As God's Family (Sermon on Christmas Day)

Happy Birthday! We have come to wish you, our Lord and Saviour, a happy birthday! The conjunction of planets Jupeter and Saturn, just few days ago, on Monday, was the same sight that led the three magi to the crib. Friends sent me photos of the bright star, it was shivering to see the lights of the first Christmas. 

Now we are gathered around the Crib as God’s family. The newborn baby is loved by Mary and Joseph beyond all words. Like in every parents’ life, the birth of a child changes everything. It brings out the best of a mother and a father. Jesus is loved wholeheartidly. Contemplating this love, the chief commandment comes to mind, as the source of this love. ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ Mary, just like Joseph, loves Jesus with all her heart, all her soul, and all her mind.

The birth of Jesus, the second divine person, the Son becoming incarnate, mobilies not only human love, but Divine Love itself. The Father, our heavenly Father, is also leaning over this spot where we are standing right now. All his love is poured out on this child. This is on outpouring love. The fullness of Love is focused on this family; and we are standing in this limelight. Jesus is loved, fully, we are loved, fully by the Father. 

Pope Francis, in his Christmas Eve homily said that in today we are told by God, the same thing, as the Divine Child is told: ‘I love you so much. You are so precious. Don’t ever be tempted by the thought that “I am a failure”’. 

Let us allow ourselves to be washed by this shower of love. Let it remove our anxieties, our worries about the pandemic, and make it bearable. God knows that our worries and challenges are real. Today, however, and in this Christmas season, he wants us to pray differently. Whenever we share with him our innermost needs, let us keep our eyes on the joy of the Holy Family. Let us make our requests and prayers in the experience of being loved. We stand in front of the crib as God’s family. Let it remind us, that this is a place, where God looks upon the Saviour. It means that all situations where this Child and Teacher is present are redeemable! There is no lost cause in his presence. So, let us learn to pray as God’s family, drawing strength from the crib’s message: from now on, the Redeemer walks by us.
 
25.12.2020