The first 3:00 minutes is the letter from Bishop Conley, wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. My notes for my Christmas homily are as follows:
I think often times, when we think of God-becoming man, it is easy to go about this reality kind of non-chalantly. Our view of God then becomes taking a man, and then saying he can do all these really cool things – like raising a man from the dead, healing the sick, allowing the blind to see – and then this picture of what it means to be God is really just a really cool guy who can do really cool things.
First – Context and the grandeur of God. Want to take a few moments and reflect on what we say when we have this concept of God – as often times we look at Him as just another man with awesome and incredible powers. Some of this realization I think is reinforced with all the “superhero” movies that have come out in the last couple of decades. But is so much more than just some good looking, physically fit, perfect guy who can do cool things. Every week when we profess the Creed, we profess belief in One God who created the heaven and earth, this visible and invisible. First the visible of what is created – want to reflect on you with the stars – in the known universe there are billions of stars that comprise billions of galaxies. To give an idea of how many stars we know about – one grain of sand = one star: could build a sand castle 5 miles x 5 miles x 5 miles. Or just look at one star in particular – the Canus Majoris. The “big dog” star…the biggest star we have discovered. To get an idea of how big this star is: if the earth were a golf ball, the Canus Majoris would be the height of Mt. Everest in comparison. We profess and believe that one all-powerful being created this reality.
What about invisible – want to reflect on the reality of the Angels. We don’t know how many God created, we have discovered, through revelation, that there are 9 choirs of Angels, 3 sets of 3 hierarchies, (Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones: Dominions, Virtues, Powers: Principalities, Archangels, Angels). What struck me once as I was teaching this to sixth graders, an experience I had of a mind = blown experience is that God created angels before humanity, and yet he created for each one of us in this room a guardian angel.
From the beginning of Time, God knew he was going to create you, and created an angel for you – Angels are not recycled…which means God in his infinite wisdom, knew how many Angels he would need to create, he gifted that angel with all the knowledge of you and how to best aid you to reach Heaven, and then tasked that Angel with watching over you and guiding you along that path to Heaven….
It is this reality of God that we come here to worship tonight, but not as this great majestic being, but as a baby. As one who depended on others for his survival, and as most babies are, approachable – God chose to become one of us, to limit himself so that we would have the confidence, comfort, and assurance that we can come to him.
So I want to share with you a story. This past March/April, I went to Mexico on a mission trip with “Hope of the Poor,” and one of the things that we did there was visit a shelter for women and their children escaping domestic violence and abuse. One of the things that I noticed immediately, is that the women that I went on mission with (of which all the people I went with were women, except me), the children immediately had no issue with going up to them, playing with them, asking them for things that we didn’t know what they were asking (they spoke Spanish, we spoke English), but when I would try to play with them, talk to them (in very broken Spanish), they were less open to having me around. I had to gain their trust and prove that I wasn’t going to hurt them. The guy who brought us here kind of said that is a common occurance – the children are naturally afraid of men – and I think rightly so.
I mention this story because I think sometimes, we struggle to relate to God as “Our Father” we struggle to this reality…but this is the primary reason God the Son came to earth – his mission was to reveal God as Father, God as protector, as caregiver, but God as loving – wishing to give to all his children – everything. So, he came to us in a most humble manner, proclaiming his coming to shepherds out in the field, as one who needed to learn to talk, walk, manners, throw/kick a ball, how to use a hammer – so that we wouldn’t be afraid to come be with our Lord.
So, if we struggle to see God as Father because of our life situations – may we come to see God as loving us, as an innocent baby who just wants to be with people, who attracts people. May we spend time before the Nativity scene this Christmas season – because what we celebrate tonight, is that reality that God would rather limit himself, would take on humanity than be without us, each one of us. May that give us comfort, joy, and peace at coming before God, and may that earthly comfort bring us to share in the Eternal comfort, joy, and peace in Heaven forever where we shall see God as He is.
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