We hear a lot
from the prophet Isaiah during the four weeks of Advent in our time of waiting
and preparation for Christmas. Isaiah was a
great prophet and messenger in Ancient Israel who foretold the birth of the
Savior. Isaiah proclaims
to us today – “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” We know that the
light Isaiah is referring to is Jesus, whose birth we celebrate today.
In our world
today, we take a lot of technology and modern conveniences for granted. I for one flip on the lights and plug in all
of my electronic devises without giving it much thought. And we sit here in this beautifully decorated
church today full of lights and lit-up Christmas trees. But there are
stories behind those things that we take for granted. There is a legend passed
down through Catholic traditions that a Benedictine monk named St Boniface
started the tradition of the Christmas tree. Way back in the 8th
century, Boniface was one of the first missionaries to bring Christianity to
Germany, which at that time was still a pagan land. Boniface found
himself amongst a group of pagan tribes on Christmas eve. These pagans were celebrating a special pagan
winter ritual in which a mighty oak tree symbolized the power of their pagan
god. Boniface and his
Christian companions chopped down the oak tree in order to get their attention
and to evangelize them, a very courageous act that put them in great danger. In its place they
brought out a little fir tree. Boniface
explained to them: This little tree is like a small child in the forest. It shall be your holy tree tonight. It shall be a sign of peace. It will be a sign of the eternal life we have
in this child, for the leaves of this tree are always green and never die. This
little tree points to the heavens, symbolizing the presence of Christ in the
heavens. Boniface told them: When you put a little fir tree in your home,
it will symbolize not war or violence, but rather loving gifts and rites of
kindness.
As the people of
Germany gradually converted to Christianity, they continued the tradition of
the Christmas tree that Boniface introduced to them. They added to this tradition by putting
lights and colorful decorations on the tree. When German
immigrants started coming to the United States in increasingly large numbers in
the 18th century, they brought the tradition of the Christmas tree
with them, passing on to us the popular Christmas tradition that we have today. As I thought
about the light of Christ that we celebrate today, I remembered being a
missionary on a Christmas eve 18 years ago in the small village of San
Francisco de Onzole in the middle of a vast rain forest jungle in northern
Ecuador. That village had
no electricity and no running water. We
sat in a large church building made out of cinder blocks in the middle of the
jungle. The only light we
had was from two small candles. We sat in the darkness
with those small candles singing Christmas songs in Spanish to the rhythm of
maracas and drums. It was a very
magical moment for me, one in which I felt the love of Christ being brought
into the world at Christmas. The light of Christ
shines in our world tonight – it shines in our hearts – just as it shining in
the darkness of the Christmas evening that remember from Ecuador.
It is our
responsibility to keep the light of Christ burning brightly. It is our responsibility to bring that light
to others. Just as the
shepherds heard the angel singing glory to God in celebration of our Savior’s
birth, we are to sing with that same sense of glory and praise in the way we
celebrate our faith in the mass and in the way we live out our lives each day. I was very
touched by the outpouring of generosity and love that I have seen these past
few weeks leading up to Christmas here at our parish. Our Christmas
care tree provided a lot of help to many different organizations in the
community. These agencies were very
touched by the help we provided. Out of our faith, we do these acts of kinds
and mercy, emulating the mercy of God the Father who sent his son to our
world as a small baby born in that humble manger. Our beautiful music and our joyful praise
tonight symbolize what the Christ child means to us in our lives. Most of you know
that Pope Francis has declared a special jubilee Year of Mercy for us in the
Catholic faith, which will end with the end of liturgical year in November of
2016. Hopefully, our
acts of love and mercy will continue as we journey throughout this special
year.
We are glad to
have our church full tonight. We are
glad to have visitors and out of town guests and family members as well as our
members joining us for our celebration of the birth of our Savior tonight. We at St James
wish all of you and your families a joyful Christmas season. We all join together this evening as
disciples of Christ as we celebrate his birth into the world.
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