Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I would like to speak the truth to you rather than giving you pious, pretty words. I want to give you some really solid, substantial, not something merely emotional or sentimental. Today, a Messiah is born for you who is the Lord! I always loved this gospel and this holy night especially at Midnight Mass. The Church has two holy nights: Christmas and Easter. Tonight is called Noche Buena in Spanish, the Good Night, a holy night as it says in the opening prayer. Why is it holy? Because God does something beautiful: He loves us! Without this night there would be no Easter night, no resurrection, no heaven. If Christ was not born, he would not be able to die, to give his live for us!
In Russian or Eastern icons the child is not depicted in a manger or cradle but in a coffin wrapped in a shroud. This helped the people to understand this greater mystery. It is not about how cute the little child is and isn’t he sweet. Blah! He came to give his life for you! In the icon the manger is under the cross to help us see the deeper mystery of why Christ became a man for us. Christ could not have given his life unless he was first born.
I also love this gospel because it underlines the word: today. It is echoed in the story of Zaccheaus where Jesus sees his complete change of heart and says: today, salvation has come to this house. He was a tax collector and the chief collector and a very hated and probably corrupt man and yet after meeting Christ he gave away all of his wealth. So, for us, today is born for you and me a Savior. What is your today? What are you living for today? Are you sick today, or unfaithful today, or a gossiper today or do you think yourself better than the others today? Sincerely, what are you living for today? If you see you cannot love your mother-in-law or you cannot love anyone, that you love only yourself, then this night is for you. This night and the night of the resurrection are holy nights.
Our Lord doesn’t demand anything from us. He comes only to love us. He says, I love you, I love you madly, even though we are poor and weak and a mess. He doesn’t demand; he doesn’t say I will come to you if you are good, like we tell the kids: if you are not good then no presents. He doesn’t do any of that moralistic teaching. God loves you even when you misbehave, even when you do horrible things. This night is not moralistic. You don’t have to be good to receive Christ in your heart, just the opposite.
One point that I found helpful in the gospel is that there is a registration where all the people have to return to their hometown, wherever that may be. For the Holy Family it is Bethlehem. Where is your hometown? A Christian’s hometown is in heaven. What is heaven? I would like to see it today. Heaven is when you can love the other as they are, when you can forgive and understand the other and put yourself into his/her shoes. How can I live in heaven? Heaven is to experience happiness, joy even in the midst of suffering. Heaven is eternal life. How can I get it? You cannot; you cannot register for it. So, God will bring it to you through a child. He will bring heaven to you. This child is God. The child teaches us humility, which is something that we don’t know. He humbles himself on these two holy nights. He is born in a pig sty and dies on a cross, the worst place to be born and to die.
He wants to teach you what humility is. Humility is happiness. Humility is to be in heaven. What does God do for you since you can’t register yourself? He comes and dwells in you. Christ enrolls you. Where is your home so Christ can be born there? Your house is you. It may be a dirty, disgusting place but it is your home. And Christ comes to your home!
Christ could not be born in an inn since there was no room for him there. In a decent inn there was no room. He didn’t want to be born in a palace with marble and a huge bed and a jacuzzi, with a great view of the water. He wanted to be born in a manger. What is your manger today? Because if you do not recognize your manger, your poverty, Christ cannot be born there. There is no room in the inn; he has to be born in poverty. If you don’t need to be saved from something, he cannot be born in you. A manger is a place full of you-know-what, a disgusting place, a place that is hidden, a place where you love only yourself and where you cannot love the other.
That is the place where Christ wants to be born. Not in the home of a super-Christian, of a sinless person. Not for the good ones who swim in holy water, not for those who think they are good, and all the others are bad; they think they don’t need salvation. There is no room for God in them. Only in a manger is there room for God and there he can be born. In this manger he says something terrific: I love you, I love you, I love you. Today a savior is born for you. He is the only one who can save you.
Our Lord alone has the power to give you a new life, to make you truly happy, full of joy. If you believe this today, the eucharist has power to transform you. This is not theatre; we are not celebrating something from 2,000 years ago. Christ has the power today to be born in you, to transform you. For this he gives you a specific food: himself. I hope you take from him this food and that you are well prepared for it. He wants to be born in you, in that reality that neither you nor I can love.