Christmas Mass Homily by Archbishop John Wong

Dec 25 2022

Theme: A Saviour is born for us.

A. A Happy and Blessed Christmas to all of you. Tonight, in the 1st Reading, Prophet Isaiah foretells what we already know: For a Child is born for us, a Son is given to us. They name Him Wonder- Counsellor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince of Peace. In the 2nd Reading: St. Paul provides us with the proper sponse in our life that we ought to follow as a result of Christ’s Eirth to us. In the Gospel: We hear St. Luke’s account of Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem and the announcement of the birth to poor shepherds watching their flocks. And we conclude with the Psalmist saying:

‘O sing a new song to the Lord,

sing to the Lord all the earth. O sing to the Lord, bless His name.

Proclaim His help day by day,

tell among the nations his glory

and his wonders among all the peoples’

1. Sisters and Brothers: Tonight, in the City of David, a Saviour is born to us, the Messiah, the Lord. In the Gospel Acclamation, it says: ‘I bring you news of great joy: today a Saviour has been born to us, Christ the Lord.’

i. Christmas is real. It is here and now. We celebrate a real event, it is not just an echo, a remembering, of a long-past holy night.

ii. For a few moments on Christmas, especially tonight (Christmas Eve), most people feel just a little more ‘Religious’ than usual.

iii. This is because in some mysterious way on Christmas Eve, God entered into the world. it seems that He successfully entered into the world through the obedience/consent of Mary.

2. Why He wanted to do that?

i. Emmanuel – He wants to be with us;

ii. He wanted to enter into our lives;

iii. He wanted to redeem, save and make us Divine/Holy.

3.The story of the birth of a Child in Bethlehem reaches the very core of our being-drawing us out of our shells into the realm of Divine. Tonight, we catch a glimpse of the mystery of Divine Splendour – the One who is Divine & the fulfilment of all our Advent preparation and longing. Now we know that all the longing and preparation were worthwhile. We need to look at the Readings in order to get some idea of what the Lord wishes us to understand concerning His Marvellous Birth.

B. 1st Reading (Prophet Isaiah) tells us that ‘The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone.”

1.Light: In the Gospel of John – I am the Light of the world. It is one of the great symbols of the Divine, and how we and our world need it. This light of Christ shines into the mystery of the darkness of our lives. Our world is full of people who literally walk in the dark. Think of all the lonely women, men and children in our cities, towns, neighbourhood and in our parish community who seem to have no one to care for them. They might wonder why? Why all the loneliness, the pain, sorrow, grief they have to live with? Does Christmas have any meaning for them?

2.The Child born of Mary tonight will not give any direct or verbal answers to our question, our pain, sorrow and grief. What He does, He simply joins our human life, takes on our flesh and all the sorrow & pains connected with our lives. He will know by ‘first-hand experience’ what human living means and entails. He will know much more vividly than we do ourselves.

3.So, Christmas is essentially the celebration of God-Being-With-Us’ He is with us in every moment of our lives. The word became flesh – He took on our flesh, the flesh of all humankind.

C. Gospel (Luke): Luke begins the Gospel today with Caesar Augustus. ordering a census to be taken of the whole world, and Joseph took Mary with him from Nazareth in Galilee and travelled up to Judaea, to the town of David called Bethlehem, since he was of David’s House and line, in order to be registered together with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.”

1. Here, Luke is showing us that Jesus is a descendent of David, he also wants to tell us that Jesus is God, the Anointed One and the Saviour. At His birth, an angel said to the shepherds in the field: ‘Do not be afraid, Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.”

→The Baby that was born to us: He is

i. A Saviour:

ii. He is the Christ – The Anointed One

iii. He is God, the Lord.

2. But St Luke also want to tell us of the ‘other side’ of the birth of Jesus: …. Mary gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.”

3. Sisters and Brothers: The Eternal Son of God appears as a baby/human being. A baby- the most helpless and dependent of all creatures. God humbles Himself to the point of total dependence, he comes to us intending to conquer our hearts through His own weakness. What He wants of us is not slavish obedience, but generous, freely-given love.

D. 2nd Reading (Letter to Titus): St. Paul advised us and said: ‘God’s grace has been revealed, and it has made salvation possible for the whole human race and taught us that what we have to do is to give up everything that does not lead to God’