HOMILY for December 25, 2013: Christmas Day, Cycle A

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In 2014, I am facilitating a 12-week interactive online course in contemplative prayer and action for priests with Saint Luke Institute.  Please visit SLIconnect.org to learn more:  https://www.sliconnect.org/product/living-god-program-contemplative-life-2/

Christmas, Cycle A

St. Mary Magdalene 4:30, 6:30 pm

Our Lady of Grace 10:00 am

December 25, 2013

A Baby: A Two-Fold Sign of Hope and Healing

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

 

Power of a Baby

Back in 1987, I experienced the power of a baby that I will never forget.

My mother died in April of that year and my brother and sister were both feeling the loss. I was particularly sad, since I had brought her to Baltimore to live near me so I could care for her.

Soon after my mother’s death, my niece Allison gave birth to her first child, a little girl they named Mariah, after my mother, whose name was Mary.

And little Mariah – without knowing what was going with our sadness – was such a tremendous help in those months following my mother’s death.  It is difficult to put it into words what her new life meant for us all.

Mariah brought smiles to our faces in those sad days, as she gurgled, cuddled and cooed.  She brightened the darkness we were experiencing as a family.

In some way her little life was giving us energy and strength to keep on going. 

I would imagine that many of us have had a similar experience of the amazing power a baby’s birth can have on you.       

Baby of Bethlehem

That death and birth came to mind as I was preparing a Christmas homily last week.

It seems that when God wants an important thing done in this world or a wrong righted, God goes about it in a very singular way

God doesn't release thunderbolts or stir up earthquakes. Instead God simply has a tiny baby born, of a very humble home, of a very humble mother.

And God puts his idea or purpose into the mother's heart and she puts it into the baby's mind, and then – God waits

Babies, a Sign of Hope

I would suggest that the great events of the world may, in fact, not be battles, elections, earthquakes, or thunderbolts, but instead, the great events are the birth of babies.

Perhaps each newborn baby comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged with our world and its future, but is still expecting goodwill to become incarnate in each human life

Ø  So in every birth – our own children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews – God is re-creating all of us

Ø  In every birth we witness or are part of, God gives us reason to hope in the future

Ø  In every birth we experience first-hand, God breathes new life into humanity,

This was my insight as God breathed new hope into my family at the time of my mother’s death with the birth of little Mariah.

Hope Forestalled

We all know that little babies become little infants and little infants become little children and the hope they were at birth can loose its luster.

Their lives can become dark or sad. Some of us as infants or children may have been mistreated, uncared for, or placed aside by family, playmates, or teachers and the hope that we were at birth was suddenly forestalled.

Whatever the sad case of neglect may be, the good news of this baby called Jesus is not only that he is a sign of hope as any baby can be …

but that he is God present as one of us, God come in our human form to lift and heal us, if we have been diminished, damaged or denigrated in any way in our childhood.

In my pastoral work with men and woman who have been mistreated and abused, the greatest remedy for healing and reestablishing the hope of the child in them that has suffered neglect is for them to know first-hand God’s love for them.

To know God’s great love for us by becoming one of us – Emmanuel, God-with-us – helps us in dealing with or in healing the scars.

Conclusion

Listen again to what the angel tells the shepherds who were living in the fields with their flocks:

“Behold, men, women and children of Our Lady of Grace Parish, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”

The good news for all of us is that the child that is born to us is both an infant and a savior

He is an infant to give us hope. He’s a savior to fulfill the promise today that may have been forestalled in our own childhood.

Christmas blessings of hope and healing to each of you!