This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
ChristmasBelong to us.……..Belong to Him!!!Is9:1-6, Tit2:11-14, Lk2:1-14.Dear Sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus, I wish you A Merry Christmas and Blessing of Emmanuel to all your families and to all your loving Persons. May we experience the peace, joy and love of the manger! Today’s Eucharistic celebration may give us the grace filled blessing of the Messiah to our community, friends and families.A 6 year old boy, Matthew, was standing in front of the crib, he was watching and listening to the stories from his mom. Matthew said, “I have question, we celebrate Jesus birthday on Dec 25 but we don’t see Him other days, where does he live for the rest of the year? Does he live away from us?” His Mother did not have an answer! A four-year-old girl went with a group of family and friends to see the Christmas light displays at various locations throughout the city. At one church, they stopped to look more closely at a marvelously arranged nativity scene. “Isn’t that beautiful?” said the little girl’s grandmother. “Look at all the animals, Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus.” “Yes, Grandma,” replied the granddaughter. “It is really nice. But there is only one thing that bothers me. I grow every year and now have celebrated my 4th birthday, but He’s the same size he was last year!” Isn’t Baby Jesus ever going to grow up…?” Grandma has no answer! Where is Jesus in the rest of the year? Is he in our community, sacraments and good works? Baby Jesus does not grow, constantly being born in the manger every year, to remind us that He came to belong to us, to identify us, and He came to be one of us so that we may belong to Him? To the question, where do you belong? Whom do you belong to? The following answers were expressed by persons of different age groups: I belong to Space world… I wish to be live there one day! I belong to 4G world…..I believe in the fastest communication from wherever I am! I belong to Face book world……I want to reach 3000 friends on day! I belong to media era…..my you tube video reached 5000 likes! I belong to new generation of science……looking for the day when organs grown in the lab! I am with world leaders who believe in nuclear war…. I am with Pope Francis………………. With and for people! Yes dear friends we are surrounded by attractions and advanced technology. We are carried away by making them as companions. In the bargain we alienate ourselves from the community of brothers and sisters. Recently, we witnessed the killing of innocent children in Pakistan, we saw the tragic end of young people in Mexico, and we know how school-girls are kidnapped and ill-treated in Nigeria. There is a struggle for recognition: recognition for a country, for a group (ISIS), for a community, for a family and for oneself. We try to assert our power of recognition either through one of the above, or through violence. In this process we are lost. Hitler, Gadhafi, and Herod from Scripture, lost the race in their lives because they took the wrong path to assert their power of acknowledgement. Some popular artists, sportsmen and heroes end their lives sadly, due to the pressures of keeping up their need for appreciation. Celebrating the birth of the Baby Jesus reminds us every year, that God identified, recognized and mixed with humanity in our life situation. He came to say that he belongs to us and we belong to Him. God the father did not send Jesus as a warrior or an emperor or scientist; rather He sent Jesus like you and me, to be for us, to be with us and to be one of us. The readings offer the answer to the question of how and why God identified with us. The Prophet Isaiah affirmed the coming of the Messiah to the people of Israel, with the symbolic expression: Why does he say that People you walked in darkness now will see a great light? The darkness he refers to is the despair and fear of the present and future that people faced in the divided kingdom. They lost peace, unity and spiritual guidance in the divided kingdom of Juda and Israel. Here, when the oppressing Assyrians were defeated, then the people longed for a king like David and Solomon, and wanted a leader like Moses and Joshua. They did not have strength to go into another slavery, exile, or war and destruction. They were hoping to rise above this darkness. How will the experience of light be? The Prophet tells them that the life of light from the Messiah will bring joy like that one experiences during harvest. How is this light and joy possible? Isaiah foretells, ‘that for unto us a child is born and a son is given to us. He tells them that He will be like us and pat of us.’ Isaiah confirms that He will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, prince of peace and everlasting father. These titles are not His name, but rather are the characteristics of The Messiah. In those days, the kings had titles for different acts of victory. Those kings struggled for power and recognition. They also denied the peace and liberty of those in their kingdom. The Messiah will come close to you, will walk next to you healing, teaching and forgiving, and He will be one of you as part of your Community. (Wonderful counselor: walk with you, Mighty God: God who defeats evil and sin, everlasting Father: Eternal care, Prince of peace: absence of war in His presence) The atmosphere explained in the Gospel of Luke is full of rich meaning: the child in swaddling cloth will be in the manger, and with shepherds, because there was no place in the inn at Bethlehem. Why Bethlehem? Why manger? Why swaddling cloth? Why shepherds? The Jewish people waited and expected eagerly that the Messiah would be born in their homes. They made houses separated from others, each proving to be best for the messiah to be born. But God wanted to meet us where we are in our vulnerable reality. God is not only a flaming bush, a pillar of fire or even a mysterious cloud as we see in the Old Testament. God made His presence known in these many amazing ways, in order to say that He is close to us and is one us, constantly leading man back to Himself. God, in coming to dwell among humanity, chose to become one of us. Every word in Scripture is important to the understanding of Who God is. Bethlehem (O.T: Ephratha) means house of bread or food. Manger means feeding box. So, Shepherds were told that today animals are not fed in manger, but rather baby boy, the Messiah is born unto you, to dwell with you and to be food for you, to fill you with joy, peace and love fill your hunger. Swaddling clothes was a word that appeared in ancient medical writings. In Greek, the word SPARGANOO refers to clothes that a baby would wear. Swaddling is “long strips of cloth for infant care” or “to wrap in baby clothes.” It was made from linen or cotton material and was five to six yards long (15-18 feet) we are told, and the band width was four to five inches. In Jewish marriages, one of the greatest gifts that could be bestowed upon them was to have children -- and especially to have sons. This is because the Jews awaited the coming of their Messiah, and every Jewish family lived in the hope that their son would be that promised Messiah. We need to know what being "swaddled" meant to them. The Messiah came in the form of Baby Jesus, to wrap and to swaddle tightly and closely all the broken, lonely and the lost. He came to say that He belongs to us and we belong to him. Can we experience the sense of belonging that we belong to Him when we look at Nativity Cribs? Can we identify with someone in this Christmas scene, making the person part of our crib and offer the sense of belonging? We know the movie “Joyeux Noel” a French film released and won awards in 2005. It was based on the true event that took place in the midst of World War II in 1914, on Christmas day. Scottish joining with the French in Belgium border was in war with German troops. There were efforts of a peace talk; due to protests of the people for peace, Pope Benedict XV wrote a letter on Dec, 07th, 1914 to end the war; but the soldiers saw each other as enemies and continued fighting with full strength. The situation slowly and gradually changed at the border in the middle of 24th Dec 1914. At the border German troops started decorating with Christmas trees, and after sometime started placing candles, then began singing Christmas Carols. The British responded by singing carols of their own. The two sides were shouting with Christmas greetings to each other. Slowly they started walking across no man’s land, there gradually small gifts like food, tobacco and alcohol were exchanged. They shared with each other buttons and hats as souvenirs. The artillery fell silent. The truce also took their recently killed soldiers for a burial and participated in joined services. Fr. Palmar, a British Chaplain, celebrated a brief Eucharist. They shared family pictures of their loved ones from their wallets, relishing their memories. The two troops played a football match, shared champagne and greeted each other with “Joyeux Noel”, Merry Christmas. Baby Jesus dwelt among the ego of leaders in their enmity, proving that peace, joy and love is possible in any situation. That was a historical and meaningful Christmas. Can we make our life situation like these, keeping our Christmas tree, lighting candles, singing songs, and sharing greetings? Then Jesus, Messiah Emmanuel will dwell among us. Jesus is reborn every time we allow crossing our struggle, doubts and division. God embraced us as Messiah, God shook hands with humanity as Emmanuel, and God kissed humanity as Baby Jesus. "God became man so that man might become a god." - St. Athanasius- Amen. Prayer near the crib: Draw near to Jesus whenever you feel far from holiness, when you feel unloved, unlovable, or unforgivable, draw near to Jesus when you are unworthy….. Jesus meek and humble of heart, asks for our hearts to enter into His…Jesus, make me worthy. All who are burdened by pain, sorrow, or sin, are blessed to receive the Lord’s invitation to His banquet every moment. Jesus is calling you…He is choosing you, to give Him yourself, wherever you’ve been…for behold, Christ makes all things new. All sinners rejoice in the Lord’s invitation to experience nazarene, to consecrate yourself to Him. And when you fall into sin, seek the Lord’s tender mercy…the Infant of divine love seeks to enliven your faith over and again. Praise to You Lord Jesus, Who wrought our salvation by becoming a baby in need of hearts to love You, all glory and praise to You! 
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