Voices of the Christmas Liturgies - III

Mass During the Day

Entrance Antiphon

A child is born for us, and a son is given to us;

his scepter of power rests upon his shoulder,

and his name will be called Messenger of great counsel.

• As we come into his holy place to celebrate this the third Mass of Christmas, we are greeted with this proclamation: "... his name will be called Messenger of great counsel."

• We must ready ourselves, as Mass begins, to still our frantic minds so that we will be able to listen and hear, for a message from God is to be told to us, and each person is meant to hear God speaking a word to them. What will it be? What will I carry home in my heart today?

Prayer

O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature

and still more wonderfully restored it,

grant, we pray,

that we may share in the divinity of Christ,

who humbled himself to share in our humanity.

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

• One marvels at how much scientific information our generation has learned about our natural world and our place in its intricate systems. Yet, as for the question of how all this came to be, there remains much debate. 

• The opening prayer of this Mass speaks with certainty; this world and our humanity have been created by God. Reason itself can bring us to the doorstep of this knowledge, but this prayer takes us beyond and reveals what no one could ever have imaged.

• We are to share in that divinity that has created our lowly humanity.

Prayer over the Offerings

Make acceptable, O Lord, our oblation on this solemn day,

when you manifested the reconciliation

that makes us wholly pleasing in your sight

and inaugurated for us the fullness of divine worship.

Through Christ our Lord.

• In the land that experienced the first Christmas, there was a great temple where people came to place on the altar oblations, gift offering from their possessions, to be sacrificed in the hope that somehow these oblations would make things right between them and God. 

• It is not our things that God wants, rather it is our hearts. It is our hearts that replace that temple of old, where now God is pleased to enter.

• We are to bring some bread and wine and God will make of them a banquet to celebrate the true reconciliation only God can give.

• Come now, lets gather around his table. Let his peace fill your soul.

Preface III

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,

always and everywhere to give you thanks,

Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,

through Christ our Lord.

For through him the holy exchange that restores our life

has shone forth today in splendor:

when our frailty is assumed by your Word

not only does human mortality receive unending honor

but by this wondrous union we, too, are made eternal.

And so, in company with the choirs of Angels,

we praise you, and with joy we proclaim:

• The vigor of our youth quickly passes and the frailty of our human condition remains inescapable. Fear not! The Word has taken on our human frailty, "... and by this wondrous union we, too, are made eternal"

• As this truth grows stronger in our minds and hearts, fear is replaced by a certainty about my future that brings a peace the world cannot give.

Prayer after Communion

Grant, O merciful God,

that, just as the Savior of the world, born this day,

is the author of divine generation for us,

so he may be the giver even of immortality.

Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

• Now, as this celebrations ends, I leave here to enter this world shroud in shadows of uncertainty. But I am not alone. A gift has been given me, a Friend, Jesus to walk with me on my journey. His radiance will light my way, his presence will empower me meet the challenges that await me in the shadows, his love will raise me up when I fall. 

Leave now with these words of this Solemn Blessing echoing in your heart. Perhaps you might say them again as part of your grace, as you gather for your Christmas meal with family and friends.

Solemn Blessing

May the God of infinite goodness,

who by the Incarnation of his Son has driven darkness from the world

and by that glorious Birth has illumined this most holy night (day),

drive far from you the darkness of vice

and illumine your hearts with the light of virtue.

R. Amen.

May God, who willed that the great joy

of his Son’s saving Birth

be announced to shepherds by the Angel,

fill your minds with the gladness he gives

and make you heralds of his Gospel.

R. Amen.

And may God, who by the Incarnation

brought together the earthly and heavenly realm,

fill you with the gift of his peace and favor

and make you sharers with the Church in heaven.

R. Amen.

And may the blessing of almighty God,

the Father, and the Son, + and the Holy Spirit,

come down on you and remain with you for ever.

R. Amen.

Voices of the Christmas Liturgies - II

At the Mass at Dawn

Entrance Antiphon

Today a light will shine upon us, for the Lord is born for us; 

and he will be called Wondrous God,;

Prince of peace, Father of future ages:

and his reign will be without end.

• Dawn, with its morning light is breaking over our long Winter night. But as we make our way to this mass, it is a heavenly light lighting our way. The voices of the shepherds of long ago echo in our hearts; 

When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 

• Seeing is believing on Christmas Day. As you approach this sacred liturgy, ask that your heart will be filled with that excitement which filled the hearts of the Christmas shepherds.

Prayer

Grant, we pray, almighty God,

that, as we are bathed in the new radiance of your incarnate Word,

the light of faith, which illumines our minds,

may also shine through in our deeds.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

• That the light of faith, which illumines our minds, may also shine through in our deeds. When we leave this Mass today, this world will be the same. What will have been changed is out minds, the way we see the world and our place in it. This prayer will now define me:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.

Prayer over the Offerings

May our offerings be worthy, we pray, O Lord,

of the mysteries of the Nativity this day,

that, just as Christ was born a man and also shone forth as God,

so these earthly gifts may confer on us what is divine.

Through Christ our Lord.

• The exchange of gifts is a customary practice for Christmas. It is never truer than here at mass. We bring gifts of bread and wine from our tables at home and we leave this communion table with "what is divine" in our hands.

Preface II

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,

always and everywhere to give you thanks,

Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,

through Christ our Lord.

For on the feast of this awe-filled mystery,

though invisible in his own divine nature,

he has appeared visibly in ours;

and begotten before all ages,

he has begun to exist in time;

so that, raising up in himself all that was cast down,

he might restore unity to all creation

and call straying humanity back to the heavenly Kingdom.

• These words capture for us the true meaning Christmas story. As you see and read the more classic Christmas stories, recall how they all have these words as their inspiration. 

Prayer After Communion

Grant us, Lord, as we honor with joyful devotion

the Nativity of your Son,

that we may come to know with fullness of faith

the hidden depths of this mystery

and to love them ever more and more.

Through Christ our Lord.

• As the mass ends, from the gospel reading, we have two models to take with us and imitate

• Mary - "Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart." Christmas may be over tonight in societies practice but for us we keep alive all that we have experienced this day, "reflecting" and learning more and more "the hidden depths of this mystery."

• The Shepherds -  "Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them." As a suggestion, consider reading the Nativity gospel as a prelude to grace at your Christmas dinner.

Voices of the Christmas Liturgies - I

At the Mass during the Night

Entrance Antiphon Ps 2: 7

Let us all rejoice in the Lord, for our Savior has been born in the world. Today true peace has come down to us from heaven.

• "Let us all rejoice in the Lord" ... it reminds us that this gift of salvation from the Father is meant for all people. As I hear this proclamation, I hear it in a personal way as well - and all the more should my heart be burdened.

• "True Peace" ... so much effort and expense goes into making ourselves and other happy at Christmas. Happiness is a fruit of peace, that is right order. True peace is a fruit of lives in right order with God. What ever condition has prevailed, today is offered to us a new beginning.

Prayer 

O God, who have made this most sacred night

radiant with the splendor of the true light,

grant, we pray, that we, who have known the mysteries of his

light on earth, may also delight in his gladness in heaven.

Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

• "Splendor of true light" ... Even though our eyes have the capacity to see, without light we see nothing. So too, our minds and hearts have been given the capacity to see the hidden things of God, but without revealing grace casing true light upon us, we remain in the dark about the truth of God and our place within God's divine plan.

• Lord, open my eyes that I may see you taking me up in your embrace of love, as Mary takes the child Jesus into her loving arms this night.

Prayer over the Gifts

May the oblation of this day’s feast

be pleasing to you, O Lord, we pray,

that through this most holy exchange

we may be found in the likeness of Christ,

in whom our nature is united to you.

Who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

• The simple and common elements of bread and wine make up our offering to place on the Christmas altar - all we have with which to prepare a banquet fit for a king. They are symbolic of our own lives, struggling to acquire and hold on to our daily bread, to make it through another day, fending off despair.

• But this is the banquet the Father has prepared for his Prodical sons and daughters. He has sent his Son to guide us home, to a glorious celebration, to clothe our shabbiness in robes of holiness, with gold rings on our fingers to tell everyone we are his true sons and daughters, healed and forgiven. O, is this not our cause for celebration of Christmas?

Preface I - Christ the Light

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,

always and everywhere to give you thanks,

Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God.

For in the mystery of the Word made flesh

a new light of your glory has shone upon the eyes of our mind,

so that, as we recognize in him God made visible,

we may be caught up through him in love of things invisible.

And so, with Angels and Archangels,

with Thrones and Dominions,

and with all the hosts and Powers of heaven,

we sing the hymn of your glory,

as without end we acclaim:

• Truly "... a new light of your glory has shone upon the eyes of our mind". But there is much healing that must take place for these eyes to see. Do not hesitate, do not give up longing to see. Come to this liturgy, with this as your prayer, repeated over and over, "... may I be caught up through him in love of things invisible."

Prayer After Communion

Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God,

that we, who are gladdened by participation

in the feast of our Redeemer’s Nativity,

may through an honorable way of life become worthy of union

with him.

• Now we rise from this banquet table of Christmas celebration, clothed in new robes, carrying in our arms many gifts, that we were made able to see, gathered up by each one, with their very name inscribe upon them - gather as the light of His grace shone around us.
• Now we go into our world, laden with gifts to bring to a world shrouded in darkness, to fill this night with the true Spirit of Christmas.

Finding Christmas December 21 & 22

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 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. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

* + * + * + * + * + * + * + * + *

This brings us to the end of our Advent meditation on the gospel reading for the mass of Christmas Day, the third of the Christmas liturgies. On Christmas morning the Book of Gospels will be opened and these words, taken from the prologue of John's gospel, will be proclaimed. Now having explored these texts, meditating and praying with them, seeking that new light will shine upon our minds, our hearts are ready hear this divine revelation. We now turn to the final verse of this gospel passage.

And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth.

The conclusion of these days of prayer may be summed up in a word, Emanuel, God is with us, in His Son, Jesus. Recall this exchange in John's gospel:

Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father,* and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Jo. 14:8-11

What a gift we have in Jesus. For all eternity, God dwells in unapproachable light, where no one can see or approach. Yet now we can see our God and have personal relationship with him.

Perhaps this intimate closeness of our God is no more wondrously experienced than when we approach the altar at communion time and literally hold in our hands the very God who created us. The voices of the Advent and Christmas liturgies reveal to us this mystery with many beautiful expressions of prayer. In our next post we will focus our meditation on the Voices of the Christmas Liturgies. 

Behold your God

O Come, O Come Emmanuel - Traditional Choir