THE FIRST DROP

A SERMON FOR THE FEAST OF THE CIRCUMCISION OF OUR LORD

I’m sure it’s happened to all of us at one time or another.  We’re given a Christmas present, beautifully wrapped, mysterious and filled with who knows what potential delights.  We tear away at the wrapping paper, tossing it impatiently to the side, until we know what’s in the package.  And then that sudden realization of what we’ve been given… the happiness of knowing our wishes have been granted, that Santa answered the letter we wrote him, or the surprise of a wonderful gift we never even imagined we would receive.  But, alas, it’s not always a rush of joy, is it?  Sometimes we’re disappointed, sometimes even horrified.  People have a tendency to give us things we don’t really want, don’t they! I remember trying hard to stifle a moan of disappointment when I opened these gifts—after all, I’d try convincing myself, they were given with love, and that I did appreciate.  Whatever the gift, we were brought up to have the good manners to at least put on a show of gratitude, to show our appreciation for the love and caring that was shown in its giving.

We humans, unfortunately, don’t always know what to give when we do our Christmas shopping.  Not to worry, it’s the thought that counts after all.  But with God, it’s a different story.  He knows exactly what to give us.  And that’s the message we should think about this Christmas.  God knows what we want, but more importantly he knows what we need.  Two thousand and seventeen years ago this Christmas he gave us our Redemption.  We, who were in darkness, saw a great light, a star above a stable in Bethlehem, and we knew that our Redemption was at hand.  We who had dwelled in the valley of the shadow of death received the gift of salvation that first Christmas, as a Child was born, and there was joy to the world.  What a great gift we received that Christmas, one that we treasure to this day, as we commemorate for the twelve days of Christmas the coming of our Saviour, kneeling daily with gratitude before him as he lies in the manger.  Right?

Today we celebrate something of great importance.  The world has tricked us into giving importance to something else, something, when you think about it, that has no importance whatsoever – the world celebrates the fact that from now on, whenever we write a check we have to write the number 2-0-1-7 instead of 2-0-1-6 in the date field.  Wow!  And we went to all that trouble to spend a night of festivity over that?  Do you see how the world is ruled by the Prince of Darkness who uses every opportunity he can to distract us from what really matters?

Not that there’s anything wrong with partying, mind you.  Everyone had a good time, there were no sins of gluttony or drunkenness or debauchery or uncontrolled anger, I hope.  Let’s just remind ourselves that if we’re going to party, though, it should be to celebrate something truly wonderful, and that surely should be something more than changing a number on our checkbook. 

Today is the Feast of the Circumcision, a feast that was abolished by the wretched new church of Vatican II.  But it was and must always be, surely, a holyday of great importance in our lives.  It is the day on which Our Lord Jesus Christ, just one week after his birth, did what he came here to do.  Today, as prescribed by the law of Moses, on the octave day of his Nativity, he shed his first drop of blood as the Jewish priest came to the stable and performed the rite of circumcision. 

One drop of blood that symbolized all the drops of blood he would later shed in the Garden of Gethsemane, at the scourging, on Calvary as he was nailed to the cross.  The one drop of blood that symbolized the very last drop of blood he would shed as the Roman soldier pierced his Sacred Heart with a lance.  The life-giving blood that he would give us as his Christmas gift.  Are we grateful for our gift?

After our polite and obligatory shows of affection to our poor relative who gave us the ugly socks, do we shove them into a drawer somewhere never to be seen again?  I think there are those among us here who proudly presented mommy with some little trinket of affection only to learn that it ended up in the attic, forgotten and ignored?  Were we maybe just a little hurt by that? 

And now, are we going to do the same thing with the gift of the Christ Child?  He gave us his blood today.  He gave us himself.  We went to midnight Mass at Christmas, we did our duty and said our thanks.  And now, are we going to banish him until next year to the attic?  When the priest comes to Bethlehem today to perform his mystical rites, is he going to find the Christ Child in the manger?  Or is it in the attic?  And when the three wise men follow their star, will that star lead them to the stable on the twelfth day of Christmas, the 6^th of January, the nativity scene where the Infant Jesus is receiving his fitting adoration by the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and the shepherds?  Or will that star lead to a dark, silent, forgotten corner of an attic, to which God’s gift of salvation, Emmanuel, God-With-Us, has been sent for another miserable and God-less year that happens to end now with the number 7 instead of 6.

God’s gift of Redemption not only should be, but it MUST be the central and all-important thing in our lives, the reason we celebrate and party, the reason we get out of bed in the morning, the reason we fight our temptations, the reason for which our heart beats.

I’m not here to tell you what you should do and what you shouldn’t do.  I’m just here to remind you what’s important, so you, with your free will, WANT to do what’s right.  And what is right?  To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and mind and soul and strength?  Do we?  Or do we let ourselves be distracted by meaningless things that stop us from making progress as we follow our own star?  Are we like the three kings, who follow through field and fountain, moor and mountain until we find our Redemption, or do we stop for a picnic on the way, do we make a detour to see this or that or whatever the world and its infernal master throws in our path to distract us?

Here this morning, our gift from God is again Himself in Holy Communion.  What has been our preparation for that union with God himself, body and soul, that represents our final destiny in heaven?  Have we been careful to fast three hours?  More importantly, have we done absolutely everything we can to make sure we are in the state of grace?  After all the family togetherness of Christmas and New Year’s, the Sacrament of Holy Communion is the Sacrament of Unity that brings the family together, really and truly together in a unity that sitting around with a beer and a few shrimp can never accomplish.  Here at Holy Mass, we find that true unity, the climax of all the family celebrations of Christmas, as we come together before the Christ Child, and together receive him into our collective soul.  Are you part of that unity?  Or did a late cup of coffee or a surreptitious crab’s leg deprive you of participating in our family unity?  Did some vague promise to yourself to put off confession till later deprive you of the opportunity to take part in our Catholic, universal unity with all the members of Holy Church, and with Christ himself?

So let’s make a New Year’s resolution to do better.  Let’s make a better effort so that Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is welcomed on our altar, that we receive him as often as we have the opportunity.  The desire to do so is the yardstick by which our love for God is measured.  We do not HAVE to go to Mass every day, most of the week we’re under no obligation to receive God’s greatest gift of all.  And yet, when God offers us such a gift, do we take the opportunity to receive it with gratitude and a desire to please him and be close to him?  Or do we just leave the room until Mass is over?  Most of the time, only the angels come to Mass.  But there was one soul at Mass the other day, a soul very close to God, I think, who found herself in God’s presence and couldn’t restrain herself from praising him out loud, singing out “Holy God, we praise thy Name!” with the beauty of innocence that merged perfectly with the heavenly choirs of herald angels as Christ became present on our altar, and God was once more with us.  Just one little two-year-old, with an angelic purity that puts us all to shame.

God’s gift to us comes with no rules, only a simple appeal that we love him in return and show him gratitude for delivering us from an eternity of despair, regret, and suffering.  The drop of blood the Christ Child shed today is our wake-up call that we must respond in kind, by sacrificing of our time and energy to give back.  As the priest receives Holy Communion, he asks, “What shall I give back unto God for all the wonderful things he hath given unto me?”  It’s a rhetorical question that surely can never be sufficiently answered.  For there must be no limit on what we are willing to give back to God. 

But we have to start somewhere.  I’d like to suggest the following as just one simple and practical New Year’s Resolution that will help us give back to God.  I brought a bunch of church calendars with me from Ohio.  Each of you should buy one and have one in your bedroom.  Then, every day when you wake up, check the calendar.  Is today a holyday of obligation?  Is it a fast day?  Then do what you have to do—go to Mass, don’t eat meat, follow the rules.  Check what saint’s day it is.  Say a little prayer to that saint.  Just a quick “St. Francis, pray for us” or whoever it is whose feast we’re celebrating that day.  And if it’s a saint you have a particular devotion to, one with a virtue, for example, that you’d like to emulate, see if you can find some extra prayers to say, ask that saint for help.  Let’s make the church calendar, the liturgical year, a part of our life, because the closer we follow it, the closer the Christ Child, his blessed Mother and the saints will draw us to God.

Yesterday, we brought in a new year, with new hope and new beginnings.  If there are to be new beginnings, the most important, every year, must be to renew our love for God.  Above the love we have for husband or wife, parents and children, friends and family, God alone is worthy to be placed above all others and to be worshiped and adored.  Let’s follow our star, wherever it leads, whether it be to the stable in Bethlehem, or to that dark, forgotten corner in the attic of our own mind, to which we all too often dispel the Christ Child and his gifts.  O come, let us adore him!