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 6th 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!
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