The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) - Vigil Mass

Lectionary: 13

Vigil Mass: Is 62:1-5, Acts 13:16-17, 22-25, Mt 1:1-25

Mass at Night: Is 9:1-6, Ti 2:11-14, Lk 2:1-14

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

A very happy Christmas to you all! For the reflection today I am placing before you
three symbolic imageries to help you relate to and benefit from this great event of God
becoming man.

Joseph and his wife Mary came to Bethlehem that night: The night Jesus was born
Joseph and Mary had made a long journey from Joseph’s home town Nazareth to the
city of David called Bethlehem so that he could be enrolled along with Mary to whom
he was betrothed. How far is Bethlehem from Nazareth: The distance “as the crow
flies” from Nazareth to Bethlehem is about 70 miles. Under normal circumstances,
without too many winding roads or rough spots to traverse, people might well have
been able to travel (on foot or by donkey) about 20 miles a day, for a total one-way trip
of perhaps four days1.

This long journey of Mary and Joseph is symbolic of our own life journey. Let it
symbolise for us the journey we have made in this one year gone by. For some of us it
has been easy. But for most of us it has been a rough journey. Uncertainties in jobs,
economic hardships, major sickness, breakdown in relationships, struggle in pray and
spiritual life etc. Let us picture ourselves on our life journey, we are reaching
Bethlehem tonight, tired; exhausted and broken.

Mary wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger: St. Luke tells us so
much is just two sentences. He tells us that while they were in Bethlehem, the time
came for Mary to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped
him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the inn. Jesus being laid in a manger, the feeding place of cattle, gives us the
understanding where Mary and Joseph took shelter in their moment of extreme need
and helplessness. It was a place where cattle were kept, could be a cave or a shed that
served as a stable.

Let us sort of peep and look carefully at where Jesus is born. It is a stable. The place
where cattle stay is not a nice tidy place. It is filled with the dirt cattle bring, the stink

1
https://www.stcatherinercc.org/single-post/2017/12/06/how-long-is-the-trip-from-nazareth-to-bethlehem
and the noise. And the manger is wet and sticky with half chewed cattle feed. Would
we like to rest in a stable amidst the dirt and stink of the cattle. But it is symbolic of our
lives. More often then not, we can compare our life to a stable. We are broken with our
faults and failures and there is no peace within. Our wrong doings make us feel sticky
and it all feels like stink. Oh the great wisdom and the great love of our God. He surely
could have had a better place to be born. No he chose that stinking dark dirty place, to
tell you and me that it is symbolic of what you and I make of our life, most often than
not all through the year. And as we come to this great event of Christmas at the end of
the year, Jesus truly wants to be born again, now not in the stable of Bethlehem, but in
the stinking stable of my own heart and my life, right here, right now. He desires to find
in me his home.

The shepherds were the first to go and see the new born child, Jesus. What must have
happened? The manger was not the same after Jesus was born. Jesus started His work
of cleaning the world. Mary and Joseph with the help of the shepherds cleaned up and
straightened the stable. They made boundaries for the animals, brought fresh water,
cleaned up the place and shared their shawls to keep Jesus, Mary and Joseph warm.

Yes, Jesus is born again in you and in me, once again to help clean up the messy stable
of our life. Mary is there, Joseph is there and the shepherds are there. God’s grace is
abundant. My life is being transformed. Jesus is born again in my life, to transform me
and make me more like Him, in thoughts words and deeds. For those of us who have
experienced God more closely in our life and have grown in our journey of faith, every
Christmas is a new awakening to understand how God is slowly transforming us year by
year. Meditate how you have grown in your spiritual life from last Christmas till now.
St. Luke tells us that the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God. They were
filled with joy. Today we too are filled with joy.

Let us Build no man’s land: This third part of my reflection is inspired by a song a friend
of mine back in India, sent me a couple of weeks ago during Advent. I listened to this
song and set it aside. But then my thoughts kept going to the words of the song and I
began to listen to it again and again and realised that in a way it is sounding like a
Christmas message that I could share with you this Christmas. The song called “1915
On Christmas” sung by the Irish Band Celtic Thunder, beautifully evokes one of the
most moving, surreal and human moments of the 20th century.

The song written by Tommy Fleming, is based on the true story about the British,
French and German soldiers during the First World War. More than quarter of a million
Irish soldiers were serving in the British military at that time. On Christmas day that
year, an unofficial truce was called among the soldiers, the guns stopped firing and
they left the trenches on the Western Front and met in the middle in no man’s land.
The British, French and German soldiers celebrated Christmas. They exchanged food,
cigarettes and souvenirs. They also swapped prisoners of war and sang carols. They
even played a game of football.

Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxon Infantry Regiment said: “The English
brought a soccer ball from their trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued. How
marvellously wonderful, yet how strange it was.”2

The lyrics of the song tell how they heard a German soldier singing a song of peace
from no man’s land on Christmas day. They left the trench, and for the day, soldiers
from either side befriended each other. The second half of the song returns to the
tragedy of the war as the following day the guns started firing and the killing resumed.
Here are the lyrics to help our reflection:

1915 on Christmas Day, on the western front the guns all died away, and lying in the
mud on bags of sand, we heard a German sing from no man's land. He had a tenor
voice so pure and true, the words were strange but every note we knew, soaring over
the living dead and dammed, the German sang of peace from no man's land

They left their trenches and we left ours, beneath tin hats smiles bloomed like wild
flowers, with photos, cigarettes, and pots of wine, we built a soldier's truce on the front
line.

Their singer was a lad of 21, we begged another song before the dawn, and sitting in
the mud and blood and fear, he sang again the song all longed to hear: silent night, no
cannons roar, a king is born of peace for evermore, all's calm, all's bright, all brothers
hand in hand, in 19 and 15 in no man's land

And in the morning all the guns boomed in the rain, and we killed them and they killed
us again, at night they charged we fought them hand to hand, and I killed the boy that
sang in no man's land

Silent night no cannons roar, a king is born of peace for evermore, all's calm, all's
bright, all brothers hand in hand, and that young soldier sings, and the song of peace

2
https://www.irishmusicdaily.com/blog/celtic-thunder-christmas-1915
still rings, though the captains and all the kings, built no man's land. Sleep in Heavenly
Peace

Dear brothers and sisters, from the first Christmas Day till today, the world has still
seen wars and conflicts, hatred and crime. Peace eludes mankind, eludes us in our
families and in our personal lives. The world celebrates Christmas but goes to war the
next day. We do not allow the King of Peace to be born in our world, in our lives. Let us
bring Him in. He is going to help us to build no man’s land, God’s Land. Where there is
the silent night and Heavenly peace. We ask for it when we pray the Our Father. We
ask God for His kingdom when we say “Thy Kingdom Come”. May God’s Kingdom truly
come for you and for me. May we experience the peace of no man’s land and sleep in
heavenly peace. Amen.