(Christmas) - The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Year C – 2021 (EPISODE:340)
"A Child is born for us!"
[The Readings for the Mass During the Night, aka "Midnight Mass" will be read at all Masses in this parish on 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. ID: 345281795 - Hand drawn vector illustration with nativity scene. Baby jesus born in Bethlehem. -Important information - Release information: Signed property release on file with Shutterstock, Inc. Formats EPS - 4000 × 2000 pixels • 33.9 × 16.9 cm • DPI 300 • JPG - Contributor -
Halfpoint
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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 C" - by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-christmas-2021-the-nativity-of-the-lord-jesus-christ-episode-340?si=919b4675da27404ea32e9227637f8dbf&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing (EPISODE:340)
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Hello everyone and happy Christmas.
This Christmas Season is always such a beautiful time. We celebrate God who loved us so much that he pitched his tent with us and made his home with us forever… To share our joys and sorrows, our graces and temptations, our failures and successes.
Let us pray this Christmas for all the standards and ideals which Christ was born to establish; that they will take hold deeply in our hearts and in our world: especially … 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. The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory!
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It's always wonderful to look around – at mass (tonight/today) and as we travel around the community too, at Christmas time, and see the smiling faces of families and friends…(young and older)… and the smiles and the look of wonder on the faces of children - It is such a special time! And we think of special shared meals… catch-ups…. And stories and laughter, and tears of joy…. and special contact made with those who are far away, but still very close to us in our hearts and minds….
We can feel the peace, love and charity of God in a deep way at this time…
(especially on this night/day) and it inspires us to live that peace and kindness every single day of the coming year (and beyond)…
"Christmas belongs to children… and the child within all of us….." And the child within each of us is the Christ-child – Jesus – born this (night/day) - This child was first born in Bethlehem on a bleak winters night – some two thousand years ago…. He is God made human… who came to make us all brothers and sisters with him - in God's family. We are all one beloved family in Christ, who loves us beyond all telling. The child Jesus now abides deep in the hearts of each one of us– whatever age we are… we're sons and daughters of God the Father, forever! And God is dwelling in our hearts, lives and actions through the power of God's spirit of love. (CS)
As generations of Mothers and fathers have known throughout history…. When a baby's time has arrived to be born… virtually nothing can stop that… babies don't wait for perfect conditions, and peaceful settings before being born… there are countless reports of babies being born in the back of cars on the way to the hospital,…. Babies have been born in the middle of blackouts or earthquakes…. Mother's have gone into labour in the middle of battle zones….. world events big or small, international or local politics, -being far from home, having nowhere to stay…. none of these things… can halt the birth of a baby whose time has arrived.
Even my own beloved father was born in Rose Bay, Sydney, on a very cold winter's night in 1942,(midway through world war II) … as that same suburb was being shelled by an enemy submarine stationed in the ocean outside of Bondi. - Dad was born in a blackout, with air raid sirens blaring, and people moving to shelters, as several buildings around that suburb were being hit, most of the shells did not explode, some did. But his arrival was not waiting for anything. (years later, it was a source of great amazement and amusement to us when Dad later visited the hospital where he had been born, to find that it had been turned into a veterinary hospital, but at least it wasn't a stable. Although he did grow up to be an excellent home-taught carpenter and handyman.
But in any case… just as the birth of any baby occurs ready or not, so too with God… conflict, injustice, oppression, war, disaster, famine, poverty, violence, sin… none of this can impede the arrival of God into the world to help us. In fact, God has deliberately entered right into the middle of all this confusion and chaos – and will adapt and absorb all of it, into Christ's message and ministry of salvation! (Stuhlmler, p197) . This is truly a miracle and a thing of great wonder and awe.
In this Christmas gospel…. We are told that there was no room in the inn, for the Holy family. Which is mind-boggling!
Jesus, the King of all creation, and God the son, was born in a stable because there was no room for him anywhere else… No one had room for this baby and his loving family? This is a powerful sign of things to come….. "God's son has sought an entry into the over-crowded hearts and lives of people of every time and place; and he so often could not find room; and still he searches to find permanent living-room for him and his loving message in the "manger of our hearts and minds"…. --and his rejection—continues still. The only place where there was ultimately room made for Jesus during his life, was on a cross.
We would expect that the most important person to ever be born… the greatest king and Lord – should be born in somewhere special and royal…. And suitable.. But here, (quite deliberately in God's plan – this is no accident in any of this) - The first announcement of God's arrival among us, came to some shepherds. Shepherds were despised by the orthodox "so-called proper" people of those days. Shepherd were quite unable to keep the many fine details of religious law; and neither could they observe all the endless hand-washings and rules and regulations. Their flocks made far-too cmany demands on their time,. and so the orthodox looked down on them as being unclean and sinful. But, it was to simple shepherds of the fields such as these, that God's first royal message arrived.
Also, I had never realised this until now, but I read that these shepherds were in all likelihood shepherds with a very specialised task. ……. In the Jerusalem Temple, (every morning and evening), a pure and unblemished lamb was offered as the ancient, approved sacrifice to be offered to God. In order to ensure that the supply of perfect, spotless lambs was always available, the Temple authorities had their own private sheep flocks; and it has been said that these flocks were pastured near Bethlehem. It is most likely that these shepherds who heard the news of the angels, were in charge of the flocks from which the Temple offerings were chosen. Isn't it a lovely thought that the shepherds who looked after the Temple lambs, were the first to meet Jesus… THE lamb of God who takes away the sins of the all the world." (WB)
Also, another fact that is wonderful….. In the culture of that time, when a child was born, the local musicians congregated at the house of the birth to greet him with simple, joyous, local music. Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem and therefore that ceremony could not be carried out. But God provided something much better…. It is a wonderful thought that the choirs of heaven took the place of the absent chorus of earthly voices, - and angels sang the songs for Jesus that the earthly singers could not sing. Shepherds and a few "waifs and strays" likely joined in with their humble voices too, to welcome the Holy one of God. And these voices would have been the best welcome in history. (WB)
This king's humble birth – (the greatest King ever)… whom we celebrate today in the Christian faith, is God who is not to be found in fine palaces and dressed in soft robes; ….he is never one who would be out of touch with the realities, messiness and hardship of everyday life. Rather, this King… is one of us…. And he knows the life we live because, he too lived it too, and claimed no special advantage over ordinary people . This is indeed news of great joy. (CS)
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God doesn't just love us "just a little bit" – Tonight/today tells us that God loves us 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 his love into action, and be as close to us as possible, - as to be one of us!
God is absolute love – completely and deliberately choosing to be interested, involved, close to, and "actively-joining-in" on our lives. God categorically refuses to be 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 imagining!!
Christmas shows us the way God thinks and acts…. Jesus was born to SHOW us that God's ways are all about "down-to-earthness," real "approach-ability," nearness, care, practical compassion, mercy, justice, inclusing, humility and above all: involvement.
We remember today, the birthday of a person whose whole life, (from birth, ministry, death to resurrection), speaks of complete, generous, self-giving and love. And we want to imitate Jesus in all these things, In our lives too!
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."
A parishioner sent me a Chritmas message which had a fitting quote on it which she cherished.. it was one she and her late husband received a few years back and it made such an impression that it is quoted in Christmas greetings every year since then… and rightly so…. It sums up this season….and this night/day…..
"May you have the joy of Christmas, which is Faith,
May you have the Spirit of Christmas, which is Peace,
May you have the Gladness of Christmas, which is Hope,
And the Heart of Christmas, ….which is Love"(A)
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References:
Fr Paul W. Kelly
(CS)= Fr Carroll Stuhlmueller CP – Biblical mediations for advent and Christmas season p194, 197ff.
(WB)= " Luke's Gospel" - Barclay, William. 1975. The Daily Study Bible. Edinburgh: St Andrew Press.
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.
Iris and (the late) Ron Burnell, (Christmas Card) (supplied).
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
To listen to my weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here.
https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly
Roman Missal, 3rd edition, 2010, (ICEL)
Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA.
"The Psalms" by The Grail - 1963, 2009.
Prayers of the Faithful - Robert Borg "Together we pray" - (1993).
St. Ralph Sherwin Gloria - written and sung By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. 2011 ccwatershed.org.
Christmas Hymn - "Word Made Flesh" by Paul W. Kelly. Based upon: John's Gospel 1:14, 1 John 4:9, & Isaiah 9:2, 6, 7.
(Written on 8/5/20; 10/9/20). Arranged and sung by Stefan Kelk, with adjusted lyrics. 2020. https://www.airgigs.com/user/stefankelk
Traditional hymns:
O Holy Night (Vocal Duet),
Joy to the World (Choir),
Away in a Manger (Choir), performed by the Bobby Cole Chamber Choir, licensed via Shockwave-Sound.com
( https://www.shockwave-sound.com)
[ Production - KER - 2021]
May God bless and keep you.
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The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord. Year C
(24-25th December) (EPISODE:340)
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, and announce the gospel of the lord.
