CHRIST’S MASS
Read time: 5.5 minutes
Angels announce to the world that God is here and that He has not abandoned us. But 2000 years ago, the world missed the coming of divinity. No one expected that God would take on our human flesh and become one of us.
And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. Luke 2:7.
The inn is a symbol and the focal point of the world’s successful and popular, but there is no room for them in that place. The stable was a cave, a place for outcasts, the ignored and the forgotten. A stable would certainly be the last place in the world where one would look for Him. Divinity is where you least expect to find it. The Greek word for inn that Luke uses is katalyma. Which can be translated as room. This word is also used in Luke 22:11 The Teacher says to you, where is the guest room, where I am to eat the Passover with my disciples? Jesus is laid in a manger, a feeding trough, where the animals feed. Luke is pointing to Jesus in the Eucharist, where at the Last Supper He would give Himself as food for us.
There were the Shepherds keeping their sheep, when Angels announce to them the birth of Christ. These were uneducated men and women who lived in poverty on the fringes of society who were the unclean in Jewish society, who knew that they really didn’t know anything. The Cherubim guarded Paradise from Adam and Eve after the Fall. The Angels stood between God and humanity. Then at the Incarnation, the Angels declare to the shepherds, Glory to God in the Highest and Peace on Earth to all people. The Angels invited them to worship God Incarnate with them.
Then there were the wise men, the Magi, bearing gifts. Not knowing what they were going to find following the Star, which first leads them to Jerusalem.
Then to Bethlehem where it came to rest over the place where the child was. Mt. 2:9 How would a star be able to go to the exact location? Wise men with enough wisdom to realize that they didn’t know everything. It requires humility to encounter divinity, where one must stoop down and maybe even kneel to enter into the cave to see Jesus in the manger.
The Magi and the shepherds went to worship the Bread of Life, The Lord of Lords and the King of Kings and they did not miss the coming of divinity.
An angel also appeared to Mary at the Annunciation and then to Joseph in his dreams. Divinity dwelt and lived among us, and … Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:52
And at Christmas or Christ’s Mass, where we too are invited like the Angels and the shepherds and the Magi to worship and give Glory to God and to receive into our hearts and our bodies, His Body, His Blood, His Soul and His Divinity. Where we let Jesus into our hearts and we let Him transform us from weeds to wheat, and from darkness to light. Where we too like the Magi offer gifts, not of gold, frankincense or myrrh, but where we offer the gift of ourselves, our lives, our joys, our sorrows and our suffering.
Many years ago, when my family was very young, I found myself unemployed and wondering how I was going to support my family. Just a few weeks before Christmas we received an envelope in the mail that was full of cash. Then a week later another one came. I was never able to find out from whom or where they came from. I was able to put food on the table and to provide gifts for our children that Christmas. It turned out to be one of the best Christmases we ever had. I often think about that time during this time of the year, and I am so grateful for those angels, who reminded me of the true meaning of Christmas.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour…
Luke 1:46-47