This Day Is Born To You A Savior!
The following is a Christmas reflection from the Chaplain of the Rorate Caeli Purgatorial Society, a 27-year-old American diocesan priest:
Christmas Day is one of those few days during the liturgical year when the priest is privileged to celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice three times.
The celebration of Mass at Midnight recalls the historical, physical birth of Our Lord at midnight in the manger of Bethlehem, from the Virgin, without loss of her integrity. Christmas Day is one of those few days during the liturgical year when the priest is privileged to celebrate the Eucharistic Sacrifice three times.
The Missa in Aurora recalls Christ coming to dwell within our souls as the dawn of grace and, during the day, the liturgical texts bring to mind the procession of generation of the Word of God from the intellect of the Father, as read in the beautiful Prologue of St. John's Gospel.
God the Son has arrived in the glory of humility on Christmas Day, followed soon after by His white-robed army of white and red martyrs: St. Stephen, St. John and the Holy Innocents. Not only has He arrived in the world, but the Savior has shown forth his countenance to the nations to the Magi on the Epiphany.
In the stable -- the cradle of the Church -- He has received the Gentiles into the ark of salvation. And, looking toward the Cross from the manger, Jesus Christ prepares to celebrate his holy nuptials to His Bride, the Church.
May this Christmas be a time to welcome Christ into the world yet again -- to celebrate God's incarnation in human history, two thousand years ago; to profess our loving belief that the Son of God is the only-begotten of the Father, and that He wishes to make His dwelling in our minds, in our wills, and in every part of our being.
The Word Incarnate invites us, as members of His Mystical Body, to a deeper conversion to Truth, converting our minds from the shadows of error and falsehood and to the radiant beauty of rational and revealed truth.
Likewise, may Christ reign over our wills, leading us from lesser goods to the Summum Bonum. In a society such as ours which shuns the Christian faith and all expressions thereof, as we are more profoundly converted in our intellect and will, that goodness and truth will diffuse out of ourselves and bear witness to the Divine Presence.
In the humility of the newborn Christ, the peace which the world cannot give has enlightened mankind. In our lives as well, we can only come under the reign of the Prince of Peace through imitating that divine condescension. The promise of life eternal, for which the Son of God became man, will be for us the fruits of that response to divine grace.
In the humility of the newborn Christ, the peace which the world cannot give has enlightened mankind. In our lives as well, we can only come under the reign of the Prince of Peace through imitating that divine condescension. The promise of life eternal, for which the Son of God became man, will be for us the fruits of that response to divine grace.
Echoing the Collect of Midnight Mass, may we, who have known the mystery of His light on earth, may also attain to the full enjoyment of His joys in Heaven!
A merry and blessed Christmas to one and all!
And please remember to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter.
