December 25, 2021
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily at the Christmas Eve Family Mass on December 24, 2021 at St. Austin Catholic School in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the evening’s readings: Isaiah 9:1-6; Psalm 96; and Luke 2:1-14.
This homily is partially inspired by “Sometimes I Forgot to Tell You I Love You” from Madeleine l’Engle’s journal, The Irrational Season (Harper Collins, 1977). It also owes a lot to friend of the Paulist Fathers, Mike Hayes.
Welcome, welcome, welcome, and merry Christmas! Welcome especially to all those people joining us online, to all those who aren’t with us on a regular basis, and to all those visiting from out of town. But I have a hunch that we probably also have a few people with us tonight who have NEVER been to Mass in person before! If you’re celebrating your first in-person Mass tonight, can you wave for us – or have your parents wave for you if you don’t comprehend my voice – so that we can give you an especially warm welcome, on this especially warm Texas Christmas Eve? We’re glad that you’re here!
Tonight, we celebrate something that sounds impossible: that God was born among us as a human being. We celebrate that God so loved the world that he gave us his only Son, that the world might be saved through him. In this, we are humbled. In this, we rejoice!
I’d like to start by asking some of the children here tonight for their ideas, since children are so great at explaining profound things in simple ways. Let’s talk about some big words that begin with the letter ‘I.’
- Do you know what the word “impossible” means? [take a few responses]
- How about the word “incredible”? Sometimes we adults don’t use the word properly, but let’s see if we can get a proper definition. [take a few responses]
- And now, a toughie: what about the word “irrational”? [take a few responses; if necessary, ask them to ask adults and older siblings for help]
Tonight, we celebrate something that is irrational – it does not make sense. It is something incredible – it defies what we think can be done. It is something that most people would think is impossible. And yet, it happened. God was born as a baby into our world.
God created the universe, including the stars, mountains, and rivers, fish, birds, cats, and dogs, and you and me. God knows everything. God loves everyone. God is all powerful. And yet, God chose to be born as a human being. God became a little baby, completely dependent on Mary and Joseph to feed him, protect him, and educate him. That seems irrational, incredible, and impossible to us!
But Christmas teaches us that God understands what it means to be a person. Jesus was a person… just like you and me! As Jesus, God had parents who asked him to do his chores. He had cousins to play with. He had to learn math, reading, and religion. So no matter what you’re experiencing in your life, you can talk about it with God. God will understand because Jesus had parents, played with friends, went to school, and grew up just like you’re doing. You can talk with God about anything; God will understand!
So what if Christmas seems impossible? The angel Gabriel told Mary that nothing will be impossible for God!
For those of you who might be struggling to find the joy and the magic of Christmas this year, I have a few thoughts.
Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, wrote a sequel called Through the Looking-Glass. At one point in the second book, a character declares, “Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
In the past two years, you’ve probably felt exhausted most days, being asked to do the impossible in caring for your family in times of such uncertainty. But if there’s one day of the year when you might be able to believe in six impossible things before breakfast, it’s tomorrow. Give it a shot. You’re probably going to be up really early, anyway!
Angels are messengers of God, and children embrace Gabriel’s message much more easily than jaded adults. As the prophet Isaiah foretold: a little child shall lead us. If you need some help believing the unbelievable as you look across a living room strewn with crumpled wrapping paper, consider this short poem by Madeleine l’Engle:
This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There’d have been no room for the child.
The Christmas story is simple and profound. Possible in a seeming impossibility. Incredible in a world that often doesn’t surprise us anymore… and during these days when everything seems irrational… it makes perfect sense that God becomes one of us, so that we might do the impossible and become like God one day.
That too seems irrational, incredible, and impossible. But that’s Christmas. So this Christmas, let’s all do something irrational, incredible, and impossible together:
Let us believe.