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December 26, 2024Holy Christmas 2024 Mass of the day, 25th December
Today we celebrate Christmas with wonder and joy. May the living memory of the birth of Jesus give you peace. This is a fundamental celebration for all of us, it is one of the most important celebrations for Christians, together with Holy Easter. However, it happens that we forget the true meaning of this great solemnity. We often arrive at Christmas unprepared and distracted. Despite the time of Advent that prepares us, sometimes distraction prevails in us, attention to secondary things, the expenses to be made, forgetting the fundamental meaning of this day.
First of all, today we remember a fact of history and not an idea or a feeling, we celebrate something that took place in the past and not a myth. We heard it in the Gospel: the word became flesh and pitched his tent among us. What does this expression mean? That the son of God became the son of man, born of the virgin Mary 2025 years ago.
This is the reason why Pope Francis in the midnight mass in St. Peter's in Rome opened the holy door, starting the Holy Year 2025: the Jubilee of the Lord, which will last until the Epiphany in 2026. This year, therefore, will be like a continuous celebration of Christmas, it will be Christmas all year round in a certain sense. This time will help us to be aware of the presence of Jesus in our lives, overcoming the temptation to live as if God had not come among us.
The letter to the Hebrews has a very simple way of explaining to us what Christmas is: First of all, we are reminded that God has already spoken to us in many ways in the past: God has always wanted to communicate with us, to give us his word of love. God has spoken to us and speaks to us through creation, and through the prophets. But there comes a time when God wanted to send his son to speak to our hearts. In Jesus, God revealed all of himself, as infinite love.
However, we are not just celebrating a historical fact of the past that is unreachable to us. Since then, God has made his home among us in a mysterious way, through the sacraments, particularly in the Eucharist and in the word of God when it is proclaimed, in the unity of believers, in the Church and in the poor. God has filled our lives with his sweet presence. Through faith we are called to recognize that God has never disembodied himself and remains with us, walks with us. In Christ, heaven and earth are united forever.
The Gospel invites us to reflect that Jesus came among his people. He did not come among strangers. We have always been his because the world is God's creation, and we were created in Christ to be conformed to him in holiness.
This is how Pope Francis in his beautiful encyclical Dilexit Nos (He loved us) describes this passage of the Gospel: the Gospel tells us that Jesus “came to his own” (cf. Jn 1:11). Those words refer to us, for the Lord does not treat us as strangers but as a possession that he watches over and cherishes. He treats us truly as “his own”. This does not mean that we are his slaves, something that he himself denies: “I do not call you servants” (Jn 15:15). Rather, it refers to the sense of mutual belonging typical of friends. Jesus came to meet us, bridging all distances; he became as close to us as the simplest, everyday realities of our lives. Indeed, he has another name, “Emmanuel”, which means “God with us”, God as part of our lives, God as living in our midst. The Son of God became incarnate and “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave” (Phil 2:7).
I invite you to never forget these words: at Christmas we celebrate the humility of God. We do not celebrate a God who imposes himself and crushes us under the weight of his omnipotence. Indeed, he took the form of a servant, a slave to free all slaves and make them children of God. But why did God show himself to us in the fragility of a child who is born and not showing his invincible omnipotence? Because he wants us to welcome him and love him in freedom and not out of fear. The God who Jesus revealed to us is not the God of fear, but the God of love, who conquers the fear of death.
Finally, the word of God reminds us with the prophet Isaiah that all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of the Lord: of course, Christmas is not a secret revelation, only for some, or for those who are good. On the contrary, the Lord comes for everyone, he comes for sinners, for the fragile, for the afflicted. For this reason, the joy of Christmas is a joy offered to everyone, whatever the personal situation of each one. God loves us as we are and opens us to the joy of salvation.
Dear people, we are a Church of migrants, we are so different from each other, in nationality, language and traditions. But Jesus came for everyone, and we form a single body with different charisms, vocations and ministries. The birth of Jesus in the world breaks down all barriers and overcomes all discrimination.
We all know that the world is divided, there are so many barriers and conflicts. But when I look at you, dear faithful, and I see you together united, bringing so many different gifts, I truly think that our Church in this part of the world anticipates paradise, where God will be all in all. I invite you to welcome one another in the love of Christ.
May the Mother of God and our Mother, protect us all in love. I sincerely wish you all the best for the holy Christmas in your families, with your loved ones, near and far. May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts and in the whole world. Merry Christmas to all
