Word to the Wise
Monday, December 25, 2023 - Christmas: Mass during the Day - ABC
[Isa 52:7-10; Heb 1:1-6; John 1:1-18 or 1:1-5, 9-14,3]In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.....And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. [John]
On Christmas Day, our liturgical tradition allows three different Masses: Midnight, Mass at Dawn, and Mass During the Day! Most of us will attend one of those but not all three!! But it can be rewarding at least to read the scriptures for all three Masses and notice the unfolding of the significance of the birth of Christ, the Word made Flesh.
Midnight Mass (likely to be also used for the "children's Mass earlier in the evening) the gospel account of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem is read from the Gospel According to Luke. This, of course, is THE event to be celebrated. But then, in the Mass at Dawn, the Gospel According to Luke presents the proclamation of Jesus' birth by the angels to the shepherds who go and see and then proclaim the Good News: Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. Last but not least, though, is the "big picture" that the Gospel According to John presents to us from the "prologue;" In the beginning was the Word....and the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us and we saw his glory... There is an increasing vision from a geographic and historical point with particular people to an eternal point that has been manifested to the whole world!
Isaiah, St. Paul and the Letter to the Hebrews chime in with hopes and expectations and early preaching, but the challenge is for us to live with and proclaim, like the angels and shepherds, that the Word has become flesh and makes his dwelling among us. We celebrate this not only in the Eucharist but in our own lives, sharing the "grace and truth" revealed to us on that day and this day and all days!
To each of you, my Beloved Congregation, I wish a blessed Christmas celebration with gratitude in my heart for you. Merry Christmas!! AMEN