HOMILY AT CHRISTMAS MASSES
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL, EDINBURGH
HOMILY PREACHED BY CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN
SUNDAY 25TH DECEMBER 2011
INTRODUCTION:
It is indeed a joy for me to be with you again in our Cathedral as we celebrate this Christmas Mass.
From my own visits throughout the Archdiocese, I know just how many parishioners like to be in our Cathedral for the principal celebration of Christmas, along with their family and friends – and I also know that many people who are far from home and on holiday or working in Edinburgh for a longer or shorter time, like to be in our Cathedral to share in something of the joy of our Christmas Masses.
You are all most warmly welcome as we think again of the accounts of the first Christmas and what lessons we might learn for our own lives.
CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM CHRISTMAS STAMPS:
This year, in accordance with a recent convention of alternating secular and religious themes, religion and the Gospel story of the Nativity is very much to the fore in our Christmas stamps. In fact the 2011 Christmas stamps are exceptional, not simply in concept – they adopt the Nativity narratives of Matthew and Luke’s Gospels – but in design, they are beautifully engaging and colourful renditions of that incredible, wonderful story of the birth of Jesus Christ, God made man.
This series of stamps tell that story and I believe it is one which our society needs to hear today more than ever before. That Nativity narrative is contained in the two quotations from St Matthew’s Gospel on the stamps, which remind us that Mary will give birth to a son who must be named Jesus; and that this miraculous birth fulfils the prophesy in the Old Testament that a son will be born called Immanuel, a name which means ‘God is with us’. As we think of these words, we realise something of the love of God for his people in giving them his Son – and we realise the wonder of that message that that Son is God who is still with us.
Perhaps we should also remember that the cost of a child is estimated to be now over £100,000 in its early years. In the midst of our plenty we lavish many gifts on our new born. Yet think of the lack of any expensive trappings in that birth in a stable, but realise that that child was surrounded by what is most important in the life of any person, namely basic love. We heard recently, that the population of our world has reached 7 billion. I wonder if each and every life is valued as it should be?
MESSAGES FROM POPE BENEDICT XVI:
Each Christmas you will read or hear of various messages from Church leaders. I would like to refer at this Christmas to a message from Pope Benedict XVI last year when he stated: “What the celebration of Christmas proposes to us, besides examples to imitate, such as the Lord’s humility and poverty or his benevolence or love of human beings, is to let ourselves be totally transformed by the One who took on our flesh”. And to those thoughts we could also add those of St John in the first chapter of his Gospel when he states: “But to all who did accept Him, He gave power to become children or God... the Word was made flesh, He lived among us”.
Strengthened by the power of Jesus Christ in our midst, we must indeed be ‘totally transformed by Him, who took on our flesh’. We do have a wonderful vocation – strengthened by our lives of prayer and our union with Christ in the Mass. We must continue both to live our faith and to hand on our faith wherever we are, whether that message is ‘welcome or unwelcome’ and whether it is ‘in season or out of season’.
CHRIST IN THE WORLD OF TODAY:
Many of you will perhaps now be looking back over last year and contemplating some of the challenges in the year ahead. There have been many things in the life of our country which have perhaps caused us some dismay over this past year – or even horror at the thought of them. However, there have been other events which have given us great joy. At this time, at the end of the year, we might ask whether or not Scotland is now a better place in which to live and bring up one’s family; or rather is it not the place we had hoped it would be!
Our Scottish Government has, in many instances, strived to improve the standard of living in Scotland and indeed tried to help us face a brighter future in our country. There has been progress with regard to the Offensive Behaviour Bill and alcohol pricing, along with attempts to curb senseless sectarianism. And, in Westminster, statements have been made on the proposed reform regarding the Act of Settlement; while worries at all levels have occurred with regard to the Euro and the increasing financial crisis. A mass strike of public service workers on St Andrew’s Day reminded us all of people’s awareness of their own needs and those of their families, as they try to live at their present level or increase their standard of living. But there has been in our country at times an awareness that the ‘ordinary working person’ has been treated unfairly, compared with those involved in big business, banking etc. We could say that the view of many people is quite simply that the rich are getting richer, while the poor are becoming poorer.
On a spiritual level, I like to think the concerns of many have focussed in a particular way on our young people over this past year. At the World Youth Day, led by Pope Benedict XVI in Madrid, young people from each of our 8 Scottish Dioceses were present. Further, just a few months ago, the new National Syllabus in Religious Education, recently approved by Rome, was launched – and this national launch is being followed by diocesan launches throughout Scotland.
The spiritual life of each one of us has been affected by the preparations for the use of the New Translation of the Missal and then the full introduction of its use on the First Sunday of Advent. Many initial fears have been calmed and more and more priests and people are discovering a new depth of spirituality in the new translations, helping us to deepen in our faith.
However, there are still major concerns about ‘life’ itself – both with regard to the beginning and end of life, as well as our journey through life. The numbers of abortions in our country have not decreased in the ways in which we would have liked; and there is still a concern about attempts to increase availability of assisted suicide. I received a letter from an elderly lady in England, asking me if she could come into a Catholic care home in our country, as she was frightened that she would be put to death as her age increased.
Of course, the greatest problem facing us over the last few months was with regard to the Sacrament of Matrimony – that consideration be given as to whether or not same-sex unions could be dignified by the title of ‘marriage’. The voices of our Catholic community were heard loudly and clearly, especially at the campaign outside the Scottish Parliament on St Andrew’s Day, entitled: ‘Scotland for Marriage’. The Bishops of Scotland strongly emphasised that no government can redefine the nature of the human family – to do so would bestow on the Government power which threatens the freedom of all.
CHRISTMAS WISHES:
Often at Christmas time we think of the apparent mess in which we sometimes live our lives and those parallel messes in which our world and our country often is.
This year, when blessing the Christmas tree to stand in St Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict XVI shared three Christmas wishes with the world:
His first wish was that our gaze at this time, like the Christmas tree that tends upward, be directed towards God;
His second wish is that we recall that we also need a light to illumine the path of our lives and to give us hope – like the lights which enveloped the shepherds at the first Christmas;
And his third wish is that each one of us contributes something of that light to the spheres in which we live: our families, our jobs, our neighbourhoods, towns and cities. He reminds us that any small gesture of goodness is like one of the lights on a Christmas tree: and together with other lights it illuminates the darkness of the night, even of the darkest night!
CONCLUSION:
Perhaps you could think of your own wishes for Christmas at this time – whether you are young or old, single or married, a local parishioner or someone from far away. What are your wishes for this Christmas time?
Without thinking of three, I myself think in a special way of that third wish of Pope Benedict XVI, namely that each one of us in this Cathedral, in our home, in our parish, in our local community, do what the Pope indicates is his wish, namely that “each of us contributes something of that light (of Christ) to the spheres in which we live: our families, our jobs, our neighbourhoods, towns and cities.
The light of Christ, Jesus himself, the Son of God and Son of Mary, did not come on earth for his light to be hidden. He came to radiate light to the whole world of his time – but also to the whole world of our time.
We have a specific responsibility with regard to the way we lead our Christian lives in our world. May this Christmas give us the opportunity again to reaffirm our desire to lead Christ-like lives and to lead others to Christ by dint of our Christian example.
May God indeed bless you all and your family and friends at this Christmas.