Scripture Reflections for the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) Mass during the Night

“We know there is still darkness in the world, but the light has come, and the light is in us, and it is our task as Christians to take it out, to take him out”

“Jesus was born outside of a city, outside of what’s comfortable, outside of glamour and fame, outside of being recognized by the rich and the powerful, outside of notice by the everyday world. Jesus was born in anonymity, poor, outside of all notice, except by faith and God.”

“Why is God normally revealed more in the body of an infant than in that of Superstar? Why? Because the power of God works to melt hearts rather than break them, and that’s what vulnerability and helplessness can do.”

“The Toposa people’s profound joy that first Christmas has humbled and transformed my Christmases ever since. May we too celebrate the good news today, of the Christ child breaking forth in the mundane and otherwise ordinariness of a day”

“God always sends us signs to confirm his Word. The signs, however, are not what we expect.”

“When the divine enters into human affairs, it defies human logic, confounds human expectations, and usually goes unrecorded in important news outlets”

“Resting in the power of God, and freed from previously unbreakable shackles of sin, we can start to live in the love of God. Trusting in the love of one who transforms all, who makes a throne of both crib and cross, one who can manifest His greatness in our weakness”

“We should look to Mary’s spiritual qualities more than her biological relationship to Jesus if we want to learn from her how to conceive, birth and manifest Jesus. Mary is the model par excellence of how we are to enflesh or mother the Word and bring forth Christ.”

“The shepherds may have felt afraid and powerless but in truth, they had more courage than any king. No angel appeared to Augustus that night, but the shepherds were shown the truth of things.”

“If we are to love a child we must allow ourselves to be drawn into the child’s world as the child grows into our world. Nothing prepares us for this.”

“if you find yourself in church at Christmas, if you find yourself at table with your family on Christmas day, and if you find yourself greeting your neighbors and colleagues with a little more warmth, then it doesn’t matter if you are distracted, tired, over-fed, and not thinking explicitly about Jesus, you’ve made it.”

“Let us remember two moments, Jesus’s birth and Jesus’s death, that took place in the dark: Jesus was born during the night watch of the shepherds, and as he died a great darkness came over the earth”

“To live in faith seems tough in a world which no longer resonates to the songs and symbols of heavenly glory”

"I would be willing to bet that you did not come to church this morning expecting to hear a homily on Santa Claus. But he is the fellow I would..."

"Christmas is here but life goes on much as it did before. This is day that we have been waiting for, yet issues of real concern in our world remain...."

“When looking for the power of God do not look in the places the world tells you to look. To see what is of great importance don't listen to the world.”

“God's power is a power of self-emptying love. The love that is willing to become small and powerless for the sake of the other.”

“We could think of Christmas as celebrating the Incarnation, except that easily becomes too abstract. We are celebrating the birth of a child, promised for all the ages.”

“These Readings remind us that the divinity of Christ was spoken by the Prophets (Isaiah) and affirmed by the Apostles (Paul). St. Paul is confirming the prophecy of Isaiah, affirming the truth that we have been given a human “child” whose “name” is “Mighty God.””

“As we worship this child, sing God’s praises this Christmas, we can know with relief that God has acted to save us from ourselves, to heal us of our many conflicts”

“for Luke, shepherds were the most appropriate class of people to visit the child first — the child descended from David, who inherited the throne of David, the shepherd king, and who would, in due time, identify himself as the Good Shepherd”

"There is nothing quite like a beautiful story. The Christmas story, the story that I just proclaimed to you, is one of the most beautiful stories ever written. It includes..."

“The Prince of Peace has come and he reverses the logic of the world, which is the logic of sin, and reveals to us the logic of God: love and power coincide”