DECEMBR 24, 2011: CHRISTMAS VIGIL- HOMILY:
LUKE 1:78
THE DAWN FROM ON
HIGH SHALL BREAK UPON US. Not long after Zechariah pronounced these words in
his canticle of praise, Saint Paul
In
the person of Jesus the favor of God toward our human race takes on human form
and was seen by human eyes. Even so that grace made visible was recognized only
by a few whose hearts and senses had been purified by their faith and hope in
God's mercy and his fidelity to his promises. The appearance of grace in the
person of the Word of God made flesh is the cause of the joy that continues to
be felt and celebrated throughout the world at this Christmas Celebration.
Grace had already been imparted by God prior to the birth of our Lord. But the
favor of God shown to the Patriarchs and prophets, and to all of the just and
holy people who had sought to please the Lord as they understood his will was
given only in a more limited measure, and even that was bestowed in view of the
future redemptive life and death of the divine Savior. The Mother of our
Savior, Mary, had been prepared for her role of giving birth to the Redeemer in
virtue of the grace he was to win for her by his willing sacrifice on the
cross.
The precise meaning of "grace"
in this text and in the New Testament in general is not spelled out in so many
words. In general it refers to the entire gift of salvation bestowed freely on
those who accept it in faith. The word for "grace" in Greek, charis,
implies not only the benevolent disposition of the giver but also the grateful
response of the recipient. In addition it suggests a state of beauty of an attractiveness appealing to our best aspiration; The
person endowed with charis radiates a winsome spiritual beauty that
attaches the human heart to its possessor in proportion as it is
recognized and acknowledged.
Christ Jesus was the manifestation of that moral beauty that
made him so appealing to those who themselves were touched by God's favor.
Through the centuries, appearing to the eye of faith as a new-born infant the
Lord has manifested this charm, so attaching in its effect on the soul. Thus
the fullness of God's plan begins to unfold before our eyes in an inviting
display of God's tender love. The vulnerability of the infant is an appeal to
us to approach him with trust. God, who had established the Old Covenant in the
fearful storm cloud at
The two most popular Christian feasts, Easter and Christmas,
are joyous celebrations even though both stand in relation to the cross of
Jesus and his experience of defeat, pain, humiliation and death. This is in
keeping with Jesus' prediction in his Last Discourse when he told his apostles
that "you will be sad but your sorrow will be turned into joy... your
heart will be glad and no one can will take your joy from you (John 16:20, 22)."
Although it is by his cross that Jesus redeems the world, yet the victory he
has already won and in which we are offered a share changes the meaning of
suffering and even of death itself. The joy of Christmas is the reflection of
that victorious resurrection of the Lord that gives us assurance of arriving at
the goal of all our strivings. This goal consists precisely in attaining to an
intimate and eternal union with the Son of God made man who now comes into this
world to bring us eternal life. In the new born infant we behold with the eyes
of faith the one who is, in his person, the fulfillment of our most profound
aspirations for a love that is at once ardent and pure, selfless and without
end. Only such a love is fully gratifying to the human spirit. This kind of
divine love is the grace that is manifested in the birth of our Savior.
In this Eucharist we recall the entry of the Son of God into
this world through Mary. We also re-enact the mysteries of his death and
resurrection. The very same person who came into the world on the first
Christmas night now comes here among us. He once again gives himself to us and
offers himself for us, not in the beguiling form of a new-born infant but in
the words of Scripture and under the sacramental forms of bread and wine. The
message he imparts to us is the same in each: the saving grace of God is given
to us because He loves us. He asks us now to give ourselves to him in return,
with loving confidence that the Father who, with His transcendently generous
love gives us His beloved son will bring us together with the risen Christ his
presence when he appears at the end of time in all his glory. Ω