https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122523-Day.cfm
Praise Be Jesus Christ, forever & ever Amen. Merry Christmas everyone.
Before I proclaim the
Gospel, I bow down to receive a blessing from Father. As I walk to the ambo, I offer my own prayer. As I hold the gospel up, I
pray for the Holy Spirit to be upon me in boldness and strength to proclaim the
Gospel, and be with me so that my lips will not stumble and my tongue does not
trip. I pray the gospel
touches each of your hearts.
If I give the homily, I offer a
prayer of thanksgiving for the message given me and offer it for God’s glory.
Last night, I gave the homily at the Catholic Campus Ministry's 8 p.m. Christmas vigil mass on short notice. I was tired. It had been a long day and all I had to eat since breakfast was sample taste from the gifts of candy and cookies given to me by so many people.
I did not offer those prayers before I proclaimed God’s word. I did not thank God the message given me. I had prayed over the scriptures and written down thoughts in my prayer journal. I knew what God had put in my heart. I failed to surrender that message to God.
I knew it. I felt it. I focused on
my imperfections.
I know the Holy Spirit was in the
message but my pride got the better of me. I became apprehensive
afterwards. I became the same way about my message today.
I prayed on it during morning
prayers.
I reflected on my homilies over
the years. The stories I share. The vessels use to carry my message. I
considered how I expressed the truths the Word of God has revealed to me. Maybe
the stories of my grandchildren or work or my childhood are a little too much
sometimes.
I read the first passage from
scripture this morning. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of
him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing
salvation...” And, I remembered Bishop Duca placing the Gospels
in my hands saying, “Receive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you have become.
Believe what you read, teach what you believe, and practice what you teach.”
The answer came to me in the
profoundness of today’s Gospel, which are probably some of the beautiful
scriptures of the Bible.
In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with
God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
In the incarnation of Jesus, the
Word of God meets us where we are. The true light of God came into the world so
that we do not have to leave this world or relinquish our humanity to know God.
The true light, which enlightens
everyone, was coming into the world. All we are to do is to be open to
that light. Receptive to his word.
The problem can be is that we want
the spiritual stuff without the fleshy part. We want that cosmic spiritual
picture John paints but truth is God came to be amount us in the reality of the
nativity. A stable filled with the smells of the world. We live in this smelly
world, which makes the the Word we share real to others.
Those who believe in his name are
sent into the world to spread and share the saving power of the Word. To love
the Word and share the Word of God we must live it making it concrete and
ordinary.
God wonderfully created the
dignity of human nature and still more wonderfully restored it. That real,
concrete, and ordinary truth is given to us even in the high cosmic
Christological spiritually found in the Gospel of John.
And the Word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only
Son, full of grace and truth.
Spirituality has to be experienced
in the flesh. The saving power that is Jesus Christ has be found and experience
in the world. The Word comes to the a person’s life in this broken world - as a
single person or a member of a family. As a spouse with a large family or a
childless couple. The experience as a student or laborer or professional, man
or woman, child or adult. In that concrete and ordinary experience of the world
the word of God speaks to you.
God speaks to us through the
Son, the Word made flesh. For into the nativity of our life, God is
perfectly hidden and perfectly revealed.
I have told you about my fears.
How many of you have the same and are afraid to share? To overcome
troubles pray for the grace of a spirituality filled with an even
temper, a cheerful heart, sweetness, gentleness and brightfulness of mind to
walk in his light and live by his word. This is really sharing Jesus.
Be good, be holy and in your
ordinary and concrete lives in this world – preach the Gospel, the good news of
the Word of God to the world.
Praise be Jesus Christ forever and
ever – Amen
Merry Christmas.
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