"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” These are the opening words that we heard from the prophet Isaiah at our Christmas eve mass yesterday evening on Christmas Eve. The light of Christ shining in the darkness of night is such a powerful image for us in the midst of the darkness and coldness of winter. We just marked the Winter Solstice on December 21, the day with the shortest amount of daylight in the year. And we have had some cold winter weather here in Northeast Mississippi, at least cold for us in the Deep South. So, yes, the image of Jesus shining in the midst of the darkness is very real for us this time of the year.
Yesterday, we heard the description of Jesus birth from Luke’s Gospel, probably the Scripture passage we associate with Christ’s birth: of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem from their hometown of Nazareth, of going from place to place but finding nowhere to stay, of Jesus being born in a humble manger, of the angels proclaiming the Good News of Christ’s birth to the humble shepherd while they were watching over their flock. Today’s reading from the beginning of John’s Gospel does not mention the angels or the shepherds or the wise men or even Mary and Joseph - all those things that we associate with the birth of Jesus from Sacred Scripture. John’s Gospel, the last of the four Gospel accounts written, which was written about a century after Christ’s birth, assumes that the listener knows that tradional Christmas story. Instead, John gives us an mystical introduction to the story of Jesus that is full of poetry and images and metaphors. The Christmas image that is presented by John is rooted in Old Testament prophecies, like the reading from Isaiah that we hear this morning. According to John, Christ is a light in the world who has come to extinguish the darkness. It is so interesting that John starts his Gospel with the same words that started the first book of the Bible, Genesis: “In the beginning…” In the beginning was Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the active agent through which God created the world. All things came into being through Jesus. Not one thing came into being without him. And yet we know that everything did not remain as God created it, which is why Jesus came to earth as the same baby in the manger in Bethlehem that we celebrate today, which is why Christ died on the cross for us to bring us salvation.
The image of Christ the light is not to be a theory or a theology for us. It is to be a real life presence for us in our lives. Christ is to be our light. And we are to carry that light to others. We can see the light of Christ around us in different ways, even around our parish. As described in Luke's Gospel, Joseph and Mary had a hard time finding a place to stay when they arrived in Bethlehem. This journey of trying to find lodging is represented in the Hispanic tradition of the posadas that we celebrate each Advent season in our Hispanic community here at St James. The Hispanic community celebrates a novena, nine days in a row in which we pray the rosary and we recreate the lives of Mary and Joseph right before the birth of Jesus. With the rosary, prayers, Bible readings, and activities for the children and youth, the Hispanics prepare for the birth of Christ. Each night we had more than 100 people attending, with many families and young children, passing down this wonderful Advent and Christmas tradition and preparing a place in our heart for Jesus to reside. We had different families hosting the posadas each evening, some of whom are families who are new to our parish or who have not been very involved in parish activities. The light of Christ was shining brightly in those parish gatherings each of those nine evenings.
One tradition that St James has had for Christmas from many years is the Care Tree, of giving to families in our parish and throughout the community. For the second year in a row, one of biggest Care Tree contributions has been to Dismas House, a transitional facility here in Tupelo for federal prisoners who are preparing to go back to the free world. Some of the gifts went to the residents of the facility, items such as Walmart gift cards, work shoes, and warm winter jackets. Many of the gifts went to children of the Dismas residents who would not have gotten many gifts otherwise. All of you, our very generous parishioners, contributed so much to help those in need. And we thank you for that. Through acts of charity and mercy like this, we can be the light of Christ to the world.
Whether you are a regular parishioner here, or a visitor or someone that just comes every once in a while, we want you to be a part of our mission and ministry here at St James. We have a lot going on in this very active, welcoming parish, and we want you to be a part of it: to be the light of Christ in our community, to be the light of Christ in the world.
We will journey with Jesus in a special way through the Christmas season these next couple of weeks. Even though the Christmas season ends on Christmas day in our secular world, this joyful season is just starting in the Catholic world. Next weekend we celebrate the New Year and Mary, the Mother of God. The weekend after that we celebrate the visit of the Magi to the child Jesus. At that first Christmas, as the Angels sang praises to God, as Mary and Joseph welcomed their newborn baby, as the shepherd heard of God’s Good News of the birth of the Savior, we, too, are called rejoice at the presence of Christ the light with us. Let us see that light. Let us be that light.
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