Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
Christmas Eve
December 24, 2021
In Person vs. Virtual
Last November, the bishops of the United States gathered in Baltimore for their semi-annual plenary meeting. Because of the pandemic, it had been two years since we met in person. Prior to the meeting, some predicted that it would be bitter and divisive gathering. As a veteran of such meetings, I was confident that it would not be such. For one thing, we were truly happy to see one another, truly glad to have those friendly, informal conversations that Zoom does not facilitate. As the bishops gathered for the opening Mass in our Nation’s First Cathedral, I sensed a great unanimity and joy that did indeed characterize our subsequent discussions.
Perhaps you have experienced something similar. When you returned to Mass in person, weren’t you happy to be with your fellow parishioners, & actually to receive the Lord’s Body and Blood? If you have attended or hosted Christmas parties, haven’t you found that most people are just happy to be together? Something deep within us longs for authentic human contact, for friendship, for in-person communication, for that personal touch. We are grateful for Zoom and other electronic means of communications, but deep down, even as we struggle with the COVID-19 variants, we human beings crave some form of personal encounter.
The Word Became Flesh
Perhaps this is what lies at the heart of Christmas and the way we celebrate it. Not only do we long for authentic personal encounter with each other, we also long for personal encounter with God. Even if we are “on the fence” about God’s existence or his relevance to our lives, in the deepest recesses of our hearts, we are distressed by the thought that God would not exist, or that if he exists, he is like an impersonal force that doesn’t care about us. Either way, without God, we somehow feel that our existence is cut from its moorings, that our short lives are adrift in a sea of emptiness and absurdity.
Throughout the long and tumultuous history of the people of Israel, God slowly and progressively revealed himself as the only true and living God. Coming to know God was not an easy journey for the Chosen People as they escaped from slavery only to wander in the desert, and arrived at the promised land only to find themselves sent into exile, and returned from exile only to be dominated by one foreign power after another. Thru it all, often by trial & error, & always amid struggle, the people of Israel learned that God is real, that God is personal, that God is anything but disengaged, and that God works in and through the flesh and blood events of human history.
Throughout the Christmas liturgies, Isaiah the prophet looks from afar and sees a great light dawning upon humanity, a newfound joy and hope, to be unleashed with the birth of the long-awaited Messiah, the One who would come to set us free. Isaiah proclaims, “The people who walked in darkness will see a great light” . . . even as the Evangelists describe how the night sky shone brilliantly on that cold winter’s night when Jesus Christ was born. But Scripture doesn’t stop there. The light that we see is no mere earthly brightness. Rather it is the Lord, in all his divinity, with all his saving power, coming into our midst, coming not merely to instruct us, but to draw close to us, to love us intimately, as if to marry divinity and humanity.
Like master artists, Matthew and Luke paint the scene of Jesus’ birth: the expectant Mother, the anxious Father, the arduous journey, the poverty of the stable, the star-lit sky, the song of the angels, the astonished worship of the shepherds . . . the Baby lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes. Saint Paul, for his part, echoes the amazement of the Evangelists when he writes,
“The grace of God has appeared, saving all . . . .” But leave it to John the Evangelist clearly to say what it all means: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” he intones. To be sure, God had communicated in many different ways throughout history, but now, in the fullness of time, he came in person – “The Word became flesh and ‘pitched his tent’ among us!” God revealed himself in & through our humanity—our humanity wed to his divinity— so much does God desire to draw close to us, so that we can draw close to him.
In Jesus, God came in person, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Eternal Word, the only One who perfectly receives and reflects the Father’s glory. He came into the world, not disguised as a human being, but truly as one of us, sharing our flesh and blood, our heart and mind, our joys and sorrows, our limitations & weaknesses –everything except sin from which he came to free us. This is God’s way of making himself visible to us – by assuming our humanity. This is God’s way of drawing close to us – by becoming one of us. This is God’s way of loving us to the end – by becoming our kindred. If there is any takeaway from Christmas, it is that God loves you & me personally, or, as St. Paul put it, “He loves me and he gave his life for me!”
Our Response
What must be our response to a God who loves us so deeply and personally? We can never repay God for his love, but in the light of the Holy Spirit, we can understand what God wants of us, and in his grace, we can offer it to him. The response that God desires of us is not what we have or what we can do. Rather, the God who gave himself to us desires that we, in turn, give ourselves to him, not merely in our heads, not merely in our intentions, and not merely virtually . . . but in a constant and deeply personal way: our flesh & blood, our heart & mind, our joys & sorrows, our strengths & weaknesses. The Lord who made himself present to us in his earthly life & now in the sacraments, asks us simply to show up, to be present if at all possible in person, taking part in Sunday Mass, being with the Lord and our fellow Catholics: joining with them in listening to the Lord speak “words of spirit and life”; joining with them in partaking of Christ’s sacrifice of love; joining with them in serving those most in need.
Yes, we are grateful for all the ways we can communicate virtually, but aren’t we glad that the Lord decided to communicate with us in reality? Let us then communicate with the Lord in the full reality of our lives – seeking his face in one another, finding the Lord’s face in the faces of the poor, discerning the hand of the Lord in our struggles, serving him in our daily work, being present to him in daily prayer, & yes, returning to Mass Sunday after Sunday. It is here that we encounter the Lord, who gives himself to us anew in the Holy Eucharist. Tonight (today), we celebrate the God who came to be with us in person. May open our hearts to receive him & draw close to him every day of our lives. I wish you and your loved ones a joyous Christmas and may God bless us and keep us always in his love!