Homily
Christmas Eve 2015
Christ the King Church Topeka
24 December 2015
Daily Readings
O Come let us adore Him! Christ the Lord!
Why are you here tonight? Have you come to adore the Lord? What does it mean for us to adore our Lord? My dearest friends, on this most holy night, coming to adore the Lord Jesus can only mean one thing. It means that we have come tonight - each one of us - to fall in love again! It means that we have come tonight - each one of us - confessing that we have fallen out of love with God and each other, confessing that we need this night - each one of us - to fall in love again. If you have come to Church tonight for any other reason that to fall madly, completely, hopelessly in love with God, then you are in the wrong place! For the scene of Bethlehem that we contemplate together tonight is way 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 before whom the entire universe is but a speck of dust, the one who doesn't need any one of us for anything - that person shows his ultimate power in allowing Himself to be made small. Irresistibly small. Helplessly small - begging us to hold Him and take care of Him. Our Lord at Christmas desperately wants to break through our fears and indifference. He shows tonight that He is ridiculously in love with each of us and everything it means to be a human person, especially our weaknesses. Knowing that we have an 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 our love, pleading that if He comes among us poor, naked and helpless that we may no longer fear God. Do not be afraid, the angel told Mary. Do not be afraid, the angel told Joseph. Do not be afraid, the angel told the shepherds. Do not be afraid of this baby. God is desperately in love with you. Yes you! He loves every circumstance of your life exactly where you are this Christmas. Do not be afraid to allow Him to be born in your heart tonight, and if you have come tonight to do anything less than to fall madly, completely and hopelessly in love with God tonight, so much so that after tonight you can never be the same, then you are in the wrong place! Come, let us adore Him! Jesus Christ our Lord!
Tonight we fall in love with God more than ever, and we come to rediscover what it means to be a human person. For not only have we fallen out of love with God, we also confess tonight that we have forgotten who we are. Our smart phones make us capable of so much more, and we are busier than ever, but we are horrible at keeping things simple. We are worse and worse at communicating with God in prayer and having intimate, personal and spiritual conversations with each other. We are less capable of falling in love, being in love and staying in love, and making and keeping promises to God and each other!. We have forgotten that to be a human person is to be known and loved and desired beginning at our weakest point. We don't become persons by getting big and smart and important - we do not become persons by gaining the freedom and intelligence to create our own reality and the meaning of our own existence. We do not become more human by pretending that we do not need God! No, we become persons by remembering where we came from, and by finding a way to remain small and poor and vulnerable. We become persons only insofar as we remain like children, by keeping things simple, and by entering with awe and wonder into the great adventure of discovering reality and who we are rather than giving into the temptation of trying to manufacture or control it! Man has forgotten how much He needs God - and by giving into the agnosticism of the day we are making ourselves miserable. Man needs God - not as a slave needs a master, but as each one of us needs to be known and desired and loved at each moment of our life to reach our highest destiny and happiness. Love is man's origin, love is his constant calling, and love is his perfection in heaven! And only God can know us, desire us and cherish us in the deepest parts of our soul, where we cannot love or change ourselves. Man needs God - this Christmas cannot pass with our giving into the pride and laziness of pretending we can manufacture the meaning of our own existence. It's a lie that makes our world increasingly miserable. Tonight we come to remember who we are, and if we remain like a baby - poor, and vulnerable and dependent upon God and each other, we will always be able to realize the meaning of our life - that for which we were created - to fall in love, to be in love and to stay in love.
When we remember who we are and fall in love again, we participate as well in the remaking of our poor world from the inside out. Tonight is a night chock full of hope! The sign of a baby born of a Virgin mother is THE SIGN that a new creation has dawned on the earth, a creation stronger and meant to last longer than the first creation of everything out of nothing by our virgin Father! Jesus who alone has the power to recreate our poor world, makes himself as small as possible, being born through a tiny, insignificant mother, with complete vulnerability and poverty, at the darkest hour of the darkest night, adored at first only by the most uneducated and mangiest of shepherds, to show us that our world is being remade beginning with the weakest. Jesus walks every second of his earthly life in perfect humility, always taking the lowest place and preferring the poor, the weakest and most neglected, the greatest sinners, to show us that the recreation of our world will follow a different path. For the first creation of everything from nothing began big but will be reduced to nothing. It started in goodness but has been touched by evil. It started with life but will end in death. But the new creation is different. It starts small but ends big. It starts weak but ends strong. It starts in poverty but ends in riches. It starts with sinners but ends with saints. It embraces death, but rises to everlasting life. Caesar's kingdom that seemed so intimidating when Jesus was born is now gone, as will every kingdom that does not belong to Christ. But Jesus' kingdom that started with nothing is still gaining strength, and His kingdom celebrates with exceeding joy throughout the whole world each Christmas. Whenever you choose the path of sacrificial love you participate with Jesus in building this kingdom that will last forever. Do not fear or give into discouragement regarding the evils that threaten our world and our lives and our souls. Choose to love, no matter what, and the hope of Christmas will continue to grow until the enemies of evil and sin and death are destroyed forever!
All that would be enough for tonight - falling in love, remembering who we are, accepting our mission to build with Christ a kingdom of love, truth and peace that will last forever, but those three things are not the final and full meaning of Christmas! Christmas takes its 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 much 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 tonight not just by remembering Bethlehem, but in encountering Bethlehem becoming real for me at Christ's Mass. It is through Christ's Mass that with Joseph we allow Jesus to be born under our roofs, and with Mary allow Jesus then to be born in the deepest recesses of our hearts. The precise and original meaning of Christmas is what changes in our lives when we receive the Eucharist at Christ's Mass. Let's put the Mass back in Christmas this year! Let us recognize the richness of our faith, and confess that Christmas makes no sense at all without Christ's Mass. Let us be present to the reality that Mary, the mother of our Church, is more excited for this Christmas than she was for the first Christmas, for what is happening tonight, yes even here in Topeka, Kansas - is more dramatic than what happened in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, if any of us, yes if even just one of us, humbly accepts Jesus' desperate plea to be born in our hearts.
Jesus is begging us to receive Him worthily in tonight's Mass. Do not be afraid, my dearest friends, of this Christ who once came among us as a helpless baby, but who comes to you now - yes you - even more helplessly at Christ's Mass. This is the meaning of Christmas - right here, right now! The stage is set now for you - yes you - to receive the Eucharist with greater devotion than ever. If you resist Him tonight, can you honestly say that you will ever receive Him? I beg you! Do not let this Christmas moment pass with fear or indifference. Do not be afraid to fall helplessly, desperately and completely in love with God tonight, so much so that your life will never be the same.
Now is the time for Christ's Mass! This most irresistible of babies begs YOU
to hold him now, and allow Him to reach a place in your life where you have never let Him be born before!
Come, let us adore Him - Christ the Lord!
Christmas Eve 2015
Christ the King Church Topeka
24 December 2015
Daily Readings
O Come let us adore Him! Christ the Lord!
Why are you here tonight? Have you come to adore the Lord? What does it mean for us to adore our Lord? My dearest friends, on this most holy night, coming to adore the Lord Jesus can only mean one thing. It means that we have come tonight - each one of us - to fall in love again! It means that we have come tonight - each one of us - confessing that we have fallen out of love with God and each other, confessing that we need this night - each one of us - to fall in love again. If you have come to Church tonight for any other reason that to fall madly, completely, hopelessly in love with God, then you are in the wrong place! For the scene of Bethlehem that we contemplate together tonight is way 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 before whom the entire universe is but a speck of dust, the one who doesn't need any one of us for anything - that person shows his ultimate power in allowing Himself to be made small. Irresistibly small. Helplessly small - begging us to hold Him and take care of Him. Our Lord at Christmas desperately wants to break through our fears and indifference. He shows tonight that He is ridiculously in love with each of us and everything it means to be a human person, especially our weaknesses. Knowing that we have an 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 our love, pleading that if He comes among us poor, naked and helpless that we may no longer fear God. Do not be afraid, the angel told Mary. Do not be afraid, the angel told Joseph. Do not be afraid, the angel told the shepherds. Do not be afraid of this baby. God is desperately in love with you. Yes you! He loves every circumstance of your life exactly where you are this Christmas. Do not be afraid to allow Him to be born in your heart tonight, and if you have come tonight to do anything less than to fall madly, completely and hopelessly in love with God tonight, so much so that after tonight you can never be the same, then you are in the wrong place! Come, let us adore Him! Jesus Christ our Lord!Tonight we fall in love with God more than ever, and we come to rediscover what it means to be a human person. For not only have we fallen out of love with God, we also confess tonight that we have forgotten who we are. Our smart phones make us capable of so much more, and we are busier than ever, but we are horrible at keeping things simple. We are worse and worse at communicating with God in prayer and having intimate, personal and spiritual conversations with each other. We are less capable of falling in love, being in love and staying in love, and making and keeping promises to God and each other!. We have forgotten that to be a human person is to be known and loved and desired beginning at our weakest point. We don't become persons by getting big and smart and important - we do not become persons by gaining the freedom and intelligence to create our own reality and the meaning of our own existence. We do not become more human by pretending that we do not need God! No, we become persons by remembering where we came from, and by finding a way to remain small and poor and vulnerable. We become persons only insofar as we remain like children, by keeping things simple, and by entering with awe and wonder into the great adventure of discovering reality and who we are rather than giving into the temptation of trying to manufacture or control it! Man has forgotten how much He needs God - and by giving into the agnosticism of the day we are making ourselves miserable. Man needs God - not as a slave needs a master, but as each one of us needs to be known and desired and loved at each moment of our life to reach our highest destiny and happiness. Love is man's origin, love is his constant calling, and love is his perfection in heaven! And only God can know us, desire us and cherish us in the deepest parts of our soul, where we cannot love or change ourselves. Man needs God - this Christmas cannot pass with our giving into the pride and laziness of pretending we can manufacture the meaning of our own existence. It's a lie that makes our world increasingly miserable. Tonight we come to remember who we are, and if we remain like a baby - poor, and vulnerable and dependent upon God and each other, we will always be able to realize the meaning of our life - that for which we were created - to fall in love, to be in love and to stay in love.
When we remember who we are and fall in love again, we participate as well in the remaking of our poor world from the inside out. Tonight is a night chock full of hope! The sign of a baby born of a Virgin mother is THE SIGN that a new creation has dawned on the earth, a creation stronger and meant to last longer than the first creation of everything out of nothing by our virgin Father! Jesus who alone has the power to recreate our poor world, makes himself as small as possible, being born through a tiny, insignificant mother, with complete vulnerability and poverty, at the darkest hour of the darkest night, adored at first only by the most uneducated and mangiest of shepherds, to show us that our world is being remade beginning with the weakest. Jesus walks every second of his earthly life in perfect humility, always taking the lowest place and preferring the poor, the weakest and most neglected, the greatest sinners, to show us that the recreation of our world will follow a different path. For the first creation of everything from nothing began big but will be reduced to nothing. It started in goodness but has been touched by evil. It started with life but will end in death. But the new creation is different. It starts small but ends big. It starts weak but ends strong. It starts in poverty but ends in riches. It starts with sinners but ends with saints. It embraces death, but rises to everlasting life. Caesar's kingdom that seemed so intimidating when Jesus was born is now gone, as will every kingdom that does not belong to Christ. But Jesus' kingdom that started with nothing is still gaining strength, and His kingdom celebrates with exceeding joy throughout the whole world each Christmas. Whenever you choose the path of sacrificial love you participate with Jesus in building this kingdom that will last forever. Do not fear or give into discouragement regarding the evils that threaten our world and our lives and our souls. Choose to love, no matter what, and the hope of Christmas will continue to grow until the enemies of evil and sin and death are destroyed forever!All that would be enough for tonight - falling in love, remembering who we are, accepting our mission to build with Christ a kingdom of love, truth and peace that will last forever, but those three things are not the final and full meaning of Christmas! Christmas takes its 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 much 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 tonight not just by remembering Bethlehem, but in encountering Bethlehem becoming real for me at Christ's Mass. It is through Christ's Mass that with Joseph we allow Jesus to be born under our roofs, and with Mary allow Jesus then to be born in the deepest recesses of our hearts. The precise and original meaning of Christmas is what changes in our lives when we receive the Eucharist at Christ's Mass. Let's put the Mass back in Christmas this year! Let us recognize the richness of our faith, and confess that Christmas makes no sense at all without Christ's Mass. Let us be present to the reality that Mary, the mother of our Church, is more excited for this Christmas than she was for the first Christmas, for what is happening tonight, yes even here in Topeka, Kansas - is more dramatic than what happened in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, if any of us, yes if even just one of us, humbly accepts Jesus' desperate plea to be born in our hearts.Jesus is begging us to receive Him worthily in tonight's Mass. Do not be afraid, my dearest friends, of this Christ who once came among us as a helpless baby, but who comes to you now - yes you - even more helplessly at Christ's Mass. This is the meaning of Christmas - right here, right now! The stage is set now for you - yes you - to receive the Eucharist with greater devotion than ever. If you resist Him tonight, can you honestly say that you will ever receive Him? I beg you! Do not let this Christmas moment pass with fear or indifference. Do not be afraid to fall helplessly, desperately and completely in love with God tonight, so much so that your life will never be the same.
Now is the time for Christ's Mass! This most irresistible of babies begs YOU
to hold him now, and allow Him to reach a place in your life where you have never let Him be born before!
Come, let us adore Him - Christ the Lord!
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