Hail! Redemption's Happy Dawn!  Christmas Eve 2015

 

     A sublime picture; holy family in silent bliss as shepherds and beasts bow in reverence.  The picture adorns countless Christmas cards, thousands of parish lawns and even under our own Christmas tree.   

     If you exclude Santa Claus this image is the one most associated with our memories of Christmas.  The chaos of birth is over (and trust me, childbirth is very chaotic) and now the world is wrapped in the quiet of adoration.  Everyone is looking towards the Infant Jesus and thinking, “Oh the wonder, oh the potential.  They tell me he will grow up and be a Savior of his people.  That’s great!  But, for now, look at those chubby knees, those perfect lips, those lashes that brush his cheeks.”

     

     And yet…all the while there are angels in the wings shouting “Gloria in Excelsis Deo!!!”  Glory to God in the highest!  Look what has happened!   

      

     We know that they are there.  They show up in every Christmas pageant.  After all, who was going to move those shepherds from their hills, down into the town and to the place where Jesus, Mary and Joseph were?  However, we have to be careful not to cast these heavenly messengers as simple errand boys.  “Hey, Gabriel.  Do me a favor?  Go get those shepherds over to Joseph and Mary’s house.  And on your way back, stop by the deli and get me a pastrami on rye.”  No, it’s important to pay attention to the content of their message and what the Incarnation of our Lord means for you and me.  Because, if we do then our lives will never again be ordinary or boring.

     

      The birth of Jesus is not simply the arrival of the Jewish people’s long awaited national hero