As I drove through the neighborhood recently just after dark, I marveled at the displays of Christmas lights on the homes and in the yards. Some were elaborate and extensive, even exaggerated, others more restrained. Some, perhaps, were half-hearted and still others small and simple, but there was no question that festivity was afoot.
For some reason it reminded me of the Christmas that was not so: the grim Christmas of 1973 dimmed by the energy crisis imposed by the Arab oil embargo, when the government urged all Americans to forego Christmas lights among other things to conserve electricity suddenly scarce and expensive. It was dark and depressing for us kids and probably everybody else, too. The lights were a long time in coming back, and I am delighted that they did.
Fifty years ago Christmas was different, but Christmas was still Christmas then, and so it is today. The birth of Christ, God become man, defines and describes the day that transforms our lives and all lives, despite constant change in circumstance.
Pope Saint Leo the Great laid open this mystery when He rejoiced with his Roman flock in 450 AD. Things were different then, indeed, but one thing was the same. He preached: For to-day the Maker of the world was born of a Virgin's womb, and He, who made all natures, became Son of her, whom He created. To-day the Word of GOD appeared clothed in flesh, and That which had never been visible to human eyes began to be tangible to our hands as well. To-day the shepherds learnt from angels' voices that the Saviour was born in the substance of our flesh and soul; and to-day the form of the Gospel message was pre-arranged by the leaders of the LORD'S flocks, so that we too may say with the army of the heavenly host: "Glory in the highest to GOD, and on earth peace to men of good will." (Sermon XXVI, On the Feast of the Nativity, VI)
Christ’s birth today is different from all other events that happened ‘on this day in history.’ I wrote at Christmas ten years ago: one hundred years ago, the nations of Europe were at one another’s throats, five months into the First World War. Hundreds of thousands had already died of the millions who would eventually fall. But that Christmas, troops on opposite sides of No Man’s Land, soldiers who had been murdering one another, emerged from their trenches and greeted one another with carols and cheer, to shake hands, laugh, talk, and even play sports together. It was The Christmas Truce of 1914, an example of the “sigh of relief” that Cardinal Ratzinger mentioned.
The day and the truce passed, and the war in all its savagery ground on. The subsequent Christmas, far less charity was to be found; and Christmases after that, none at all. I fear that relentlessness set the tone for the century since.
However, the same grace, mercy, and peace that prompted that divine interruption of human misery is as alive and potent as He ever was.
The day that was chosen and changed by God is the day the changes us, though God dwells among us now every day. Ox and ass and angel and shepherds rejoiced to recognize the marvel before their eyes, and you and I renew our own joy when this day comes to us with its cargo of the Christ Child.
After all our waiting and all our preparation, the day is fleeting, as is every day. But today, Christmas day, is unlike any other day. Awareness of this difference gives the day a savor that draws our attention and changes our experience. This savor’s source is the presence and work of God, Who inhabits our time and our life with His life and his care, revealing Himself first as an infant requiring care.
The astonishing vulnerability of Almighty God is an invitation difficult to resist. He Who will conquer all our enemies first shows such sweetness when He shares our weakness that He draws us close, for He will also share our wounds. This great bridging of the immeasurable gap happens in a moment, and the moment brings delight.
We celebrate the moment now, not some far away date in history. As the great and ancient antiphon of the Nativity pours out for all to hear,
Hodie Christus natus est:
Hodie Salvator apparuit:
Hodie in terra canunt Angeli,
Laetantur Archangeli,
Hodie exsultant justi, dicentes:
Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Alleluia.
Today Christ is born:
Today the Savior appeared:
Today on Earth the Angels sing,
Archangels rejoice,
Today the righteous rejoice, saying:
Glory to God in the highest.
Alleluia.
Today we rejoice; today Christ is born. Today God is before our eyes and on our lips in praise that echoes the angels above. With Father Swink and Father Wiktor, all of us here in the Holy House of Soubirous, and all the generous souls who labor in this parish to bring you grace, I assure you of my prayers and warmest personal wishes for a rich, deep, joyful and beautiful Christmas, today.
Monsignor Smith
