Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord–Mass at Night
In eleven months, we will be electing a new president of the United States. And yet, we are all too familiar with the fact that campaign season is in full force. It seems like every fifth commercial on the TV ends with, “I’m so and so, and I approved this message,” or “Paid for by the Elect So and So Fund.” In recent weeks, in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, much of the attention of the country has turned to what the federal government is doing to keep us safe. A good chunk of the news is also focused on the use of guns, either by private individuals or police officers. Every candidate has his or her view on what really needs to be done to keep all people safe from all threats, whether from abroad or from within the homeland.
Hopefully we are forming our consciences by the light of the Gospel and Catholic Social teaching so that, when it comes to the primaries and the general election, we can vote for someone who advances not so much the agenda of a political party, but the truth and policies that will help all people to live in freedom and security.
Our burden is so much greater than high or low taxes; unemployment rates and those no longer looking for jobs; whether or not our military should be involved in a war in the Middle East. Our burden is sin: sin which causes us to hate others, sin which causes us to take advantage of others, sin which causes us to destroy ourselves. And no human person can save us from that. No human person will free us from this cycle of sin. But we proclaim, this night, that we have a savior. We have a Person who will smash the yoke that burdens us and the rod of our taskmaster. We have someone who will confirm judgment and justice for us, who will give light to our lives and make us rejoice. And that Person is not the person who will occupy the most powerful office in the world. That Person is the “Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.” That Person, whose birth around 2,000 years ago we celebrate tonight, instituted His reign as a baby. “For a child is born to us, a son is given us.”
The temptation is to be no different than all of our ancestors who placed their hope in earthly rulers. How many people were sure that Caesar Augustus, who instituted the Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, was the savior who would protect and govern the whole world? And yet, while Octavian Augustus ruled in his fine palazzo in Rome, the true King was born, in a cave, in a land that no one cared about, from a people whose glory had long since faded with the death of King David.
The solutions to our problems, as a nation and as a world, do not come from the political order. Politics certainly has its place in promoting the common good and order among all people. But the problems in our nation and our world come from the fact that, while the angels proclaimed a great joy for all people, someone who would truly save us, we are convinced that our salvation cannot come from a peaceful child who grew up to be a crucified leader of a small “heretical” group of Jews. We do not have peace on earth because we do not give glory to God in the highest. We are constantly at war–in the world, in our cities, and in our hearts–because we have been like the inn keepers of Bethlehem who, when asked to make room for a poor couple who is about to give birth to their first-born, have pushed them back out into the streets. The Prince of Peace has come to the doors of our hearts, and we have turned him away.
The solutions to all of the world’s problems begin here, as they began in a manger in a cave in Bethlehem. Even with the multitude of the heavenly host praising God, the shepherds must have thought, ‘What good can this little family do? They are so few, and the kings of the world are so powerful.’ Maybe we think, too, ‘What good would it do if I lived as Christ called me to? Would it change anything if I truly lived as if Jesus were the most important person in my life?’
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus, the king of Ephyra, was cursed by the gods for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness, and was made to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to see it roll down to the base as he approached the top. If we place our hope for the solutions to our problems in worldly efforts of this or that political party or that, we are bound to the same results. But tonight, as we celebrate Christmas, let us recommit ourselves to electing a new king for our hearts, a king who seems powerless, but is the only one who can save us.
Tonight, Jesus knocks on the door of your heart and invites you to elect Him to rule over you, an election which can change the course of human history, just as He did with twelve uneducated men and a handful of followers in the middle of nowhere in the Roman Empire. “Beloved: The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desire and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.” Beloved: “Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.”
