Homily for the Vigil Mass of Christmas

A homily for the Vigil Mass of Christmas. This congregation will largely consist of families with children.

Tonight we are waiting. The world has always been waiting. Mankind has always felt the need for salvation; we have always known that things are ‘just not right’ and have called out to God asking Him to intervene and straighten things out.

More than two and a half millennia ago, the prophet Isaiah spoke of this need for salvation. Politically and morally Jerusalem was in a bad way; once again, the Chosen People had turned their back on God. But the Holy Spirit spoke through Isaiah and gave him words of comfort. God would intervene to put things right for mankind – the land that was called Foresaken and Abandoned would receive a new name: My Delight and The Wedded. The Chosen People are called to trust again in the Lord. God would put things right. But how would this be done?

Would God intervene with great power – destroying the evil and rewarding the good? Would He raise up a new king of Israel to establish a state of justice and peace? Hoping for a powerful God who judges is a risky proposition – can we really be confident that we would end up in the right? And, could we ever think that any earthly king or state can put things right, when the real problems of the world are found within human hearts.

The answer that God gives is the reason for our celebration. He does not come in power and might. He does not come as an earthly king. He sends his Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary and she is found to be with child. He Himself took flesh from the Virgin. This is why the Old Testament calls Him Emmanuel - God is with us. God Himself became a little baby – a baby called Jesus, a name meaning Saviour. And how does He save us? He does not do so with brute power and might, but the strange weapons of weakness, innocence and love – the weapons by which a little baby can win our hearts.

By coming into the world as a child, God makes possible a new relationship with Him. He makes Himself small so that He is no longer far away from us. He shows us that His love for us is so great that He wants to enter into our world, into our lives and make Himself defenceless in front of us.

By coming to us as a baby He invites us to open our hearts to Him. This is where His salvation begins – by driving out hatred, bitterness and sin and replacing it with His love. During the year we will celebrate His teaching, His Passion, His Cross, His Resurrection and His sending of the Holy Spirit – but tonight our focus is on the beginning. At the beginning is the baby. We look at the little baby in the crib and our hearts open; we learn that He is our God and we realise that the whole world has been changed. We know that the world is not Foresaken or Abandoned, but that Heaven and Earth have been wedded to each other, and God has come to change us so that he might truly delight in us. We know that God has come close to us, and has poured His grace and His love into our world, and for that we give thanks on this Holy Night.

Pope Benedict wrote a letter about hope about a month ago which explains what this mystery of the baby in the crib means to us. He writes: Through him we have become certain of God, a God who is not a remote “first cause” of the world, because his only-begotten Son has become man and of him everyone can say: “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20) [Spe Salvi 26]

I’d like to say a word to the children now. I’m sure you’re all very excited about Christmas, about Christmas dinner and sweets and presents and so on. I hope you all have a fun Christmas. But don’t forget what the fuss is really about – take a little time to look at the baby Jesus in the crib – at home or here in the Church. We are celebrating His birthday at Christmas; so take some time to thank Him for coming into the world to be our best friend who helps us to live good and holy lives. Adults, we could do worse than do the same.