CHRISTMAS DAY HOMILY 2013 1.

Introduction: The message of Advent: Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a child and shall give birth to a son. And they shall call his name EmmanuelGod with us. For four weeks, we have prepared for the coming of the savior. And today, the time has come for the child to be born. This is the reason why we celebrate Christmas today. Perhaps the biggest message of Christmas is this: God is with us! o The Christ Child is no ordinary human; he is God and Man. Therefore, whenever we see the Christ Child, he reminds us that yes, it is indeed possible for God and man to be INTIMATELY UNITED! It is indeed possible for each one of us to be united with God, that we need not wait for the next life to be united with God because it is possible HERE in this very place, NOW at this very moment. o And if there is one person who is happiest this Christmas, it is the Father Himself for it is Him who longs the most, who desires the most to be united the humanity! o Christmas is therefore about being INTIMATELY UNITED with God, in friendship, in a relationship of love. But what does being intimately united with God mean? Perhaps, we can learn from Mary, the virgin who conceived and gave birth to the Christ Child: o We must bear the childbring the Child within us o We must bring him forth into the world so that others may truly see that God is with us!

2. We must bear the child The child born today is both man and God. Jesus, the Only Son of the God the Father, shows us that yes, it is possible for God and man to be INTIMATELY UNITED. However, this relationship of friendship is not easily realized because of two problems. Gospel: He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own but his own people did not accept him.

Problem 1: to many of us, God seems to be so DISTANT; we DO NOT KNOW HIM o Song From a Distance: God is watching us from a distance . . .; very much opposite of the message of Christmas: God is with us! o Prayer: Our Father: Our Father who art in heaven . . . as if saying that God is up there in heaven while we are down here on earth, suffering, struggling, dying . . . o But where is heaven? Up in the clouds? Which clouds? The clouds over TimorLeste? Over Australia? Indonesia? Over Asia? Africa? The Americas? Europe? o Perhaps heaven is not a place BUT AN EVENT: Heaven happens whenever we are intimately united with God. As St. Augustine says: You have made us for yourself O Lord and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you alone. o WE ALL WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN BECAUSE DEEP DOWN IN OUR HEARTS, WE WANT TO BE INTIMATELY UNITED WITH GOD. AND THE CHILD BORN TODAY TELLS US THAT YES, IT IS POSSIBLE FOR MAN AND GOD TO BE INTIMATELY UNITED! o To bear the child therefore, like a mother, we have to be intimately united with the Child within us. A mother thinks and acts always bearing in mind the Child within. To bear the child therefore means we have to get in touch once again with that deep desire in our hearts to be united with God and that we think and act with Christ Child in our minds and hearts. And if we do, then things change.

Mass not an obligation but a desire to know and love God, to be intimately united with God.

Problem 2: WE DO NOT ACCEPT HIM o Retreatant: I am a SELF-MADE MAN o We do not have space for God in our lives; how can we be united with God if we do not have room for God in our heartswe are too busy to stop and pray, too many concerns to find time to come to mass on Sunday, too preoccupied with the concerns of this world to be able to stop and pause and allow ourselves to be one with God.

3. WE HAVE TO GIVE BIRTH TO THE SON Mary did not only carry the Christ Child within her, rather she also GAVE BIRTH TO THE CHILD We are likewise invited to not only bring Christ within us but to give birth to the Child. How do we do that? o PUBLIC SERVANT: to constantly keep in mind the people we serve, especially the poorest of the poor who need help the most; we keep in mind the COMMON GOOD and not the advantage of only a privileged few. o BUSINESSMAN: to do business fairly, always making sure that ones customers gets his moneys worth, that the product or service that you provide allow others to live a better life o PARENT: o STUDENT: The point is that we do out best to make Christ present in the world so that others may say that yes, indeed, GOD is with US.

4. CONCLUSION: We pray for the grace: o To create that space within us so that God may be intimately united with us, so that we can bear the child and think and act always with the Child in mind o To make Christ more present in the world by the way we live our lives so that all may thank and praise the Father for HE IS WITH US!