The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Year A
"THE LONG WAIT" IS OVER.
[The Readings for the Mass During the Night, aka "Midnight Mass" will be read at all Masses in this parish at Christmas Eve and Christmas day]
THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7
Psalm 95:1-3. 11-13. "Today is born our saviour, Christ the Lord."
Second Reading: Titus 2:11-14
Gospel Acclamation: Luke 2:10-11. Alleluia, alleluia!. Good News and great joy to all the world: today is born our Saviour, Christ the Lord. Alleluia!
Gospel: Luke 2:1-14
Image: Shutterstock Licensed. By Alexander Hoffmann. stock photo ID: 61891489. nativity scene with hand-coloured figures made out of wood.
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Please listen to my audio recordings of the readings, prayers, and reflections for the "The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Year A" - by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/christmas-mass-a-faith-hope-and-love-ep-195/s-QU38l (EPISODE:195)
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Hello everyone and happy Christmas.
It is such a beautiful time, this Christmas Season. We celebrate God who loved us so much that he pitched in with us and made his home with us… to share our joys and sorrows, our graces and temptations, our successes and failures.
Let us pray this Christmas for all the values Christ was born to establish… that they will take hold deeply in our hearts and in our world… peace, compassion, love, generosity, mercy, justice and so many more…
Let us all rejoice in the Lord, for our Saviour has been born in the world. Today true peace has come down to us from heaven.
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The Long Wait is over. The Christ-child is born to a world crying out for his love and peace. A world so poor, in so many ways.
As a poet writes:
"What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can,// I give Him; (I) give my heart. (1)
The wonder of this Christmas season is shown by the sight of so many people… family, friends, and parishioners gathered together at Christmas masses and at wonderful gatherings for meals. Christmas is about family. And through, the Birth of Our Lord, that first Christmas night, we are all made, forever, brothers and sisters in God's family. We are all one beloved family in Christ, who loves us beyond words.
(Tonight/Today) we gather to give thanks and praise to God who loved us so very much that he became human, (one of us), and came close to us, so as to share our joys and sorrows, our successes and failures, our hopes and fears and to save us from the mess we have made by any of our wrong choices and actions… and more wonderfully…to make us members of God's family forever. (And the beautiful thing is we didn't have to earn or prove that we somehow deserve this love); God's love for us is always "just there!" ... just like the love of unconditionally loving family and friends...
and it is never going away!
"Wonderful is His name,
Counsellor to the meek
the Son was born of flesh
to give power to the weak. (2)
Christmas, at its heart, is the most beautiful love story. It is a celebration of the absolute and astounding depths of God's love for us. And God even goes to the point of naming us beloved children.
Christmas is about how our God chose to be very near to us, (closer than a heartbeat). God gave us the best Christmas gift possible... the gift of himself ....the gift of membership of God's family. It is this perfect and unselfish gift that is remembered in the tradition of giving of presents at Christmas... Or even better just being there for each-other, and keeping loved-ones and friends in mind. A symbol of God's generous gift of his being with us in everything. God cares very much for each and every one of us and wants us to return that with perfect gifts that he gave us.. priceless gifts such as care, gentleness, reverence, respect - In how we treat people around us.
A few years back I visited the U.K. and I was really taken by how good their advertisements were, in between the shows. Some of them were like little movies and were sometimes better than the actual program. I saw the most heart-warming advertisement from U.K. just recently... it was an old Christmas ad called the "Long Wait." It showed a young child waiting impatiently in the days and days prior to Christmas. The child is so focused on waiting for the day everything else seems to drag. It appears he cannot wait to get his presents... But finally the big day arrives and he leaps out of bed... and runs past this pile of presents that have been left for him. // Did he not see the presents??//.. Wasn't this what he was waiting all this time for??//... but, NO !!... He goes to a cupboard and brings out an inexpertly wrapped present... One he has prepared and wrapped himself ... / And proudly walks to his parents' room and holds the present out to them, beaming. ...He could wait for Christmas, so he could give them a present from him//.... That's all that mattered to him. That is why he was so excited and impatient.... He couldn't WAIT to give to the ones he loved!! And it didn't matter what was in that present.. Whether it was handmade, or whatever.... It was given with love.... // - Such a beautiful little film... which also captures the Spirit of God's gift of the Christ, that first Christmas. God couldn't WAIT for the time to be just right to give us everything, simply because he loves us.
{Have a look at the advertisement... By the way, I am not being sponsored for it, and the store is not - as far as I know - in Australia, - It is just an inspiring film, on point: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIl69I5_Wjo "The Long Wait," (2011). John Lewis advertisement}.
God doesn't just love us "just a little bit" - God loves us utterly and completely, and the message of Christmas (and in fact, the whole message of Jesus' life and ministry), is that God gives up everything to put this love into action.
God is absolute love – completely and deliberately choosing to be interested, involved, close to and actively "joining-in" with our lives. God categorically rejects the option of being aloof or distant. Our Lord constantly gets right "in-there" - into the messiness of life and never leaves us to muddle on alone. And that is wonderful beyond imagination.
Christmas shows us the way God thinks and acts…. Jesus was born to SHOW us that God's ways are all about approach-ability, nearness, care, compassion, humility and involvement.
"A little child,
A shining star.
A stable rude,
The door ajar.
Yet in that place,
So crude, folorn,
The Hope of all
The world was born."(3)
We remember today, the birthday of a person whose whole life, (from birth, ministry, death to resurrection), speaks of complete self-giving and love.
Jesus shows us the way to act and respond purposefully with kindness and generosity to life, come what may. (Jesus, even in the face of the absolute worst things that an ungrateful world threw back at him, steadfastly refused to stop giving freely of his compassion, his mercy, his generosity, and healing). In short. He loved unreservedly... He IS love, and invites us to join him in living his love and giving this to others...
On every day, when we follow Jesus and live our Christian life to the full, (living life intentionally; choosing gentleness, generosity, mercy, graciousness, compassion – even when this is not what the world around us is serving up to us – // Respond to the world, not by how we are treated, but rather, choosing daily to act with love and justice, irrespective of the response or the prompting. On any day we live this way... we are 'joining-in' with God made-one-of-us).
God's miraculous decision to join-in with us, and be with us, means that, "as a result, there is nothing too complex, too messy, or too vulnerable about our own lives into which God cannot or will not enter."
SO today, like this poet,
We "insist on the infant hope, 'gooing' and kicking his legs in the air.
I won't give in to the dark, the (extremes) of weather, the fog. (And then I see) the neighbours' Nativity Scene. Their four-year-old has arranged his whole legion of dinosaurs so they, too, worship the child, joining the cow and sheep..." (4)
Amidst all this joy and hope, worry and messiness is indeed news of extraordinary joy. Joy to be shared by all people - of every time and place!
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References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly
(1) "In the Bleak Mid-Winter." Christina Georgina Rossetti. This spiritual Christmas poem is very well-known, particularly the last verse, and a favourite to many.
(2) "On This Christmas Morn." Deborah Ann Belka.
(3) "Bethlehem Of Judea." Author Unknown.
(4) "Your Luck Is About To Change." SUSAN ELIZABETH HOWE.
FR RICHARD LEONARD, SJ. QUOTED IN "THE TABLET" PAGE 7, 15TH DECEMBER, 2018. TAKEN FROM REFLECTIONS IN "What Are We Waiting For? Finding Meaning in Advent & Christmas" Richard Leonard, SJ. Paulist Press New York / Mahwah, NJ. Copyright © 2014 by Richard Leonard, SJ. He also quotes Rev. John Bell of the Iona Community in one of his beautiful poems:
Video: 2011: 'The Long Wait.' For John Lewis Department Stores, United Kingdom. This was the year that John Lewis confirmed its place in the advertising hall of fame. The twist in this film, showing a young boy's impatience for the big day really caught the public's imagination. Agency: Adam+Eve. Director: Dougal Wilson. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIl69I5_Wjo
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"Faith, Hope and Love, A time of Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul W. Kelly
Texts used in this programme are for the purposes of worship and prayer for listeners wherever you are.
Prayers and chants are taken from the English Translation of the Roman Missal, edition three, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy.
Scriptures are from the New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, by the national council of Churches of Christ, USA. , //adaptations to conform with Catholic liturgical norms, © 2009, by the same.
Psalm verses are taken from "The Psalms: the Grail Translation. Inclusive Language Version." ©1963, 1995, 2004 The Grail (England), published by HarperCollins. London.
Prayers of the Faithful are adapted from Robert Borg's 1993 book "Together we pray". Published in Sydney Australia By E.J. Dwyer. (out of print).
{ "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" -published 2011, Composed and Sung by Jeffrey M. Ostrowski Featuring the….Gloria. COPYRIGHT @ 2018 CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. www.ccwatershed.org/vatican/Ralph_Sherwin_Videos/
"Faith, Hope and Love" theme Hymn: Words, based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, set to original music © 1996 by Paul W. Kelly. Updated Lyrics, Arrangement and Vocals by Stefan Kelk. 2019.
For more details please visithttp://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au/
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Production by KER.
May God bless and keep you.
The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Year A
(24-25th December) (EPISODE: 195)
The Lord be with you.
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On this Feast day of The Birth of Our Lord, Heaven has been joined to earth. God has become flesh and dwelt among us. A blessed, happy and peaceful Christmas to everyone.
Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins,
and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.
Lord Jesus, you are mighty God and Prince of peace. Lord have mercy//
You are Son of God and the Son of Mary. Christ have mercy//
You are Word made flesh, the splendour of the Father. Lord have mercy.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.
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Nativity I
Eucharistic Prayer II
Communion side. PWK: LH
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I pray that you have a truly blessed and joyous Christmas and that Our Lord's love and peace will completely fill your hearts and minds, and safe travelling to and from your destinations…
God bless.
Go forth, the Mass is ended.
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