December 24-25: A Christmas Homily for Children & More

While the homily at our Christmas Masses will be somewhat “adult friendly,” here is another homily that those with children might want to share. Parents and Grandparents: you are welcome to read this story aloud for your little ones. Merry Christmas!

Once upon a time there was a man who looked upon Christmas as a lot of humbug. He wasn’t a Scrooge; he was a kind and decent person, generous to his family, upright in all his dealings with other people. But he didn’t believe all that stuff about Incarnation (God taking on our flesh) which the Church proclaims at Christmas. And he was too honest to pretend that he did. “I am truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, who was a faithful churchgoer. “But I simply cannot understand this claim that God becomes man. It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

On Christmas Eve, his wife and children went to church. He declined to accompany them, saying, “I’d feel like a hypocrite. I’d rather stay at home. But I’ll wait up for you.”

Shortly after his family drove away in the car, heavy snow began to fall. He went to the window and watched the snowfall getting heavier and heavier. “If we must have Christmas,” he thought, “it’s nice to have a white one.” He went back to his chair by the fireside and began to read his newspaper. A few minutes later, he was startled by a thudding sound. It was quickly followed by another, then another. He thought that someone must be throwing snowballs at his living room window. When he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the storm. They had been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, they had tried to fly through his window. “I can’t let these poor creatures lie there and freeze,” he thought. “But how can I help them?” Then he remembered the barn where the children’s pony was stabled. It would provide a warm shelter.

He put on his coat and galoshes and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the door wide and turned on a light. But the birds didn’t come in. “Food will lure them in,” he thought. So he hurried back to the house for bread crumbs, which he sprinkled on the snow to make a trail into the barn. To his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flop around helplessly in the snow. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. They scattered in every direction – except into the warm, lighted barn.

“They find me a strange and terrifying creature,” he said to himself, “and I can’t seem to think of any way to let them know they can trust me. If only I could be a bird myself for a few minutes, perhaps I could lead them to safety. . . .”

Just at that moment the church bells began to ring. He stood silent for a while, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. Then he sank to his knees in the snow. “Now I do understand,” he whispered. “Now I see why God chose to do it, why He became one of us – in order to save us.” 

 ***

Think of the many ways God has reached out to us to communicate with us since the beginning. The height of God communicating with us in the Old Testament was when God formed the covenant with Moses on Mt. Sinai. God joined Himself to us in a covenant and we were joined to God. But we still wanted to chart our own path, so God raised up prophets to call us back. But only a small number of people paid heed to the prophets. All through the centuries of the Old Testament, God pursued us, but we chose to break the covenant in countless ways. Christmas helps us celebrate that God chose to make a new and unbreakable covenant with us; it is a bond which can never be broken. For this new covenant, God would become flesh and bones like us, and shed His blood in the person of Jesus to convince us, once and for all, to accept His invitation to be His people. “At various moments in the past and by many means, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; but in our time, the final days, He has spoken to us in the person of His Son.” (Hebrews 1,1-2) So, dare to sing with the angels this season: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.”

God has spoken to us, the Word has become flesh: “May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give us a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring us to full knowledge of Him. May God enlighten the eyes of our minds so that we can see what hope His calling holds for us, what rich glories God has given us. He who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.”

***

With your family this Christmas, and frankly all year long, give the gift of “a cherishing gaze.” Look for the good in them. Look harder. Ask God to help you not only see it but rejoice in it and gracefully point it out to them. Frankly, it’s fun. It is like being on a treasure hunt. Like the five loaves and two fishes, when you find the treasure and share it, it grows. And something almost miraculous happens. When people are seen — seen lovingly for their goodness, their gifts and for their goof-ups — they are put at ease. They can lay down their camouflage, their self-protecting armor that consumes their attention and blocks their vision. And then they begin to see … you.

St. John of the Cross put it this way: “Where there is no love, put love and you will draw out love.” Give the gift of love that is the cherishing gaze, and you will see each other anew. Check out this article on maintaining hope at this time of year: https://www.osvnews.com/2020/12/18/if-youre-struggling-with-the-holidays-read-this-there-is-hope/

 

 

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