A Homily for the Sunday within the Octave of Christmas

+ In continuing to celebrate the Christmas mystery during these eight days, we sing at first Vespers and again at Lauds of this Sunday within the Octave of Christmas, and yet again in the Introit of this Mass, the poignant antiphon “Dum medium silentium…”:
 
Dum medium silentium tenerent omnia, et nox in suo cursu medium iter perageret, omnipotens Sermo tuus Domine a regalibus sedibus venit. Alleluia. “While all things keep watch in the midst of silence, Lord, and the night in its courses passes through the midpoint of its journey, your Almighty Word comes down from his royal throne. Alleluia.”
 
This antiphon, which finds its origin in the Book of Wisdom (18:14-15), is instructive. For royalty rarely do things in silence or in the middle of the night. No: anything involving royalty usually involves much organisation, fanfare, pomp and ceremony, security, etc.—all in the plain light of day for all the world to see. That is how we would expect things. A ‘hidden’ royal arrival or visit would seem to make no sense.
 
And yet the Eternal Son of God, the unique Saviour of all mankind, arrives in a stable in the middle of the night and is welcomed by, of all people, a group of shepherds. Only later do wise men arrive from the East, but even they are somewhat esoteric in their quest. One could rightly be forgiven for thinking that this ‘arrival’ was not well managed or marketed. Surely something more prominent and public was due, and indeed would have had a greater impact? If the Saviour’s birth had been more well known He would surely have had more followers?
 
Quite possibly. But let us not fall into the trap of thinking as does the world. Rather, as we continue to ponder the Christmas mystery, let us free ourselves from the noise and sensationalism with which the world continually oppresses us so as to be able to enter more deeply into the silence of Christmas night, emptying ourselves of our preoccupations and ephemeral concerns so that there is space in our hearts, minds and souls to see and hear and encounter He who is born for our salvation on this night. Let us even step aside for some moments from those duties and activities that rightly concern us so as to be able to focus all the more clearly on the Christ-child born. For silence and calm are the necessary preconditions for understanding Who He is and why He has been born.
 
Indeed, without such receptivity the events of Christmas can easily remain a sweet story pertaining to a Christian culture of the past—certainly something we can and to enjoy celebrating, but nothing particularly life-changing, as it were. We even find that secularists (be they believing or lapsed) will wish people “happy feasts” (or use some such other euphemistic expression) at this time of the year, acknowledging the lingering cultural reality but at all costs avoiding any mention of the Christ of God, let alone allowing any space for considering His nature or mission. Sadly, we see this in the banning of Christmas creches from many public spaces. The world, and so many of us, are far too busy to attend to the events of the middle of that silent night. The stillness and openness of mind, heart and soul that is necessary to see and to understand these events continues to escape us.
 
Any yet, if we can but escape the frenetic activity and the unending noise in which the world cages us, if we can stay awake into the night and be still, we too can come to that which the shepherds went to find, to He Whom the wise men sought: nothing less than Almighty God made man for our salvation.
 
Of course, this assumes that we accept that God is; it assumes that we understand that we are in need of salvation from our sins—silent realities which the noise of the world assiduously strives to drown out, but to which the Christ-child bears more and more powerful witness as he grows and becomes strong, teaching, healing, raising people from the dead and indeed rising from the dead Himself after suffering a most brutal and unjust execution.
 
My brothers and sisters, in the midst of our celebration of Christmas let us make the time silently to ponder who this child is and why he has been born. Whether we are people who practice the Catholic faith or not, or even if these questions have never seemed important to us, the reality of Christmas demands us so to do. And it does so for our own good. God did not become man in order Himself to have an interesting experience! He became man and taught and suffered and died and rose from the dead so that we might have the opportunity to find forgiveness for our sins and to live with Him forever. Nothing less. And whether we believe or not, no matter how deeply we are consumed by the cacophonic concerns of the world, these eternal realities are just that: eternal realities that each one of us must eventually face.
 
Let us wake up then and keep watch in the night and welcome the Almighty Word of God who comes down from his royal throne to us anew this Christmas. For in so doing lies nothing less than our salvation and the salvation of all men and women. And let each of us be found equal to the demands inherent in this eternally consoling truth. +