Homily for Midnight Mass - Christmas

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The God of Christmas is absolutely irresistible. No matter how hard we try, because of Christmas, we will never get rid of Him.

How could God become irresistible to those whom He created in His own image and likeness? How could He become irresistible to those who share in His intelligence and will, those to whom He gave the gift to question Him at every turn? How could God make Himself irresistible without destroying the very freedom that made us His greatest creation?

There are people who believe, of course, that God is necessary. But there are people who believe He is not. There are people, of course, who believe that God is patient and merciful. But there are people who think He is cold and distant. There are people, of course, who assert that God is just. There are others who think He is arbitrary and oppressive.

How could God become irresistible to creatures like us, who have the ability to question Him and criticize Him at every turn? We have resisted Him for thousands of years. We resisted Him yesterday. We resist Him now. We will resist Him tomorrow.

How could God overcome this resistance, this tragedy of being the most irresistible force in the world, and yet being resisted by the creatures He created with the greatest capacity for love? Was God trapped by His own decision to create us?

The answer, because of Christmas, is no. The answer, because of Christmas, is that God came up with a solution. Unwilling to change us as His greatest creation, God chose instead to change Himself. Unwilling to forsake us, He chose instead to forsake Himself. Utterly resistible in his divine form as the Almighty Creator, God chose to become utterly irresistible by being born as a helpless baby.

*Caesar Augustus, as we see in tonight's Gospel, was supposedly the most irresistible person on earth. He ordered a census to count His people so He could tax them better, use them better to become even more powerful. This is the man who could go wherever He wanted, have whatever He wanted, eat whatever He wanted, and had an army that no earthly power could exist. Caesar Augustus was the closest thing to having the almighty power of God! Yet Luke, in tonight's glorious Gospel, shows that a little baby born in Bethlehem, is more irresistible than this great king. That's right. A little baby, unable to go anywhere on His own, but bound tightly by swaddling clothes, has a kingdom more vast than the kingdom of Caesar. This little baby, who did not even have a place to be born on earth, possesses more than Caesar could ever possess. Even Caesar's most magnificent feast cannot compare to the food that this baby Himself will become, who being born in a trough foreshadows the destiny of His flesh to become the richest of foods, for whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood will live forever! Finally, the angels of the heavenly hosts present at this baby's birth show that this baby has vast armies who will guard His kingdom long after the armies of Caesar have been defeated.

This my friends, is why Christmas makes God irresistible. We see in ourselves, and in Caesar Augustus, that power is always resisted by power. God, showing His almighty power by creating creatures that shared in His power, will always be resisted by those of us who want to be more like Caesar Augustus. Rather than taking back our power, however, God has chosen to make Himself vulnerable. Power will always be resisted by power. Love, however, is irresistible. Because God has revealed Himself as love, He has made Himself irresistible.

The mystery of Christmas is the mystery of God placing Himself into our hands. Love shows itself making itself vulnerable before the other. How many of us could walk away from a newborn baby born in the cold, with nothing to wear, and nothing to eat? How many of us could walk away from a baby like that? See! Through Christmas, God has made Himself irresistible. He has confounded the proud who use the greatest gift of their freedom to resist His almighty power! God does not take back the freedom He gave to us! He does not force us to love Him! He makes Himself irresistible by coming not to threaten us, but to humble Himself before us! Because of Christmas, we can't help but want to love Him back and to serve His needs.

Because of Christmas, we know that God will never abandon us. He is Emmanuel - God with us! Because of Christmas, we know that the world will never be abandoned - the darkness will never overcome the light. Because of Christmas, we can say in every situation, no matter the dangers that surround us, that the world is headed to a new and more glorious future, because God has chosen to make His home here, with us! Let us not be discouraged by the circumstances of 2008 - they are no worse than the precarious circumstances into which Jesus Himself was born. May our great celebration of Christmas convince us again that instead of resisting God to preserve ourselves, we must abandon ourselves to serving God who has abandoned Himself to be born among us as a man. With the Virgin Mary, let us give birth to the Lord Jesus today and make Him present again through our acts of love and self-sacrifice. Most of all, let us not let our world continue to believe the illusion that it can resist God and live, but let us proclaim that in the babe born in Bethlehem, God has made Himself irresistible! +m

(I am indebted to Fr. Robert Barron's Christmas reflection from some years ago for much of the content of this homily!)