Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 12-24-12, Solemnity, Nativity of the Lord [Vigil]

Where Was God?

Pastor’s Column

Christmas, 2012

Where was God? As I write these words one week before Christmas Day, many of us are troubled still by the events at Clackamas Town Center and most especially the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. Where was Jesus in all this? We can find some answers in Christmas Day.

God lived within each child and adult that died, for he both creates and sustains each person on earth. At the same time, in a very real sense, he died alongside and within each one who perished. He feels our pain; he knows our struggles; he is with us through it all.

We have a God who, in this present world, comes to us always in one disguise or another. Whenever you visit or care for a sick or dying person, the Lord assures us it is actually him. Did you buy a gift for a needy child from the giving tree or do any one act of charity this season? Jesus was the recipient. Were you kind -- or unkind-- to someone? Again, it is always Christ, for this entire lifetime we are given is for this purpose only: to give us an opportunity to love God, to choose or reject the opportunities to choose and love him in his many disguises.

Though Jesus came among us as a small child, he was not welcomed by many in his day! First, the innkeepers of Bethlehem turned him away, because others arriving for the census had more money and rooms were in high demand. Then King Herod massacred the children of Bethlehem in a misguided attempt to destroy him. Even today, many find no use for this infant! He is seen by some as some kind of threat or another, when in fact he brings the gift of fellowship with God forever, and the freedom that comes with doing what God asks of us! We reach the height of our humanity in our empathy and outreach to those who are suffering, because, again, they always represent Christ in disguise.

Our Jesus, who came disguised in the humility of a baby at Christmas, is also present especially in the sufferings we have to endure, the difficulties we must face, and yes, in the questions, like Sandy Hook, that we cannot yet answer. Jesus had to suffer and die, though completely innocent; therefore no deaths, especially the deaths of the innocent, are ever without eternal meaning, for Christ’s own death has eternal meaning.

Our lives might be compared to a Christmas tree, with many shiny packages underneath. Attractive though they may be, what gives meaning to our lives are not the presents we receive but the ones we give to others. Amid these distracting packages is our God of disguises, wrapped in swaddling clothes and covered with humility. We find him still in our daily lives, especially in our sufferings and the presents, and presence, and prayers, we give to others.

Father Gary

St. Paul Center Blog

New Song: Scott Hahn Reflects on the Readings for Christmas Day

Posted by Dr. Scott Hahn

Isaiah 52:7–10
Psalms 98:1–6
Hebrews 1:1–6
John 1:1–5, 9–14

The Church’s liturgy rings in Christmas with a joyful noise. We hear today of uplifted voices, trumpets and horns, and melodies of praise.

In the First Reading, Isaiah fortells Israel’s liberation from captivity and exile in Babylon. He envisions a triumphant homecoming to Zion marked by joyful singing.

The new song in today’s Psalm is a victory hymn to the marvelous deeds done by our God and King.

Both the prophet and psalmist sing of God’s power and salvation. God has shown the might of His holy arm, they say. This language recalls the Exodus, where the people first sang of God’s powerful arm that shattered Israel’s enemy Egypt (see Exod. 15:1, 6, 16).

The coming of the Christ child into the world fulfills all that the Exodus and the return from exile prefigured.

In Jesus, all nations to the ends of the earth will see the victory of God over the forces of sin and death.

Jesus is the new King. He is the royal firstborn son and Son of God promised to David, as we hear in today’s Epistle (see Ps. 2:7; 2 Sam. 7:14).

And as our Gospel reveals, He is the Word of God, the one through whom the universe was created, the one through whom the universe is sustained.

In speaking to us through His Son, God has unveiled a new age, the last days.

The new age is a new creation. In the beginning, God spoke His Word and light shone in the darkness. Now, in this new age, He sends us the true light to scatter the darkness of a world that has exiled itself from God.

He is the one Isaiah foretold – who brings good tidings of peace and salvation, who announces to the world that God has come to dwell and to reign (see Rev. 21:3–4).

So we sing a new song on Christmas. It is the song of those who have believed in the Christ child and been born again – by grace given the power to become children of God.

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