December 26, 2022
EDITOR’S NOTE: This homily was originally posted to Fr. Mark-David’s Facebook page.
Ever wonder what it was like
That second night of Christmas––
At just about this time of dark?
Angelic hosts had long faded silently into the dark
And curious shepherds returned to their work
Keeping watch over their flocks by night.
I like to think word got around
And some woman from the village
With fresh water, straw and swaddling clothes
Came to clean Mary and make her baby comfortable.
In my mind’s eye I see Joseph
Standing guard at the cave entrance,
Wolves could hungrily smell a new birth on which to prey,
-he dare not leave them unprotected
even to get food.
Perhaps a shepherd returned
With goat cheese, milk, maybe a piece of cold lamb,
Provisions to get the couple through the night.
But what then? What would happen then?
The excitement was over.
The work of surviving had just begun.
These the worries of ordinary parents,
Like yours and mine,
The ordinary worries of you for your loved ones.
That the parents of the Christ
and the Christ himself
shared the same risks and troubles
The same burdens and worries,
The same dangers, as anyone else
Is the point of Christmas.
While less dramatic than “Come All Ye Faithfull”
It is what Christmas means.
God is with us in our comings and goings
Our woes and worries
Our delights and hopes
Our loves and losses.
Christ is with us for the same reasons
We want to be with anybody we love-
To find joy and comfort in their company,
To stand by them in their sorrows, to heal their wounds,
rejoice in their accomplishments.
God with us, as we wish to love and be loved
On any ordinary night, not unlike the night
When God’s glory shone over our uncertain future-
Wanting for us, the justice that gives us the space
To love and to be,
The security and peace so all of good will
Can play and rest.
When all the splash and bling is gone
What remains with us here in the dark
Is the Christ,
The Christ who will be with us
On every step of life’s journey.
With us in times of trial-
With us in our excitements and joys.
With us even when our steps leave this life behind
To journey to the other side of heaven.
“The Lord is with you”
Is the quintessential Christmas prayer
“The Lord is with you” is the meaning
Behind “Merry Christmas.”
“The Lord is with you”
The greeting we share with each other the whole year through.
Honestly, I don’t know what it was like
for Mary, Joseph and the Christ child
that second night of Christmas.
But I do know that night was just like this one,
And now, no less than then, the truth is
The Lord of Love is with you.
Merry Christmas.
Amen.
Paulist Fr. Mark David Janus is president of Paulist Press.