Dear brothers and sisters: Christ is Born!
As we celebrate the feast of the Lord’s Nativity, we contemplate the Lord’s birth in the darkness of the night, and like the shepherds and magi, as they draw near to the new-born Saviour, we are surrounded by great darkness, though it is a spiritual and moral blackness that envelops us in our lives.
As I reflected in my homily, the icon of the Nativity shows the Infant Lord and His manger before a gaping black hole, a cosmic spiritual void and mouth of hell… the entrance to the depths of spiritual darkness, devoid of God and hope.
Darkness surrounds the Nativity, and in the icon, we see both shepherds and wise men journeying through the night: the former arriving from the near locality and the latter ending a longer and more perilous journey.
For us it is not the darkness of the night sky, in which the magi watched the stars, or the physical darkness of the Judaean night in which the shepherds watched for wild animals or thieves, guarding their flock by the comforting defence of their nighttime fire, but spiritual-darkness, uncertainty and fear that surrounds us.
Not wolves and lions, but a myriad of spiritual dangers and forces wait to attack us on every side, and we face so many pressures, worries and anxieties in everyday life. But, though we may not be able to change the exterior spiritual darkness of our confused world, it is for each us to decide whether to be watchful and vigilant, to seek the Light of the World, new-born and laid in the manger, or to abandon ourselves to the danger-filled blackness of the spiritual night.
Through this darkness, the Lord calls out to us, “Fear not!” and it is the Incarnate Saviour, Himself, who has become the messenger/angelos that brings the tidings of joy and true peace, possible in the hearts of the faithful, even in the most terrifying, violent and threatening of times.
It is the Saviour Himself who has become the day-star from on high, guiding us through perils and dangers, and dispelling the fearful shadows for those who seek Him and rejoice in His birth.
Knowing that He remains Emmanuel – God-with-us – we are called to rise up and hasten to Him, to bow down and worship Him, and like the shepherds and magi, to put aside everything that previously seemed important and pressing.
The magi left behind all that was familiar, secure and comfortable, in order to seek Truth, willing to face risks and dangers to arrive at the place where they would find that Truth and offer Him their gifts as they bowed down and worshipped Him.
The shepherds willingly left the light and security of the fireside and the protection of the sheep-fold to stumble through the darkness to search for the Light of the World.
Like them both, we must struggle through the night to bring not only the gifts we have, however great and noble, or more likely poor and humble, as well as our anxieties, problems and fears, and to forget the darkness and danger that surrounds us as we behold the Saviour and long-awaited Messiah, and contemplate the wonderful fulfilment of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.” Let us then heed the words of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians and, despite the darkness of the world, “live as children of light.”
Amen.