Midnight Mass Christmas 2007
In all the busyness, the frantic activity, the vast array and amount of human suffering, there is a still point, a place of peace and we find it at Midnight Mass, transporting ourselves in spirit to Bethlehem.
The never-changing scene which transcends all time give us comfort and reassurance that all is well, and all shall be well, provided we take refuge with the Holy Family.
It is hard to switch on peace. We can tell each other to relax, calm down, but it is not so easy to stop the engine running.
If we are full of anxiety and have a hundred things going on at once, it is very hard to stop all of a sudden and contemplate divine Mystery.
Yet that is what Christmas invites from us. Stop, Look, Listen and become a child again.
Let the peace of Christ come over you like a wave and be refreshed.
It may take a while for the peace to sink in, but let it begin tonight.
St Paul says: Let the peace of Christ reign in your hearts. This would mean that even if we are frantically busy, jumping in and out of the car, on and off the phone – those things are only what the body is doing – but in the spirit, at the centre of our being we can be still, at peace with God.
The Bethlehem scene invites us to interior and exterior peace.
If we have peace in our hearts, if we slow down sufficiently, we will have time to consider our relationships with others.
One of the reasons people quarrel and are rude to each other is that neither party is at peace within, so tempers are quick and fuses are short.
But if we get ourselves right with God then we see other people in a whole new light. We see them as He sees them, requiring compassion and care.
Our Saviour came to the earth in a great act of love and sacrifice at a time when we were still sinners. We were not loveable 2000 years ago, and still not today. Yet He could feel sorry for us. He was more sorry for us than angry with us.
And this is how we must be with each other, with any people we have feuds or quarrels with. They are not so bad really; they just need a half hour or so before the Crib, drinking in peace.
And even if the other person does not change, we do, so we are Christ-like enough to be able to love, even when not loved in return.
It may take time; more than one Christmas Day, but at least we know where we must head.
It is nice to come to Midnight Mass; it is nice to have Christmas Day and all its trimmings – but to make serious progress in having peace within and learning to love like Christ, it will require that we work on this every day.
We must pray every day and confess our sins regularly, and take part in Sunday Mass, and seek to do good works in every possible way.
Christmas is about Christ, and Christ is all year long. If we don’t manage to achieve perfect peace in our hearts today, then tomorrow will do! Or six months time, or whenever we can. But achieve it we must, if we are ever to be His disciples or to have any hope of peace in the world.
Peace comes from the Christ-child who has descended into our midst. Let us honour Him tonight, in gratitude for His coming, and let His peace enter deeply within us.
