Archbishop's Homilies 2006

Midnight Mass for Christmas

Celebrated By Archbishop Denis Hart
at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne
on Monday, 25th December, 2006

Introduction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Welcome to Saint Patrick’s for this Christmas Mass, which I celebrate for you, for those you love, and for the whole Church of Melbourne.

We see Jesus born as a child of abject poverty in a manger.  We are reminded that God is so great that he can become small, so powerful that he can make himself vulnerable and come to us as a defenceless child, so that we can love him.

Jesus invites us, like the shepherds, to watch, pray and follow with our life.

As we call to mind our sins, let us ask that he will renew our lives in his image and guide us by his light.

Homily


Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Hundreds of years before Christ the psalmist foretold the birth of God’s Son.  People who lived in hope now knew the reality that God has come to meet us.  The child lying in the manger is truly God’s Son who comes to meet us.  To him the Father says, you are my Son, and into the fleeting days of our world God and we meet face to face.  God is so good that he gives up his divine splendour to come to a stable for us to find him, to be touched by his goodness, so that he would continue to work through us.  God became one of us so that we can become like him.

For us it is a sign.  This is how we can know God.  The light that comes from Jesus shines on every child, even those not yet to be born.

Hence, we see in the words of Isaiah, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.”  (Isaiah 9:1)  Jesus came to be born as light for the world.  This light of God came on a world full of darkness and unsolved problems.  When the glory of the Lord appeared to the shepherds his light was a source of life.  Whenever people put their faith in the child, the light of knowledge and truth brings the gift of charity; loving concern for the weak and the suffering, the grace of forgiveness.  Through the centuries the child of God countered the violence in this world with his own goodness.

His coming reminds us that all life is precious.  From conception to natural death God’s greatest gift to all is that of life.  As followers of Jesus every one of us is to stand up for the value of life in an increasingly hostile climate.  Abortion in the womb, euthanasia of the elderly must be seen for what they are; killing of God-given human life and opposed by all of us in a climate of increasing hostility to life.

The baby brings us the light of truth.  In the modern world with its concentration on personal freedom the Church can be mistakenly seen as announcing a list of prohibitions.  Rather, in the light of God’s coming at Christmas, we see that Christ has entrusted to the Church the light that shines from the crib of truth which is unchanging, of the dignity of each person, and of the correspondence needed between our personal actions and God’s plan for us to find happiness and come to eternal life.

Jesus’ whole mission was that we should not only know God, but also love him.  Like the shepherds we are invited to be watchful, to be attentive to God’s Word and his sacrifice in the Sunday Eucharist, nourishing us so that we are ready to listen to God, to take the challenge of our own personal conversion and to set out.  Like the shepherds who are waiting for a light that would show them the way, we have welcomed with expectant hearts God’s light and God’s peace.

Because we love him the Lord invites us to carry the light of peace so that his goodness might touch us, give it to us and continue to work through us.

Dear brothers and sisters, God’s Son is among us.  He wants our love.  He is with us at every moment.

May the light and peace of Jesus walk with you as you leave this Cathedral and remain constant in your life each day.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.