December 25, 2010
Christmas Midnight Mass
I
cannot help but to think about how frightened this newly married couple must
have been. How helpless and powerless they must have felt. How uncomfortable
and vulnerable and incredibly lonely! How relieved they must have been that the
birth was not complicated. How disappointed Joseph must have been not to have
laid his new born child into the crib he had made for him. To be born in less
than sanitary conditions and in utter poverty (our creche in no way conveys the
true conditions of this barn.) How paralyzed with fear they must have been when
these nasty shepherds showed up. You have to admit though that being born in
this way made him accessible to everyone; if he was born in a palace, you and I
would never have had access let alone shepherds. And after all isn't that what
the incarnation is supposed to convey...that from the moment of his birth forward
God would be accessible to all! What we are doing tonight is simply remembering
a birth, not a glamorous birth but a birth that has changed the entire world. This
is the moment that God gave a resounding yes to humanity! We heard how