isaiah 62:11-12
Titus 3:4-7
Luke 2:15-20
As the number of children’s pageants in Churches around the world bear witness Christmas has some great imagery. There is the long trip of the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem where there no room for them at the inn. You have angelic chorus singing of God’s glory. You have shepherds who hear the message of the savior born as Christ and Lord. A baby is wrapped in swaddling clothes and lies in a manger. Other stories include a star signaling the birth of the king of the Jews. Magi, wise men, following that star and bringing royal gifts. Then there’s the flight into Egypt, the massacre of the holy innocents, the cruelty of King Herod. Very picturesque, very cinematic, very scenic. An underlying aspect in all this imagery is that it can feel exotic, not part of the world that we know. Not many of us experience heavenly choirs, angelic messengers or guiding stars. What does any of that have to do with our lives of paying bills, washing dishes and taking out the trash? What should make us sit up and take notice is that Mary herself missed out on the more spectacular parts of the story. At least as St. Luke tells it, Mary did not hear the heavenly choir or listen to the angelic message; the shepherds did. Mary did not see the star and follow it to Bethlehem; the magi did. St. Luke says that all were amazed at these celestial events … except Mary. Mary’s reaction was not amazement but prayer. Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Her reflection does not make it into the Christmas pageants but probably it is the part which connects most directly to our faith in Jesus.
You sometimes hear the expression “experience is the best teacher.” Just giving someone a drivers’ manual won’t teach you how to drive. Only having the experience of driving will do so. While the saying has a certain truth the reality is that often just going through an experience is not sufficient to learning, particularly when it comes to human interaction. The experience of disagreeing with someone won’t teach you anything. You need to understand where the disagreement comes from to make sense of it. A truer expression would be “reflecting on experience is the best teacher.” The shepherds and the magi had wonderful, marvelous experiences. But you never hear from them in the gospels again. They went away amazed, thinking “that was interesting” and then went back to their regular lives. They didn’t reflect on what it all meant for them. Mary, by contrast, became the first of the disciples of Jesus because she reflected on what the events she had been through signified. She came to see things not as interesting but as of life-changing significance.
“Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart.” We might call that the contemplative response or the faith-filled response. A famous Jesuit preacher once described contemplation, reflecting on things in the heart, as “a long, loving look at the real.” If we are to imitate Mary and learn the true significance of Christmas, we might take that definition to heart. We need to take a long look at the meaning of Christmas. This is a sustained gaze, not a glance. It requires time, but it also requires focused attention. In the busyness of the season we can easily not take the time to pray with the Christmas story. If Christmas is to change our lives to a closer following of Jesus we must set aside some uninterrupted moments of prayer, take some deep breaths; settle down. Reflecting requires giving the greatest gift we possess to Jesus – our time.
We need to take a loving look at the story of Christmas. This Christmas, like every other Christmas in the history of the world, is taking place in turbulent times. Jesus did not come because everything was hunky-dory but because things were going to hell in a handbasket. A reflective look at Christmas is not nostalgic yearning for the good old days when life was simpler. Rather, we encounter the new-born king in a topsy-turvy world. In the midst of our troubles and difficulties we can suppose that God is somehow absent and that when God is with us the sun will come out, the flowers will bloom and smiles will abound. The Christmas stories belies that notion – God is with us in the midst of life, not apart from life. We are called on Christmas morning to love the world God has given us for it is the place where the Son of God came to bring tidings of comfort and joy. Mary teaches us that contemplation is loving what is, not what we wish there might be.
Mary’s long, loving look at the real shifted as she had different experiences with her son. Mary had heard from the angel that her child was the “Son of the Most High,” that he would “save his people from their sins.” Yet the child who was born looked like any other child. Here he was after toil and trouble and labor. Here he was living as a poor man. Here he was soon to become an immigrant. Here he was, needing to face all the challenges that are part of growing up. Mary reflected on all that in her heart to discover that the plan of God was not found on some elevated plain but in the midst of living a human life with all of its ups and downs. That is our challenge as well. Like Mary we must reflect how our lives are in God’s hands. Mary learned, as we all must learn in turn, that the true meaning of experience of Christmas can only be found when the person next to us becomes the presence of God for us.
