Liturgical Colour : White
Titus 2 : 11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, teaching us to reject an irreligious way of life and worldly greed, and to live in this world as responsible persons, upright and serving God, while we await our blessed Hope – the glorious manifestation of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.
He gave Himself for us, to redeem us from every evil and to purify a people He wanted to be His own and dedicated to what is good.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13
Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.
Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.
Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them; let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy.
Let them sing before the Lord Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.
Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 9 : 1-7
The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death. You have enlarged the nation; You have increased their joy. They rejoice before You, as people rejoice at harvest time as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.
For the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors, You have broken it as on the day of Midian. Every warrior’s boot that tramped in war, every cloak rolled in blood, will be thrown out for burning, will serve as fuel for the fire.
For a Child is born to us, a Son is given us; the royal ornament is laid upon His shoulder, and His Name is proclaimed : “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
To the increase of His powerful rule in peace, there will be no end. Vast will be His dominion, He will reign on David’s throne and over all his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forever. The zealous love of YHVH Sabaoth will do this.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, finally after a long period of few weeks during the Advent season that we have spent in preparation for today’s glorious and most joyful celebration, we can finally sing in great joy and jubilation, ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo!’, ‘Glory to God in the Highest!’ because His salvation has come into our midst and we recall the moment when this very important event in the history of our salvation and existence, happened more than two thousand years ago in the small town of Bethlehem in Judea. At that time, in the small town where David, the famous King of Israel hailed from, in a manger within a stable where animals were kept, a young Child was born, the firstborn of His Mother Mary, an unassuming young woman who had come with her husband St. Joseph from Nazareth in Galilee.
Yet, this seemingly ordinary occasion, of just another birth happening in this world, and all the more happening in a small and ordinary town, not even something that is supposed to be memorable, and yet, it is one of the most important moments in our faith which allows us to hope once again in the Lord, His love and compassion for us, that by this same, ever enduring and patient love, He has manifested this love in a tangible and real way, by making Himself approachable to us, through His beloved Son, Our Saviour, Lord and King, Jesus Christ, the Son of God Most High. His coming was welcomed not with great fanfare that usually accompanied the birth of royalty and great personages of this world, and yet, His birth is the singular most important birth that has happened and will ever happen.
He is the One Whom all the prophets and messengers of God had spoken about, prophesied and predicted, and His coming would herald a new era for the world. Before He came and reveal God’s love and truth to us, we were still all lost amidst all the darkness and evils of this world. We were tempted by the temptations of worldly pleasures to seek these things and our many attachments to worldly goods and pursuits that we often forgot about the Lord and failed to recognise Him being the One Whom we should focus our attention on in our lives. But God sent to us His Son, so that He can gather us all, His lost sheep who have been wandering all over the world. And His entry into this world, His Nativity or birth, is what we all rejoice for this day and throughout the Christmas season.
We must realise that without Christ and His Incarnation, His entry into this world and later on with everything that He had done for our sake, in willingly embracing and taking upon Himself our sins and the punishments due for those sins, we would have been doomed by those same sins and wickedness, and we should have suffered for eternity in Hell away from God and His perpetual love and grace. There is indeed a massive chasm separating us from God’s love, again due to our sins and refusal to obey the Law and commandments of God. No one could cross this chasm and be reconciled, reunited to God on His own, but through His coming, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ had brought about the reassurance of our reconciliation with God, as He became for us the Bridge connecting between us and God, our loving Father and Creator.
Yet, brothers and sisters in Christ, despite all these, we can easily notice all around us how this time and celebration of Christmas had lost its meaning, purpose and significance in many of the occasions when we celebrate Christmas. Christmas has become yet just another celebration and festivities, with all of its glamour, glitz and parties, where many focused on the celebratory aspects, all the activities, feasting and rejoicing, but the heart and core significance of what Christmas is all about has often been lost, even to many amongst us Christians. How many of us Christians actually carry out our celebrations of Christmas with the Lord Jesus Christ, Our Saviour and God at the centre of everything we do this Christmas?
How many of us treated Christmas as merely a time for another celebration or holiday, or think of Christmas as the time and occasion to be merry and to celebrate with lots of festivities and parties? How many among us are looking forward to all the food and the good things that we are all going to have, to the gifts and presents that we are all going to exchange and receive, and to all the bling associated with the way how the world usually celebrate Christmas? How many of us have forgotten that Christmas is truly about Christ our Lord, and how He has brought into our midst the love of God, being made present among us, and therefore all of our rejoicing and celebration ought to be centred on Him and not on ourselves?
Christmas is definitely a time to be happy and to celebrate, brothers and sisters in Christ. However, if we allow ourselves to be deluded, fooled and swayed by all the temptations and the false ideas being presented to us, and if we forget the true nature and significance of Christmas, then I am afraid that we have not celebrated it in the right way and in the right spirit. Without Christ, there can be no Christmas and there can be no true joy and hope for us. It is precisely because of Christ that we can truly rejoice today, as His coming into this world and His birth shows us that God was not just making empty promises and He is truly loving all of us all these while. Through Christ, all of us can experience and we have become witnesses of God’s ever enduring and ever present love, just as we can also experience His Presence in our midst.
That is why, this Christmas, let us all turn away from all the excesses of the worldly and secular Christmas, that we do not end up celebrating and rejoicing in the wrong way. We should not be celebrating excessively, focusing our attention on all the glamour, parties and all the excessive attention on the festivities without remembering or putting Christ at the centre of all that rejoicing and celebrations. We must not allow the temptations and false pleasures of this world from distracting us away from the true reason and joy of Christmas, that is Christ our Lord. We should lead by example in how we all centre ourselves on Christ and do whatever we can so that our whole lives and how we celebrate Christmas will truly be filled with Christ in all things, and we may be the good and faithful bearers of our Christian truth and Good News to all the people around us.
Let us also share our joy and happiness with everyone around us especially if we have been blessed with more, and granted the opportunities and chances to do more good things in our lives and particularly during this Christmas celebrations and time. Let us also remember that not everyone has the opportunity to celebrate Christmas, either because of the circumstances or because of certain misfortunes and difficulties. Our brothers and sisters in the Middle East, particularly in the Holy Land are now facing hardships and conflicts, ongoing warfare and constant threats to their lives and properties. They cannot celebrate in the same manner as us, especially when death and sufferings are all around them daily and at every moments. The same is also still happening to our brethren in Ukraine and parts of Russia as well, where conflict is still raging on almost two years now.
There are also many of our brothers and sisters who have been persecuted for their faith across the world, just like in the days of the early Church, and as it had happened throughout the history of our faith. Many of these brethren of ours cannot openly celebrate Christmas and cannot even let it be known that they are followers of Christ on the threat and pain of suffering and death. There are many others still who are facing financial difficulties and challenges in their lives, from losing their loved ones and their livelihood, from all the injustice and hardships of this world. Many are not able to even afford basic needs and basic welfare, and they are definitely not in the position to celebrate the way that many of us do for Christmas. Yet, we may be surprised to find out that in their hearts and minds, they know well the message and the hope of Christmas, and they look to Christ as their Hope and their focus as they endure all these crosses and sufferings with Him.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore help our needy brothers and sisters whenever and wherever we can, and keep in mind those who are not able to rejoice as much as we do that our celebrations do not become lavish and excessive, or lose its focus on Christ. Let our Christmas celebrations and joy be shared with all, and let us all show that through Christ, a new Hope has descended into this world, illuminating a world steeped in darkness, raising us all from our wretched state and existence, allowing us all to have hope again, and His Peace has come into our world, and we hope that the Peace of Christ may reign in all hearts and in all the world, that all conflicts may cease and everyone may live once again in peace, and His Joy brought about a new smile and cheer to all of us, reminding us all that all these are possible because of His everlasting and ever patient Love.
May the Lord Jesus Christ, Our God, Saviour and King, born on Christmas Day, continue to bless us all and watch over all of us. May He bless our every Christmas joy and celebrations and help us to remain focused and centred on Him in all things. May He empower us all, particularly those among us who are facing hardships and troubles in life, and may He give us the courage and strength to continue to persevere in faith and life, at all times. Wishing everyone a happy, holy and blessed Christmas! Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this night we celebrate greatly in the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, marking the glorious occasion of the birthday of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. On this night, after the whole entire month of the season of Advent, that we spent preparing ourselves to welcome the Lord, we finally have arrived at this moment when we rejoice wholeheartedly in great rejoicing and festivities, as we enter into this season and time of joy. Tonight, we truly sing from our hearts and minds, with the Angels of God and the innumerable saints, ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo!’, glory to God in the highest, praising Him for all that He has done for us, as He entered this world, becoming a Child for us, born and revealing to us the fullness of His love and ever enduring kindness.
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of the prophet Isaiah about the proclamation of the coming of the salvation from God, as Light has come from God to the people who have lived in the darkness, to illuminate their lives and their paths, restoring unto them their hope and strength. That prophecy also mentioned the time of liberation and freedom, as the light and salvation of God was revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, the Holy Child born in Bethlehem in Judea, the city of David just as the prophets had spoken about for a long time. That prophecy is a direct reference to the Saviour Whom God would send into the world, and He has indeed come in the person of Jesus Christ, the Holy Child born of His mother Mary, the Virgin who has given birth to a Son, that is none other than God Himself, Incarnate in the flesh, Emmanuel, God Who is with His people.
That is why we heard the very peculiar titles that the prophet Isaiah mentioned regarding this Holy One born to save all the people of God. His titles are ‘Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ Truly peculiar and interesting is it not? On a hindsight, people back then at the time of the prophet Isaiah and even at the time of the Lord’s birth would not have realised that it is none other than God Himself, willingly coming down to be with us, to dwell in our midst, although the hints and predictions had been aplenty. It was because until the Lord Himself revealed it all, they would not have realised the truth, and they would not have known the truth. But all of us today who have heard and received the fullness of truth, truly know Who it is that came that day more than two millennia ago, the birthday of Our Lord and Saviour.
After all, how can He not be the Divine Word Incarnate, if we heard the prophet himself saying about this One and this Child as Mighty God and Everlasting Father? How can the prophet referred to any man alive or coming in the future as God, if it is truly not God Himself coming to our midst in the flesh? He is the one and only Father and Creator of all, and this same One Who has created us all out of His perfect love, is the One born on Christmas, and Whom we are celebrating today and this entire glorious and joyful season of Christmas, remembering how His love for us led to Him coming to us in order to save us from impending destruction and damnation. He wants us all to be reconciled to Him, and because of all of that love, and the desire to save us, He has come into our midst, humbling Himself as a small, little Child.
God made Himself small and vulnerable as a Child, and as a Man like us so that through Him, and His sharing of our human nature and existence, He may bring unto us the perfection of love and obedience, showing us what it truly means to be a disciple and follower of the Lord. Christ could have come as a conquering King and Mighty One, just as many believed or thought that He would have, but He chose to come to us in this way, because He wants to be the Mediator between us and our Heavenly Father, God in Heaven, becoming the Bridge through His Cross, suffering, death and resurrection, that bring us back to the Father, and reestablish the Covenant between Him and us, which had once been broken by our disobedience and sins. He became Man so that by uniting our human nature to Himself, we may see and receive the fullness of redemption and glory, together with Him.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard of the account of the birth of Our Lord according to St. Luke, which I am sure we are all familiar about, telling us how St. Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem in Judea according to the census order of the Roman Emperor Augustus. That became the fulfilment of the prophecies of the prophets, as by Divine plan and will, the Saviour would indeed be born in the city of David, and through St. Joseph and his legal marriage to Mary, the Mother of God, Jesus Christ was born the Son and Heir of David, in the city of Bethlehem that day, more than two millennia ago. But what we also should take note is how, when the heavily pregnant Mary and St. Joseph came to Bethlehem, all the inns and accommodations there were full, and there was no place for them at all, so that they had to settle for a stable outside of the town, a place not even fit for human dwelling.
It was there that the Saviour of the world was born, not in palace made with the finest stones and adorned with gold, but amongst animals and shepherds, and Whose coming was announced to those same shepherds, with the bright Star of Bethlehem resting upon His birthplace, guiding the Three Magi or Wise Men to Him. The Lord loves each one of us so much that He became One like us, making Himself tangible and approachable by us, embracing our humble human existence and life, so that by His appearance and coming into our midst, He may show us the light of His hope and salvation, as something that is within our reach and something that we can approach without fear, reminding us of the great and ever enduring love that He has always had for us. God has never left us alone, and He has always desired that we find our way back to Him, calling us to return through His Son.
Yet, many of us have yet to acknowledge that call, and just as Mary and St. Joseph had difficulty finding any place in Bethlehem, how about us? Have we welcomed the Lord into our hearts and minds when He comes to us? Or have we been like those innkeepers and other accommodation places in Bethlehem that turned the Lord, His mother and foster father away, just because there was no place in them? Let us all look into our lives and our way of believing in God all these while, and especially also in how we are going to celebrate Christmas, not just today but for the entire season, and even beyond that. Are we so full of worldly things and preoccupations that we have no place at all for the Lord in our hearts and minds? And is the Lord even the focus and the reason why we celebrate Christmas?
Too often we can see all around us that Christmas celebrations have been centred not on Christ but on other things, and we see how people seek pleasures, joyful celebrations, merrymaking, parties and all kinds of activities that made them filled with revelry and joy, and yet, Christ was noticeably absent from all of the celebrations. That is unfortunately what happened in how Christmas is celebrated all around the world. Not only that but even among us Christians, have we been truly celebrating Christmas because we understand its significance and importance to us, or have we celebrated Christmas because we seek all of its festivities and joy, for our own selfish desires and wants? Have we celebrated Christmas not remembering Christ and all that He has done for us, because of His love for us?
Let us all therefore rediscover the true meaning of Christmas and do our best to return the Lord to the very focus and heart of all of our celebrations if we have not yet done so. If we have allowed our many temptations and distractions, worldly glamour and secularised Christmas focus to distract us from the true meaning of Christmas, let us now then return to the Lord once again and make Christmas once against about Christ. Christmas is also a time when we should imitate and follow in the loving example of Our Lord, in how He has loved all of us so dearly, that we too may love our fellow brothers and sisters, loving all those whom we encounter in life, our families and relatives, our friends and acquaintances, and even all those stranger we meet in our daily lives. It is also a time for us to share our joy and love, especially with those who are not as fortunate as us, in not being able to celebrate Christmas the way we could, and those who are bereft of hope and joy this season.
May all of us have a great and most blessed Christmas season, and may each one of us grow ever stronger in our faith and love for God, remembering all the love which He has shown us. Let us all reach out to one another and remind ourselves not to be distracted by worldly excesses, but instead, be inspired by God’s great love for us through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, that we too may be filled with His love and grace, and be the bearers of the true spirit and meaning of Christmas. May all of us be the beacons of God’s light, hope and truth in the world today, in whatever we do, and may God bless us all in our every good works and endeavours, now and always. Blessed Christmas everyone! Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 2 : 1-14
At that time the Emperor issued a decree for a census of the whole Empire to be taken. This first census was taken when Quirinus was governor of Syria. Everyone had to be registered in his own town, so everyone set out for his own city. Joseph too set out from Nazareth of Galilee. As he belonged to the family of David, being a descendant of his, he went to Judea, to David’s town of Bethlehem, to be registered with Mary, his wife, who was with Child.
They were in Bethlehem when the time came for her to have her Child, and she gave birth to a Son, her Firstborn. She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in the manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. There were shepherds camping in the countryside, taking turns to watch over their flocks by night.
Suddenly an Angel of the Lord appeared to them, with the Glory of the Lord shining around them. As the were terrified, the Angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; I am here to give you Good News, great joy for all the people. Today a Saviour has been born to you in David’s town; He is the Messiah and the Lord. Let this be a sign to you : you will find a Baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly the Angel was surrounded by many more heavenly spirits, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and Peace, on earth, to those whom God loves.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Titus 2 : 11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, teaching us to reject an irreligious way of life and worldly greed, and to live in this world as responsible persons, upright and serving God, while we await our blessed Hope – the glorious manifestation of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.
He gave Himself for us, to redeem us from every evil and to purify a people He wanted to be His own and dedicated to what is good.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 95 : 1-2a, 2b-3, 11-12, 13
Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord, bless His Name.
Proclaim His salvation day after day. Recall His glory among the nations, tell all the peoples His wonderful deeds.
Let the heavens be glad, the earth rejoice; let the sea and all that fills it resound; let the fields exult and everything in them; let the forest, all the trees, sing for joy.
Let them sing before the Lord Who comes to judge the earth. He will rule the world with justice and the peoples with fairness.
Liturgical Colour : White
Isaiah 9 : 1-7
The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those who live in the land of the shadow of death. You have enlarged the nation; You have increased their joy. They rejoice before You, as people rejoice at harvest time as they rejoice in dividing the spoil.
For the yoke of their burden, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors, You have broken it as on the day of Midian. Every warrior’s boot that tramped in war, every cloak rolled in blood, will be thrown out for burning, will serve as fuel for the fire.
For a Child is born to us, a Son is given us; the royal ornament is laid upon His shoulder, and His Name is proclaimed : “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
To the increase of His powerful rule in peace, there will be no end. Vast will be His dominion, He will reign on David’s throne and over all his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forever. The zealous love of YHVH Sabaoth will do this.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all rejoice together as after the long wait and expectation during the Advent season, we finally mark the beginning of the Christmas season, the time for us to celebrate in the glorious coming of Our Lord in the flesh, the Divine Word Incarnate, Son of God born into this world as the Son of Man through His mother, the Blessed ever Virgin Mary. He was born in Bethlehem in Judea, in the city of David, as the fulfilment of the long awaited promise and assurance of God, Who has come to dwell among His people and to deliver them from their enslavement by the evil one and from the tyranny of sin and death.
In our first reading today, the Lord through His prophet Isaiah has spoken to the people, revealing how He would send them a Child, to be born of Man to them, in a great prophecy proclaiming the coming of God’s Saviour or Messiah. In that prophecy, God spoke of the coming of the time of salvation and liberation for His people, the Israelites, as He would gather them from among the nations and break the yoke of their oppressors and all of their enemies. He would send them a Child, the One prophesied to come, and His Name as proclaimed, would be Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
While the people of God back then could not have foreseen or known what these things truly meant, but to them it must have been strange for the words of the prophet Isaiah to have mentioned a Child born into this world and named such as Mighty God and Everlasting Father, for these were the titles that ought to be reserved to God alone. How could God descend and come down into this world as a Child, born of Man no less? How can the Almighty and Infinite God of the entire Universe and existence be contained in the Child or Son of Man?
Such is indeed the mystery of the Lord’s Incarnation, as He willingly came down to us, being Incarnate in His Aspect as the Son and the Word of God, incarnate in the flesh, willing into existence by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ the Son of Man, the Child born two millennia ago in Bethlehem of Judea, Who was truly Man, but also truly God at the same time, the Eternal God and King of us all. That Child born in Bethlehem is the King of all the whole entire Universe, Who has entered this world by His own will and by His enduring and amazing love for each and every one of us.
As St. Paul mentioned in our second reading today, in his Epistle to St. Titus, the Lord has given us all His grace and love through Jesus Christ, His Son born to us and which we celebrate this night at Christmas. He has entered our world, sharing with us our human nature and experiencing what we ourselves have experienced, so that we may be reconciled and reunited with Him, and this is all that the Lord had intended to do from the very beginning. Just as if we remember from the Book of Genesis, God said to Satan, the deceiver, that while he may have dominion over the sons and daughters of man, but through Woman, a reference to Mary, he would be conquered and defeated.
The Lord wants us to be reconciled to Him, but this will not happen unless we have been forgiven and cleansed from our sins. Sin is caused by our disobedience against God, and it sundered us off from Him, and as a result, we should have ended up falling into eternal damnation and suffering in hell. The Lord could very well have destroyed us from the very beginning, as creatures that had been defiled and corrupted by sin. But that was never His intention. His love for us is greater than His disgust for our sins and wickedness. To that extent, He committed Himself to us, by coming down to us, to be with us and to save all of us.
He Who is the Almighty Lord and King over all things willingly embraced our human nature to show us the way out of the darkness, reminding all of us of our true nature of being holy and perfect in God’s grace. This had been interrupted by the appearance of sin in our lives, and by the temptations that we face daily, and how we fell again and again to those temptations and ended up sinning against God. But God made Himself to be like us, to unite Himself to us and to act as a Bridge spanning the once uncrossable chasm that existed between us and God due to sin.
Christ is that Bridge, the One Who bears the Light of God’s grace and salvation into our midst. His coming into this world revealed to all of us just how beloved we are to the Lord, so much so that He was willing to make Himself small, to be born an Infant, a small little Child in Bethlehem just as we heard in the account of our Gospel passage today. He made Himself that little Child in Bethlehem, to show us what is meant for us to be beloved by God, and at the same time, also His desire to be loved by us. This Christmas is a great celebration of God’s most generous love for us, a love that overcomes sin and death.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we gather together in this celebration of the Christmas Midnight Mass, we are all called to reflect on the true nature of Christmas and why we rejoice so greatly and wonderfully not just tonight but also this entire Christmas season. The Lord has entered into the world and revealed to us His love in the tangible form of the little Baby Jesus in the manger, to be our Lord and King, gathering all of us to Himself. And in time, that same Child would also come to bear His Cross with the weight of our innumerable sins, which by His perfect obedience to His Father’s will and by His infinite love for us, He offered on our behalf the worthy sacrifice for the atonement of our sins.
That is why, it is sad that we have seen so many occasions in our Christmas preparations and celebrations, when Christ Himself has been sidelined and even forgotten as we have become accustomed to the more secularised way that Christmas has been celebrated. If we see all around us, in all the Christmas rejoicing and festivities, we rarely even see the Lord being part of any of the celebrations. Instead of the Child Jesus, we saw figures like Santa Claus, the elves and many other secular characters depicted throughout our Christmas parties and revelries.
It is like the birthday boy has been excluded and forgotten from his own birthday celebration, as Christmas rightfully is the celebration of our Lord’s Nativity or birth into this world. As we all know that in any birthdays, the most prominent person must be the person whose birthday we are celebrating, then the same should apply to Christmas as well. Have we prepared and celebrated our Christmas celebrations with Christ as the focus and the centre of our efforts? Have we placed Him at the heart of our merrymaking and rejoicing?
Or instead have we allowed the excesses of worldly pleasures, desires for satisfaction and even ego and pride to guide us in our Christmas celebrations? If we have done all these, then we really need to ask ourselves, what is Christmas and its meaning to all of us. We cannot treat Christmas just like any other holidays or festivities, and certainly it is not just a time for us to be merry and happy without knowing its true importance and reason. We rejoice especially because God has loved us so much, that as I mentioned earlier, He manifested His love to us in the Child Jesus.
God’s love made all of our rejoicing possible and we can rejoice because we know that through Christ, we have been assured the salvation and eternal life, and have been freed from the bondage and power of sin. Through our baptism we have been made sons and daughters of God Himself, through adoption by exactly Christ’s birth and incarnation in our human nature, as we all share with Him our humanity, and since He is the Son of God, we too therefore share with Him in becoming the adopted children of God, as members of His one Church, the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, if we have lapsed and failed to prepare ourselves to understand the true nature and meaning of Christmas, and if we have not prepared ourselves to celebrate Christmas worthily, then it is still not too late for us to do so. This night’s Scripture readings serve as important reminders for all of us that we have to make our Christmas celebrations and joy a truly meaningful one. Let us all not waste this opportunity and instead do whatever we can in order to bring the light of Christ into this world, and be the witnesses of His love present in our midst.
Let us share the joy we have and all the blessings and wonders that we have received from God, especially with our fellow brothers and sisters who are unable to celebrate Christmas, as well as to those who are encountering hardships and sorrow in life. Let us bear the true light and hope of Christmas to them, and share with them the wonders of God’s love. May God bless us always and may His Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, born and celebrated this Christmas day, guide us to the glory of everlasting life and grace. Wishing all of us here and everyone a most blessed Christmas! Amen.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 