Christmas Vigil Mass: Holy Socks and Christmas Stockings

Readings

A lady came to me the other day looking for help with Christmas gifts for some young children. She didn’t ask for toys, just pajamas and socks. How humbling it is in this day and age for someone not to want anything more for their child for Christmas than warm clothes to sleep in and socks.

Socks have recurring theme for me this season.

Someone asked me to help write a devotional reflection based on cookie cutter shapes for the altar societies Christmas party. I was given a list of shapes including a star, a candle, a wreath, a Christmas tree, a sleigh, a gingerbread man, and a Christmas stocking.

The most difficult for me was the Christmas stocking.  

Try thinking about the mystery of God in a Christmas stocking, if is just a fancy sock.  Try to let Jesus speak to you in footwear; but, John the Baptist did say that one is coming after me that I am not worthy to unstrap his sandal.

Socks are not glamorous. Socks are not theological. Socks could be considered insignificant things. They exist on our feet, in our shoes. Socks get dirt and smelly. They end up stretched out of shape and full of holes.

Here is what I wrote.  From the letter to the Ephesians comes the instruction for us to be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Other than keeping your feet warm, socks are usually ignored and trodden upon.  But socks can be more. Socks can hold the gifts of Christmas.

Kind of like us. God loves us all. No matter how lowly, forlorn, or forgotten we are. God does not forget us. If we are faithful and loyal to him, we will be rewarded, brought out before everyone, glorified, and know eternal reward.

That’s the promise that began at the first Christmas.

Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (Philippians 4:8) That includes socks.

May be we need to be little more humble, honorable, and commendable like the lowly sock.

The miracle of Christmas is that if you take a worn old sock and put the gift of Christmas in it, you will have a wonderful Christmas stocking.

Socks can be theological. Pray that Jesus raises up the down trodden and ignored bringing them to eternal glory.

I thought that was a pretty good reflection on Christmas stockings, until I was preparing for this Christmas Vigil Gospel.

The lineage of Jesus contains a lot of different kinds of sock. It has fancy socks can like Abraham, King David, and King Solomon. It has mismatched socks like Rahab from Jericho and Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the mistress of King David and the mother of Solomon. Some in that lineage could be dirty socks. But the last ones in that lineage can be called Holy Socks (H-O-L-Y) – a simple humble husband and wife, Joseph and Mary. 

God can take the most unworthy of us and make us more. No more "Forsaken," or "Desolate," but instead "My Delight," and "Espoused."

When we speak of turning us into something more, we have the birth of Jesus.

Mary was a poor young girl, unmarried and pregnant, a situation that would have been hard to explain to the people of her time. Although, we know there was so much more of her. God raised her up and chose her to be the mother of Jesus.

And then there was Joseph, a man with second thoughts. Joseph was a righteous and God fearing man.

Mary and Joseph, they were H-O-L-Y socks to be filled with the one true gift of Christmas. Jesus.

It is the miracle of Christmas. It is the salvation of Christ Jesus.  You who are God-fearing, listen. God in Christ Jesus is coming to the world to make us more than we are. He raises up the down trodden and ignored bringing them to eternal glory.

Everyone who would consider themselves nothing extraordinary, just everyday socks remember this; God rejoices in you and raises you up into something more. With Christ in us, we are no longer just Holy socks but wonderful Christmas stockings.

Holy Socks to Christmas Stockings, with God nothing is impossible - do not be afraid for "God is with us."

Be Good, be holy proclaim the gospel and found in the coming of our savior who was born to Mary. Have a Merry Christmas. Amen.