CHRIST’S MASS

Christmas will be here in a few short days, and so many of the pews will be full as we gather as a parish to celebrate and commemorate the joyous birth of our Lord Jesus Christ at all three of our sites.

There will be much emotion as people will come back to their roots in anticipation of this holy day. When we come to the steps of our church, we know we are about to step into God’s house as we celebrate Christmas Mass. But is it our Mass? It is. We come together to celebrate individually but also as a community. Even more so, it’s Christ’s Mass, and we are at the service of it to do what the Church asks. What does that mean? It means that Mass, including Christmas Mass, calls for an attitude of openness, humility, excitement awe and wonder. We are there to receive and to give. We are there to receive the love of our extended family in the community. We are there to receive and experience the beauty of the decorations. We are also there to receive the living Word of God and Jesus himself in the Eucharist. We are there too to give, to give of ourselves in praise and worship, in singing and in greeting. But the Mass is also not ours to give. The celebration of Mass is not mine or yours. It is a gift. This gift of the Mass has been entrusted to us, the Church from whom? Christ, and so it’s Christ’s Mass.

Christmas, which will be a large gathering of visitors, family members, friends, and fallen-away Catholics, calls not for an attitude of selfishness that communicates, “this is my seat,” or “this is our pew.” Rather at Christ’s Mass, we are called to be a Church of welcome and mercy as the Christ-child would want for it is Christ’s Mass and Christ himself who welcomes us to celebrate his birth in his Father’s house.

In this era of the New Evangelization and in this Year of Mercy, let’s reach out as Catholics and be charitable just as Christ calls us to be. Let’s not only invite people to this celebration, but with God’s grace, impact those we don’t see often to make them want to come back not just next year but next week too. There is a threat to keep “Christ” out of Christmas. Our culture and the media try to be politically correct to call it a holiday. It is a holiday, but more importantly, to people of faith, it is a holy day, and that holy day is Christmas. May we not be afraid to say “Merry Christmas” whether it be to those close to us or to total strangers. May we as a Church and as a world keep “Christ” in Christmas, and may the spirit of it reign confidently and boldly in our hearts. Every Christmas brings us back to our roots, ultimately rooted in the child of Jesus Christ, who gave it to us as a gift over two millennia ago. It’s Christ’s Mass for he invites us to participate and share in this celebration, the celebration of his birth.
Merry Christmas!

In Jesus, The Divine Child,
Fr. Jeff Allan