Homily
Christmas Eve 2014
Christ the King Church Topeka
24 December 2014
Daily Readings
O come let us adore Him!. Christ the Lord!
What does it mean for us to adore the Lord? It can only mean one thing. It means that the reason we have come together in such a profound way on this most beautiful night is to fall in love again. We have come to adore, confessing first that we have fallen out of love with God, and we need this night to fall for him again. We need to fall madly, completely, hopelessly in love with the one who shows us in the circumstances of Bethlehem to be desperately in love with us. The scene of Bethlehem is too absurd for any kind of lukewarm response from us - the biggest and most invincible person imaginable, the one through whom everything was made, the one for whom the entire universe is but dust, the one who doesn't need any of us for anything, shows his ultimate power in allowing himself to be made small. Irresistibly small. Helplessly small, begging us to take care of him. Our Lord at Christmas desperately wants to break through our fear and indifference. He shows that he is ridiculously in love with everything that it means to be human, especially the weakest parts. Knowing that we have the amazing capacity to resist love and to fall out of love and to fear love, even rejecting the depth of his love revealed on the cross, Christ comes as a baby at Christmas, begging us to take care of him, pleading that if he comes poor, naked and helpless before us that we might no longer fear him. Do not be afraid, the angel tells Mary. Do not be afraid, the angel tells Joseph. Do not be afraid, the angels tell the shepherds. Do not be afraid of this baby! God is desperately in love with you. Yes you! He loves every circumstances of your life - do not be afraid to let him be born in your heart right where you are at this moment, and to fall in love with Him too! Come, let us adore Him - Christ the Lord!
Tonight we rediscover as well what it means to be a human person. For not only have we fallen out of love, we have also forgotten who we are. Our smart phones make us capable of so much more - we are busier than ever, but we are horrible at keeping things simple. We are worse and worse at communicating, and at falling in love and being in love and staying in love. To be a human person is to be known and loved and desired beginning at our weakest point. We do not become persons by growing up and gaining the freedom and intelligence to create our own reality, as good as these things are. No, we become persons by remembering where we came from, and by remaining small and poor and vulnerable. We become persons by staying like children, by keeping things simple, by entering into the adventure of discovering reality instead of the temptation of controlling it. By remaining poor and vulnerable and dependent, we are able to always fall in love, stay in love and be in love. So we have come tonight not only to fall again in love, but to rediscover who we truly are.
When we remember who we are and fall in love, we participate as well in the remaking of our poor world from the inside out. So tonight is also a night chock full of hope. The sign of a baby born of a virgin means a new creation has dawned on the earth, a creation stronger and meant to last longer than the first creation of everything from nothing by a virgin Father. Jesus is born of a virgin mother in Bethlehem as small as possible, and walks every second of his life with humility taking the lowest place, and having special care for the poor and vulnerable, to show us that our world is being remade by the one who alone has the power to recreate it, beginning with the weakest. Whenever we make ourselves small through sacrificial love, then, we participate with Him in healing our world from the inside out, and this recreation of the world never loses momentum and hope. It starts small but ends big. It starts weak but ends strong. It starts in poverty but ends in riches. It embraces death but rises to everlasting life. Caesar's kingdom that reigned in power when Jesus was helplessly born has been reduced to nothing. But Jesus' kingdom that started with a helpless baby born to poor parents in the cold in the middle of nowhere, is still gaining strength, and His kingdom celebrates Christmas with exceeding joy throughout the whole world.
All that would be enough for tonight -falling in love, remembering who we are, joining Christ in hope of building a kingdom of peace and truth and love that will last forever, but those three things are not the final and full meaning of Christmas. Christmas takes it's name not from the birth that took place in Bethlehem, but from the birth about to take place on this altar. For as small as Jesus made himself at Bethlehem, he makes Himself smaller and more vulnerable and more beautiful to fall in love with, as he allows Himself to be born on this altar! We fall in love with Jesus not just by contemplating Bethlehem, but Bethlehem becomes perfectly real at Christ's Mass - when with Joseph we allow Jesus to come under our roofs, and with Mary allow Jesus to be born in the deepest recesses of our heart. The precise and original meaning of Christmas is what happens to our hearts and minds when we receive the Eucharist at Christ's Mass, for what happens here tonight in Topeka is no less dramatic, no less a falling in love, than what happened at Bethlehem 2000 years ago. In fact, what happens here tonight is more dramatic than Bethlehem, if any of you, if any of us, humbly accepts Jesus' desperate plea to be born in our hearts.
Do not be afraid, my dearest friends, of this Christ who once came to us as a helpless baby, but who now comes to you even more helplessly at Christ's Mass - in this Eucharist. There is no Christmas without Christ's Mass. This is the meaning of Christmas - right here, right now. The stage is set now for you to receive the Eucharist with greater fruitfulness and devotion than ever. If you resist Him tonight, in these circumstances, can you honestly say you will ever receive Him? Do not let this Christmas moment pass with fear or indifference. Do not be afraid to fall in love tonight, to be visited and changed by this most irresistible of babies, who makes Himself even more helpless in the sacrament of His body and blood.
Come, let us adore Him! Christ the Lord!
Christmas Eve 2014
Christ the King Church Topeka
24 December 2014
Daily Readings
O come let us adore Him!. Christ the Lord!What does it mean for us to adore the Lord? It can only mean one thing. It means that the reason we have come together in such a profound way on this most beautiful night is to fall in love again. We have come to adore, confessing first that we have fallen out of love with God, and we need this night to fall for him again. We need to fall madly, completely, hopelessly in love with the one who shows us in the circumstances of Bethlehem to be desperately in love with us. The scene of Bethlehem is too absurd for any kind of lukewarm response from us - the biggest and most invincible person imaginable, the one through whom everything was made, the one for whom the entire universe is but dust, the one who doesn't need any of us for anything, shows his ultimate power in allowing himself to be made small. Irresistibly small. Helplessly small, begging us to take care of him. Our Lord at Christmas desperately wants to break through our fear and indifference. He shows that he is ridiculously in love with everything that it means to be human, especially the weakest parts. Knowing that we have the amazing capacity to resist love and to fall out of love and to fear love, even rejecting the depth of his love revealed on the cross, Christ comes as a baby at Christmas, begging us to take care of him, pleading that if he comes poor, naked and helpless before us that we might no longer fear him. Do not be afraid, the angel tells Mary. Do not be afraid, the angel tells Joseph. Do not be afraid, the angels tell the shepherds. Do not be afraid of this baby! God is desperately in love with you. Yes you! He loves every circumstances of your life - do not be afraid to let him be born in your heart right where you are at this moment, and to fall in love with Him too! Come, let us adore Him - Christ the Lord!
Tonight we rediscover as well what it means to be a human person. For not only have we fallen out of love, we have also forgotten who we are. Our smart phones make us capable of so much more - we are busier than ever, but we are horrible at keeping things simple. We are worse and worse at communicating, and at falling in love and being in love and staying in love. To be a human person is to be known and loved and desired beginning at our weakest point. We do not become persons by growing up and gaining the freedom and intelligence to create our own reality, as good as these things are. No, we become persons by remembering where we came from, and by remaining small and poor and vulnerable. We become persons by staying like children, by keeping things simple, by entering into the adventure of discovering reality instead of the temptation of controlling it. By remaining poor and vulnerable and dependent, we are able to always fall in love, stay in love and be in love. So we have come tonight not only to fall again in love, but to rediscover who we truly are.
When we remember who we are and fall in love, we participate as well in the remaking of our poor world from the inside out. So tonight is also a night chock full of hope. The sign of a baby born of a virgin means a new creation has dawned on the earth, a creation stronger and meant to last longer than the first creation of everything from nothing by a virgin Father. Jesus is born of a virgin mother in Bethlehem as small as possible, and walks every second of his life with humility taking the lowest place, and having special care for the poor and vulnerable, to show us that our world is being remade by the one who alone has the power to recreate it, beginning with the weakest. Whenever we make ourselves small through sacrificial love, then, we participate with Him in healing our world from the inside out, and this recreation of the world never loses momentum and hope. It starts small but ends big. It starts weak but ends strong. It starts in poverty but ends in riches. It embraces death but rises to everlasting life. Caesar's kingdom that reigned in power when Jesus was helplessly born has been reduced to nothing. But Jesus' kingdom that started with a helpless baby born to poor parents in the cold in the middle of nowhere, is still gaining strength, and His kingdom celebrates Christmas with exceeding joy throughout the whole world.All that would be enough for tonight -falling in love, remembering who we are, joining Christ in hope of building a kingdom of peace and truth and love that will last forever, but those three things are not the final and full meaning of Christmas. Christmas takes it's name not from the birth that took place in Bethlehem, but from the birth about to take place on this altar. For as small as Jesus made himself at Bethlehem, he makes Himself smaller and more vulnerable and more beautiful to fall in love with, as he allows Himself to be born on this altar! We fall in love with Jesus not just by contemplating Bethlehem, but Bethlehem becomes perfectly real at Christ's Mass - when with Joseph we allow Jesus to come under our roofs, and with Mary allow Jesus to be born in the deepest recesses of our heart. The precise and original meaning of Christmas is what happens to our hearts and minds when we receive the Eucharist at Christ's Mass, for what happens here tonight in Topeka is no less dramatic, no less a falling in love, than what happened at Bethlehem 2000 years ago. In fact, what happens here tonight is more dramatic than Bethlehem, if any of you, if any of us, humbly accepts Jesus' desperate plea to be born in our hearts.Do not be afraid, my dearest friends, of this Christ who once came to us as a helpless baby, but who now comes to you even more helplessly at Christ's Mass - in this Eucharist. There is no Christmas without Christ's Mass. This is the meaning of Christmas - right here, right now. The stage is set now for you to receive the Eucharist with greater fruitfulness and devotion than ever. If you resist Him tonight, in these circumstances, can you honestly say you will ever receive Him? Do not let this Christmas moment pass with fear or indifference. Do not be afraid to fall in love tonight, to be visited and changed by this most irresistible of babies, who makes Himself even more helpless in the sacrament of His body and blood.
Come, let us adore Him! Christ the Lord!
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