Sunday, 12/25/11
Good people are always campaigning to put Christ back in
Christmas. Let’s go one further. Let’s put Christ’s Mass back in Christmas.
Back before there was any Santa Claus. Even back before the birth of Santa’s prototype of St.
Nicolas; people celebrated the birthday of Jesus with a special Mass. The Mass
was so central to the celebration that it was called Christ’s Mass Day, later
shortened into Christmas Day.
I like having the opening chapter of John’s Gospel for
today. It is great in describing Christ’s pre-existence. As the Son, or as the mirror image of
the Father, he was the Father’s model for all he created: for music, for DNA,
for clouds against blue skies.
I love John’s
phrase, “In him was life, and the life was the light of the world.” To my mind,
in saying his life was the light of the world John was saying that Christ’s
life is the source of all terrestrial energy: of electricity and human thought.
The great thing about John’s account in his Chapter One is
that John tells us that the immensity of the Son for us was constricted into
the form of one helpless baby.
I say, “Let’s put Christ’s Mass back in Christmas.” Let’s
fully rejoice at the moment when Christ becomes present on our altar, much as
he became present in Bethlehem. This is the real celebration of Christmas.
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