Readings - http://www.usccb.org/nab/122510.shtml
We are at the first Mass of Christmas. The (Catholic) Church celebrates the Feast of the Nativity with four distinct Masses between the evening of December 24th and December 25th. Each of these Masses has different Readings and thus offers the participants a different perspective on the celebration of Jesus’ birth / entry into our world.
At this, the Vigil Mass, the Gospel Reading is normally from the Gospel of Matthew and includes the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham to Mary / Joseph, reminding us of how long took for God’s plan of Redemption to be put into place, how long the good people like Abraham and his descendants had to wait. With Jesus remembered as having been born in the middle of the night, the Vigil Mass takes place “just before” or just as the events surrounding Jesus’ birth start taking place. We find ourselves at the interface between “just before” and “just after.” And the Church’s Liturgists already in the 4th 5th century wanted to preserve this. This was the first of 4 Masses celebrated traditionally in Christian Rome for Christmas and was held at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major recalling Mary's (and St. Joseph’s) role in Christ’s birth.
The Second Mass, was the Mass at Night (traditionally held at Midnight) thus popularly called “The Midnight Mass.” Because in the Gospel Reading from St. Luke, Jesus’ birth in a stable at the outskirts of Bethlehem is announced to the Shepherds by the Angels, the Mass is also called “The Mass of the Shepherds.” Most of us, whether we go to this Mass on the Night of Christmas Eve or tommorrow on Christmas Day remember _this Mass_ as the Christmas Mass because it has all the elements that we remember of Jesus’ birth – Mary, Joseph, the Inn keeper, the stable, the animals, the manger, the swaddling clothes, “the people in darkness” who’ve “seen a great light” the shepherds the angels, etc. We remember the miracle of Jesus, who, _if we believe_ was the Son of God, but CHOSE to enter the world in this stupendously humble way – as a baby, to an utterly unimportant couple, huddling at the edge of an unimportant village, in an utterly unimportant country, in a stable, among the animals. This Mass was traditionally held in a chapel, below / beside the main altar at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where a relic from the “Holy Crib” (brought back to Rome by Emperoro Constantine’s mother St. Helen) was kept. (Interestingly enough, by the Mass’s location – in a chapel, arguably “in the basement” of the Basilica) it appears the Liturgy planners expected attendance at this Mass to _not_ be "particularly large." How wrong "the planners" were ;-).
The Third Mass, was the Mass at Dawn which was traditionally held in Rome at an obscure church, St. Anastasia’s at the foot of Palatine Hill (at the base of the hill where the Roman Emperor lived... the Emperor apparently was using some of his clout...). The Gospel Reading for this Mass came also from Luke and continues the story from the Mass at Night. We’re reminded that after the Shepherds visited the infant Jesus they returned to the fields recalling the story to everyone that they saw, and that “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” We’re called to do the same.
Finally, the Fourth Mass, the Mass of the Day on Christmas Day, is the most theological Mass of this day with readings taken from the Letter of the Hebrews: “In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son” and from the prologue to the Gospel of John “In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God ... and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” This Mass is best celebrated later in the day after the main festivities at home have taken place, the presents have been opened and the family goes back to Church to reflect on the meaning of all that was celebrated on this day.
I’d encourage anyone who wishes to look-up the Readings for these Masses (link here or above)
These are the Four Masses of the Catholic Church’s celebration of the Feast of the Nativity of the Lord (Christ-Mass).
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Very well, at Annunciata, the 5 PM Mass on Christmas Eve has come to be known as the “kids Mass” and the last couple of years, we’ve asked families to dress their little kids as their favorite characters in the story of Jesus’ birth. As such, we use a conflated Gospel Reading taken from Luke from the Mass of the Shepherds and also the Gospel Reading from Matthew taken from Epiphany about the Three Kings so that all the kids that dress up can appear in the story.
We also made a conscious point of allowing everyone to come as they wished, no auditions to play Mary or Joseph, no lotteries, etc, so that everyone who wanted to could dress up their kid as Mary or Joseph or one of the Three Kings, etc could do so in peace and thus produce happy memories for them and their families for the rest of their lives.
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It’s also been a great joy for me to celebrate _this_ 5 PM Mass over the years because I’ve had the joy of reminding people each year that IT IS ABSOLUTELY OKAY if “Christmas does not come out perfectly” for them this year.
I say this because there can be enormous pressure that Christmas be perfect. And yet with a group the size of this parish, one can be certain that among us will people who will break something, forget something, burn something, say something stupid (again) with _everybody’s eyes rolling_ again, etc, etc.
And the story of Jesus’ birth shows us, that as far as God is concerned, THIS IS OKAY. Indeed, one COULD EVEN IMAGINE that GOD _chose_ to enter into _our world_ IN THIS WAY _precisely_ because GOD KNEW that there would be enormous pressure to “get things right” and that some people would inevitably screw up.
So we have this account of Mary and Joseph giving birth to the SON OF GOD in a stable outside of Bethlehem to remind us that it is okay for things to not be perfect.
Indeed, if one reads between the lines, it is clear that _circumstances conspired_ to “make things less than ideal.” And actually, both members of the Holy Family (Mary and Joseph) could have been _unfairly_ “blamed” for the mess even though the circumstances were not really their fault.
Joseph an “out of town relative” of the “lineage of King David” could have been “blamed” for “not knowing his relatives in Bethlehem as well as he thought.”
Mary, near her time of delivery could ahve been “blamed” for simply being “too slow” moving about for Jospeh and her to get everything done that they needed to in Bethlehem to have the time “to get a decent hotel room” that evening.
Both Mary's and Joseph's “failings” _easily_ fall within the realm of possibility in our families.
So, as I say every year at this Mass, please MAKE IT A POINT to LET THINGS GO this EVENING and TOMMORROW as you celebrate Christmas. PLEASE DON'T MAKE A FEDERAL CASE OUT OF HONEST MISTAKES.
If someone breaks something, smile. If someone burns something, let it go. If someone forgets something, let it pass. Your complaining or making an issue of it, won’t fix this mess-ups anyway but IT WILL CERTAINLY IMPEDE a happy celebration of Christmas in your home.
As it is, God came into the world, knowing that people would be both jealous of him (much of our day-to-day lives we seem to walk around acting as if we ourselves were "little gods...") and fearful of him ("oh my, now we have to listen to him ..."). God chose to enter the world IN THIS WAY, as a BABY, perhaps precisely because ABSOLUTELY NO ONE IS AFRAID OF A BABY.
And if God can be so UNDEMANDING of us, can we be similarly undemanding of the friends and relatives around us.
So God bless you all and in the name of everybody associated with Annunciata, a HAPPY and BLESSED CHRISTMAS to you all, and please please please, if somebody screws up something at home ... let it go ;-).
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