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Christ
the Light of the World
December 25, 2006
Readings
for the Solemnity of Christmas (Mass at Dawn)
| Reading
1: Is. 62:11–12 |
| Responsorial
Psalm: Ps. 97:1, 6, 11–12 |
| Reading
2: Tit. 3:4–7 |
| Gospel:
Lk. 2:15–20 |
| Link
to Readings |
By
Father Wade Menezes, C.P.M.
Aim:
(1) to describe the lights of the first Christmas: in the
cave, of the angels, of the star; (2) to describe this Child
as the Light of the World, our guide through life.
Dawn is the time
of day in which the first rays of light begin to glimmer,
to illumine and dispel the darkness. This morning’s
Mass on the solemnity of Christmas is no different, for in
it the image of light streams across the liturgical texts.
This is seen not only in the entrance antiphon, but likewise
in the collect and the responsorial psalm: “A light
will shine on us this day: the Lord is born for us.”
This morning, the
Church proclaims boldly that a darkened world is made all
aglow through the birth of Christ. In this darkened world,
a night sky is made bright by a shining star which stands
apart from all others; a darkened field is lit up by myriad’s
of angels hovering over simple shepherds and their flocks;
and a dark, cold cave is illumined with the warmth of Divine
Love made Incarnate, the Christ child, the Light of the World.
That Christ’s
coming challenged nocturnal creation is not something to be
alarmed at, nor should these light-illumining events be viewed
as “proof” that darkness is, in itself,
bad (after all, we learn of night’s creation in the
Book of Genesis, and the Church celebrates the Christmas liturgy
as a Vigil as well as at midnight); nevertheless, darkness
is, in a very real way, “competed with” in the
nativity account and this is important. Christ’s actual
birth in Bethlehem shows forth the beautiful reality that
God works with things according to their nature.
Simply put, it makes perfect sense that a darkened world is
tangibly illumined by divine, supernatural intervention
upon the natural.
Surely,
these event’s surrounding Bethlehem and its outskirts
show forth the fact that from the very onset of Christ’s
birth, man’s fallen nature—wherein he inherited
a darkened intellect and a weakened will—is
meant to be elevated and illumined toward perfect beatitude.
What better way to show forth this reality than through creation
itself? Simply put, darkness has become light, and rational,
sentient man comes to recognize that he has a moral responsibility
to pay homage to God Who has assumed human nature. This is
a duty which was fulfilled not only by the shepherds of old,
as told to us in the Gospel, but likewise a duty being fulfilled
in our midst by all present here this morning.
Father
Wade L. J. Menezes, CPM, is a member of the Fathers of Mercy,
an itinerant missionary preaching order based in Auburn, Kentucky.
He is an occasional contributor to Lay Witness magazine.
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