Christmas Vigil
Basilica of the Assumption
December 24, 2024
One Drama – Many Perspectives
In any good drama, the characters conspire to flesh out the plot, sometimes by revealing their inner thoughts and feelings, but more often, by their actions. So too, the characters offer differing perspectives within the one drama that the playwright has conceived.
Is it any different in the drama that God himself produced? This drama is no ordinary play. It was not created for our entertainment. It was not meant merely to edify us, or to instruct us, or to correct us. It is rather the story of the God who created us in his image out of sheer love, the God who chose to redeem us when, we, like sheep, had gone astray. Christmas brings us to the very heart of that drama where we meet the “dramatis personae” – Elizabeth, Zechariah, John the Baptist, Joseph, Mary, the Angels, the Shepherds, the Magi – and, at the center of the drama, the Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. Everything leading up to the birth of Christ – the calling of Abraham, the Exodus, the Law, the Prophets – sets the stage for what it is we celebrate this evening, the drama at the heart of all history and every endeavor.
Patris Corde
Like most playwrights, God did not write alone but enlisted others, and tonight, it is Matthew the Evangelist who presents. He invites us to approach the heart of God’s drama through the eyes and heart of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Matthew portrays Joseph as a good man, a sturdy man of faith, who finds himself in a terrible quandary: his betrothed is with child. As a man of virtue, observant of God’s law, what was he to do? Human logic and compassion tells him to separate from Mary quietly rather than to expose the love of his life to shame and ignominy.
Unbeknownst to him, Joseph’s drama is part of a much larger drama, God’s mysterious plot that exceeded everything even holiest hearts expected. Matthew, however, lets us in on the secret; he writes: “She was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.” We know what Joseph did not yet know: Mary had conceived the Son of God through the breath of the Holy Spirit, and in her, he will assume our human nature: our flesh, our blood, our soul. “God is in her womb in the midst of the world” (Fr. Simeon).
As yet, Joseph had not seen and had not heard what have seen and heard. We find him mulling over this turn of events in his heart and mind, not merely seeking a way out but indeed seeking God’s will. For in the inner theatre of his heart and mind, Joseph wanted only God to triumph; he was, indeed, a just man. Discernment, of course, is hard work, so Joseph grows weary and falls asleep. From eternity comes an angel, and in a dream reveals to Joseph the heart of the mysterious drama God had authored, and the role which Joseph was to play in its fulfillment. “Do not be afraid,” said the angel, “to take Mary, your wife, into your home, for it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Then and there, the angel announces to Joseph the heart of the mystery, the kerygma, the drama in which this humble descendent of David would play a leading role.
With that, Joseph awoke and did as the angel commanded and took Mary, his wife, into his home. In effect, he disconnected himself from human logic that could not cope with the wondrous workings of God, and instead immersed himself into the dramatic mystery of God. In obedience to God’s will, he went from contemplation to action. It was he who would love his wife in her virginity, and care for and protect both Mother and Child. It is he who would make every preparation to care for his family, he who would love Jesus like a father. Thus was the stage set for the Incarnation: the coming of God as man.
Everything That Follows
Everything that went before did indeed set the stage for the Incarnation, but now let us turn our attention to what follows from it. For, all that flows from the Birth of Christ is for us and our salvation: the teaching of Christ, his miracles, his Death and Resurrection, the Church, the Eucharist, the Sacraments, our call to holiness. Yes, we are invited to be actors in God’s drama, “the mystery”, the plan that God the Father was pleased to decree in Christ (cf. Eph 1:9).
As we keep the Vigil of the Lord’s Birth, let us do what Joseph did: When the angel announced to him the very essence of God’s mysterious drama, Joseph took it heart; not only did he hear the Gospel, he acted on it. This night, let us listen to John the Baptist who heralded Christ’s coming. This night, let us hear the angels that crowded Bethlehem’s night sky proclaiming the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth. This night, let us hear John the Beloved say: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us!” Then, let us allow the Spirit, not to put us to sleep, but to awaken us spiritually, so that we too will rise day by day to receive Christ into our hearts and homes, embrace his gifts of forgiveness and new life in the Sacraments, love our neighbor, even our enemies, reach out to the poor and vulnerable, and proclaim to one and all the Good News first announced to Joseph by the angel.
In this Eucharistic mystery is encapsulated, as it were, the whole of God’s drama and our place in it. Come, let us immerse ourselves in the dramatic mystery, there to meet and receive Christ the Lord. Come, let us worship.