Homily
for December 25, 2007
Liturgical Year A- Cycle II
Christmas Day
By Fr. Andrew Moyo Topic:
The word became flesh . . . + + +
The Word became flesh
and dwelt amongst us. A couple of days ago, I called home
and was talking to my
mother. I wanted to find out about her Christmas arrangements. She told
me that
she would be attending the Vigil Mass and the Christmas day Mass. Then I asked her about what she was
going to
eat. She said to me, “That is not very
important to me. For me the most
important thing is to go to church”.
These words touched my heart and
I thought of sharing them with you. We are celebrating today’s
Christmas,
that is, Christ’s Mass. We are celebrating today God’s
immense love
for humanity. We cannot do this in a better way than participating in
the
Eucharist. At Christmas we celebrate this great
and infinite love of
God. After the original sin, we were doomed to death and there was need
of a
savior. Augustine once said, “Oh happy fault of Adam.” Sounds a bit
strange!
Doesn’t it? He went on to say that if
Adam and Eve had not sinned, we would have had no need of a
savior.
We would have stayed in the garden of Eden
running about naked and eating everything but apples! We can
understand this better in relation to
the fall of the angels. God did not give the angels a second chance. He
did not
give the angels time to repent. He did not send them a savior to
restore their
relationship. After the fall, God sends us a savior. Is not this
a happy fault? God took the initiative to restore
humankind to its state of
grace: God spoke, in the past in
partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets. .
.
Because of the stubbornness and the hard heartedness of our ancestors,
who
constantly broke the covenant and never
heeded to the voice of the prophets, God
thought of sending his only begotten son. “. . . in the last days he has spoken
to us, though his Son: The Word became flesh and he pitched his tent
amongst
us.” He humbled himself to share in our
humanity. At the beginning of the
Liturgy of the Eucharist, the priest or the deacon silently adds water
to the
wine with these words, “By the mystery of this water and wine may we
come to
share in the divinity of Christ who
humbled himself to share in our
humanity.” What a wonderful Christmas
reflection! It was necessary for him to become
like us in order to save
us. With the Nicene creed we profess,
“He became man for our sake and for our
salvation.” Jesus was fully human. He was fully God
and fully man. He was 100% God and 100% Man. He was not half, half. He had the
human
emotions and feelings: anger, thirst, hunger, sorrow, and
abandonment.
He was also tempted like us. He assumed our human nature in order
to save
us, to show us the way to the Father.
The letter to the Hebrews expresses this beautifully, “. .
. therefore he had to become like his brothers in every
way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to
expiate
the sins of the people. For because he
himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are
tempted.” (Heb 2,17-18). He
came to his own but his own did not receive him; he came
to his own home but his own people received him not.
(Jn1,11)
This, as we know, refers first and foremost
to Bethlehem. The Son of David comes to his own
city, but
had to be born in a stable because there was no room at the inn.
Then it refers to Israel. The one who is sent comes among his
own, but
they rejected him. It also refers to all
mankind: The one through whom the word was made, enters the world, but
he is
not listened to, he is not received.
These words refer ultimately to us, to each individual. So we may ask
ourselves these questions? Do we have time and space for God? Can he
enter into
our lives? Does he find room in our lives or we have occupied all the
available
space in our thoughts, our actions, our lives for ourselves. Pope
Benedict in his homily at the midnight Mass said: “Man is so pre-occupied with
himself, he has such urgent need of all the space and time for his own
things
that nothing remains for others- for his neighbor, for the poor, for
God. And
the richer man become, the more they fill up all the space by
themselves. And
the less room there is for others” To those who
receive him he gave the power to become
children of God. He has come to Earth to bring us back
to our condition of
children of God. As St. John explains: “. . . but all
who have received him he gave the power
to become children of God.” (Jn 1:12). St John Crysostom said,
“The Son of God has become son of man, in
order to make us sons of God Children of God! This grace to be come
children of
God is bestowed us on baptism. In Baptism our dignity as Sons and
daughters of
God is restored. Through baptism we become a new creation in God,
children of
God with the right to Call God, Abba, Father.
We regain our dignity as children of God. The
word became flesh and dwelt among us. In the cave of Bethlehem, God was made manifest
in the image and likeness of man. God could not make Himself
smaller to attract us. Who could help loving a defenseless
Infant?
Nobody now has a valid reason for running away from God, so let us come
and
adore Him.