Daily Readings for: December 25, 2012
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: O God, who gladden us year by year as we wait in hope for our redemption grant that, just as we joyfully welcome your Only Begotten Son as our Redeemer, we may also merit to face him confidently when he comes again as our Judge. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

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Christmas: December 25th

Solemnity of Christmas

Old Calendar: The Nativity of Our Lord

Today the Church celebrates the Birth of Jesus Christ, the first day in the octave of Christmas. Throughout Advent the Church longed ardently for the coming of our Savior. Today she celebrates His birth with unrestrained joy. "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." The Son of God became man to give us a share in that divine life which is eternally His in the Blessed Trinity. Christmas time begins on December 24 with the first Vespers of the feast and ends on the feast of the Baptism of Christ. White vestments reappear in our churches as a sign of joy.

Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

The Christmas feast is a festival full of joy. The Eternal Word has become Man and dwells among us. The longings of the patriarchs and prophets are fulfilled. With the shepherds we hurry to the manger and adore the Incarnate Son of God, who for us and for our salvation descended upon earth. The purpose of the Christmas feast is beautifully expressed in the Preface of the Nativity: "For by the mystery of the Word made flesh the light of Thy glory hath shone anew upon the eyes of our mind; so that while we acknowledge Him a God seen by men, we may be drawn by Him to the love of things unseen."

During the Christmas season there is an extensive exchange of greetings and good wishes among friends. These greetings are a reminder of those "good tidings of great joy that shall be to all the people, for this day is born to you a Savior Who is Christ the Lord" (Lk. 2:11). They are a reminder, too, that all blessings and graces come to us from Christ: "Hath He not also with Him given us all things?" (Rom. 8:32).

During the Christmas season there is also an exchange of gifts. This custom should recall to us that on this day God Himself gave to us the greatest of all gifts, His beloved Son: "God so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son" (John 3: 16).

The Christmas tree, of which the first-known mention was made in 1605 at Strasbourg, was introduced into France and England in 1840. It symbolizes the great family tree of Christ which through David and Jesse has its roots in Abraham, the father of the chosen race. It is often laden with gifts to remind us that Christmas brought us the priceless gifts of grace and of eternal life. It is frequently adorned with lights that recall to us that Christ is the Light of the world enlightening those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Though not entirely unknown before, the custom of the Christmas Crib was adopted by St. Francis of Assisi at Greccio, Italy, on Christmas 1225. It is a concrete and vivid way of representing to ourselves the Incarnation and birth of Christ. It depicts in a striking manner the virtues of the newborn Savior, especially His humility, poverty, and charity.

The First Day of Christmas

Christmas: the Lord’s Birth
Today is the great solemnity that shows the world that the Word incarnate, the Savior of mankind, is finally born. God becoming truly man is an enormous event [….]. Something truly happens that goes beyond any evolutionary process: the fusion of man and God, the creature and the Creator. It is not the progression of another step in the evolutionary process, but the eruption of a personal action, founded on love, that from this point forward reveals to men new space and possibilities. (J Ratzinger in A Conversation with P Seewald: God and the world, 2001, p197).

Christmas says to us: alone we can’t profoundly change the world to remedy it. Alone, we can make the world better or worse, but we can’t save it. Christ came therefore, because left to ourselves; we couldn’t escape the ‘mortal disease’ that has enveloped us from the first moment of conception in our mother’s womb. This gives us hope, true hope, and true Christian optimism: I can’t do it but He is there! This is the mystery of grace synthesized in the human figure of God incarnate.

Christmas Eve and Christmas day are moments of contemplation. We consider, in many dimensions, the mystery of love that was incarnated for us. First of all, we contemplate the light and joy, without forgetting Jesus and Mary’s sorrows and sufferings, and the many difficulties that had surrounded them: the cold, the uncomfortable place, the dangers….. It would be good to accompany these thoughts by reciting and meditating slowly on the Holy Rosary, preferably in front of a crib. ‘Blessed grotto of Bethlehem that testified to the wonders! Who, in this hour would not turn our hearts? Who would not prefer the opulent palace of the King?’ (P. Guéranger, L’Anno Liturgico, Alba 1959 [orig. franc. 1841], I, p122).

Listen to the way that St Bonaventura, the seraphic doctor, invites us to contemplate this scene in his ‘Meditation on the life of Jesus Christ’: ‘You have also lingered, bent your knee, adored the Lord God, venerated His Mother and greeted Joseph, the holy old man, with reverence. Therefore, kiss the feet of the baby Jesus, who lies in the manger, and pray that the Holy Virgin will allow you to hold Him. Take Him between your arms, hold Him and see His lovable face, kiss it with reverence and rejoice with Him. You can do this because He has come to bring salvation to sinners and He has humbly conversed with them, finally giving Himself as food’. (cit in Guéranger, pp 136-137)

Christmas also reminds us of the great mystery of God’s people, of the Church acquired through Christ’s blood, animated by the life giving Spirit, governed by the legitimate shepherds in communion with the successor of Peter. On this day in which the Word came to earth, assuming human nature, body, and soul, how can we not think about His Mystical Body that is animated by the Holy Spirit? ‘For this reason, by no weak analogy, [the Church] is compared to the mystery of the incarnate Word. As the assumed nature inseparably united to Him, serves the divine Word as a living organ of salvation, so, in a similar way, does the visible social structure of the Church serve the Spirit of Christ, who vivifies it, in the building up of the body’ (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, n.8).

Holy Christmas also reminds us of the mystery of Mary as Mother of God, mother of the Incarnated Word, and mother of His mystical body, the Church. Christmas encourages us to contemplate Jesus together with Mary, reflecting on Jesus with ‘His mother’, as recounted many times in the Gospels. If our faith must be fully evangelical, it can not neglect a sane and profound devotion to the Mother of God, as she shows us the easiest way to reach Jesus.

From the Congregation for the Clergy

A Christian Pilgrim

CHRISTMAS

ON this particular morning Conrad the shoemaker rose very early, cleaned out his workshop, then went back into his living quarters and lighted a fire in the stove and set the table. He was not going to work. He was expecting company, a very special guest: God Himself. Last night God came to him in a dream and let him know that the following day he would come and be his guest.

So Conrad sat in the cozy room and waited, his heart filled with joy. He then heard some footsteps outside and a knock at the door. “There He is,” thought Conrad, running to the door and throwing it open.

But it was only the mailman. His face was red and his fingers blue from the cold. He looked longingly at the teapot on the stove. Conrad let him in door, poured him a cup of tea and let him warm himself near the stove. “Thanks,” said the postman. “That tea sure hit the spot.” And then he disappeared out into the cold.

As soon as he was gone, Conrad cleaned off the table again. Then he sat down near the window to see his guest coming. He was certain that one would soon come.

Suddenly he noticed a little boy with tears running down his cheeks. Conrad called him in and found out that the lad had lost his mother in town and had no way of finding his way back home. Then he wrote a note and left on the table. The note said, “Wait for me. I’ll be right back.” He then left the door open a bit and took the little boy by the hand and brought him home.

But that walk was longer than he thought it would be; in fact it was already getting dark when he got back home. He was shocked to find someone in his house looking out the window. But then his hear skipped a beat. This surely must be God, who had promised to come.

But Conrad recognized the person, the lady from the flat upstairs. She looked so sad and tired. She told him that she had not slept at all because her son Peter was sick. She did not know what to do any longer. The child lay there so still, his fever high, and he could no longer recognize his mother.

Conrad felt so sorry for her. There she was all alone with her son, living alone since her husband died in an accident.

So he went along with her. Together they wrapped Peter in a wet sheet. Conrad sat at the boy’s bedside, while the mother had a bit of a rest.

When he got back to his room, it was already past midnight. He was tired and completely disappointed as he threw himself into bed. The day was over. God had not come.

Suddenly he heard a voice. It was God’s voice saying, “Thanks, for letting Me warm Myself in your house today. Thanks for showing Me the way home. And thank for your encouragement and help. Conrad, I thank you that today I could be your guest.”

Note: Willi Hoffsuemmer – Taken from Fr. Frank Mihalic, SVD, 1000 STORIES YOU CAN USE – Volume One , Manila, Philippines: Divine Word Publications, 1989, pages 32-34.