Get ready to celebrate the one who was foretold!
Homily preached Sunday, December 18, 2022
by Monsignor Michael Deering
Twenty Seven years ago ... back in 1995, Pope Saint John Paul the Great, published his book entitled “Crossing the Threshold of Hope”. It’s a wonderful compilation of his thoughts on 20 different interesting topics of God and Church.
In his brief chapters on Judaism and Islam the Pope points out that
even though Jews and Muslims believe in one God as do Christians ...
Judism and Islam are quite different from Christianity.
Yes, while all 3 Religions believe in one God ... only Christians have a God ...
who came to be with His people ... in a coming that was foretold!
Only Christianity believes in a God who came to be with Mankind ...
and whose coming was foretold!
So where are the other Gods? Here are two important terms that are used ...
Transcendent: which means: aloof, apart from, totally other, invisible ... and
Immanent: which means: nearby, amidst, united with, visible.
Muslims believe in Allah, who they consider totally transcendent that means totally other & apart from them; and there are no plans for Allah to come to be with them.
So for Muslims ... their God is not with them and has no plans to be with them.
Jews believe in Yahweh, of whom the Old Testament Scriptures announce...
will send a Redeemer ... who will someday come to them ... The Chosen People to return them to their former place of honor & power among the people of the world.
And ... as far as they’re concerned, ... Yahweh has not yet done that...
and so, they’re still waiting for Him to come to them someday.
So to Jews, Yahweh is transcendent ... with plans to be immanent.
Christians on the other hand believe all the Old Testament Scriptures that announce the coming of a Savior ... who would regather the People of God together ...but they also believe all the New Testament Scriptures that announce that
the many O.T promises are fulfilled in the coming of Jesus 2022 years ago!
We heard one of God’s Old Testament promises today ... thru the Prophet Isaiah:
“The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.”
(where the word Emmanuel means “God is with us.)
And then in our Gospel from Matthew, we heard how this prophecy was fulfilled ... as the angel of the Lord explains to Joseph in a dream that ...
“through the power of the Holy Spirit ... this child has been conceived in her.”
a child who is both God and King and would now be with His people on earth!
We Christians believe that God is both ... transcendent and immanent!
Here’s what Pope Saint John Paul II wrote:
“Whoever knows the Old and New Testaments, and then reads the Koran, clearly sees the process by which it completely reduces Divine Revelation.
It is impossible not to note the movement away from what God said about Himself, first in the Old Testament through the Prophets,
and then finally in the New Testament through His Son.”
Some of the most beautiful names in the human language are given to the God of the Koran, but He is ultimately a God outside of the world,
a God who is only Majesty, never Emmanuel, God with-us.”
So, what is it that sets Christianity apart from
the other two monotheistic religions ... Islam and Judaism?
Christianity is the only religion with a God who ...
foretold that He would come to be with his people ...
and then actually did come to be with his people!
And here’s the best part!
Not only did God come to be with us in the God-Man Jesus Christ to redeem us ...
but He remains with us to this very day in in Body(the Eucharist) and in Spirit!
Yes, our God has revealed Himself as the Mystery of the Trinity ...
Three persons in One God ... Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier!
God is one ... and God is with us!
No other world religion has a God like this ...
a God who has come to His people ... and remains with His People.
We do!
And one week from now ... we and 2.5 Billion Christians all over the world
will take time to celebrate the occasion of His first coming to us ... 2022 years ago.
We call it Christmas ... the day that we use ... to mark all of time! BC and AD
BC ... Before Christ and AD ... Anno Domini ... the Year of the Lord!
How could you not believe in Jesus?
- His coming was foretold by many people for many years.
- And when He did come ... he was exactly as foretold.
Yes, those who believe in the promises of God ... believe in Jesus Christ.
It’s our belief that brings us together ! We are Believers!
We believe in God! The transcendent and immanent God!
So, thank God for your Christian faith. Not everyone has it!
In fact 75% of the world do not believe God has come to us in Jesus, the Lord of all!
But we do.
And as we prepare to celebrate the fulfillment of God’s promise at Christmas ...
I hope you prepare to celebrate Christmas ... not as a day ... but as a season ...
thereby giving yourselves many days to bask in ...
the great mystery... of God coming to be with us.
Our celebration should mirror that of newly married couples.
For, once they celebrate their Wedding Day,
they then take a one or two week Honeymoon ...
to revel in their new state in life … of being husband and wife.
We Catholics do the same thing with Christmas.
We use the 4 weeks of Advent to prepare our hearts & homes for Christmas ...
then we celebrate the Nativity of Jesus on Christmas Day , December 25th and then we continue that celebration for a good two weeks more.
Don’t let society tell you when Christmas is over; listen to your Church.
The Church tells us to take our time and savor the magnificent mystery that took place in our world at Christmas:that God came to be with us ...just as He promised.
This is really Good News and the Church wants us to soak it in for all it’s worth. The 16 days that comprise the Christmas Season, are intended to be days to just bask in the wonder of all that happened on that First Christmas … 2022 years ago!
It was on that day that the Savior of Mankind ... was born into our world.
It was on that day that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity ...
took on human form and came to dwell among us.
It was on that day the Angels sang, “Peace on earth … good will to men!”
This Christmas, please follow the direction of your Church ...
by continuing to prepare for the next 6 days ...
and then savoring the wonder of Christmas for the whole Christmas Season ...
for all 16 days ... honoring the Holy Family on the Saturday after Christmas,
honoring Mary as God-Bearer on New Year’s Day,
honoring he Epiphany by the Wise Men on January 8th
and honoring the Baptism of the Lord on January 9th.
Hopefully there will never be a time when you say,
“Enough of this … I’ve had it with Christmas … let’s move on.”
There’s really no where else we need to go. Celebrating Jesus should never end.
He’s the first & the last; the beginning & the end.
He is with us, now and forever!
Amen!
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