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“Nativity”
by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1732 |
At the Vigil Mass
Catechism Links[1]
CCC 456-460, 566: “Why did the Word become flesh?”
CCC 461-463, 470-478: the Incarnation
CCC 437, 525-526: the Christmas mystery
CCC 439, 496, 559, 2616: Jesus is the Son of David
CCC 65, 102: God has said everything in his Word
CCC 333: the incarnate Christ worshipped by the angels
CCC 1159-1162, 2131, 2502: the Incarnation and images of Christ
Commentary:
Reading 1: Isaiah 62:1-5
Commentary on Is 62:1-5
Isaiah prophesies the coming of the Christ [Messiah] with several references and images. Christ is identified as the vindication of Israel. Once the Lord has delivered his salvation, the land will be called the Lord’s delight. Finally, the image of the bridegroom and the bride are used as a common metaphor for the Messiah and the people of God (see also Hosea 2:11-15).
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29
R. (2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.
Commentary on Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29
Psalm 89 is a communal lament sung after the defeat of the Davidic King, because it calls into question God’s promise made in the strophes cited here wherein God promised David’s throne to stand forever. The community asks God to remember his promise.
CCC: Ps 89 709
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Reading II: Acts 13:16-17, 22-25
Commentary on Acts 13:16-17, 22-25
CCC: Acts 13:24 523
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Gospel: Matthew 1:1-25
Commentary on Mt 1:1-25
St. Matthew, speaking to a predominantly Jewish audience who call themselves “Sons of Abraham,” produces the genealogy of Jesus starting with Abraham. The critical purpose is to show that Jesus was of the line of King David. This was an important demonstration that Jesus was the Messiah as predicted in the prophetic scriptures of the Old Testament (the “Prophets” as they were known and referenced by the Jewish audience).
In the final verse of this reading we see the significance of Hebrew Numerology as the numbers of generations are counted. Recalling the most perfect number in this symbolic system is seven (7), we see the product of two sevens in the generations from Abraham and David, two more between King David and the Babylonian Exile, and two more from the Exile to the Messiah. Three (the formula for the most, e.g. holy, holy, holy equivalent to holy, holier, holiest) times the product of two sevens, this is six (6) sevens, one short of the perfection to be achieved when Christ will come again.
CCC: Mt 1:18-25 497; Mt 1:20 333, 437, 486, 497; Mt 1:21 430, 437, 452, 1507, 1846, 2666, 2812; Mt 1:23 497, 744
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Commentary on Mt 1:18-25
This passage is from the beginning of St. Matthew’s story of the nativity of Jesus. Here we see Joseph being told by the angel that he should bring Mary into his home as wife and the paternity of the child is the Holy Spirit. He is also told to name the child Jesus. The story ends with Joseph accepting the role and the command of the angel. “The natural genealogical line is broken, but the promises to David are fulfilled. Through Joseph's adoption, the child belongs to the family of David. Matthew sees the virginal conception as the fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14.”[5]
CCC: Mt 1:16 437; Mt 1:18-25 497; Mt 1:20 333, 437, 486, 497; Mt 1:21 430, 437, 452, 1507, 1846, 2666, 2812; Mt 1:23 497, 744
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Children’s Homily:
Has anyone heard a poem that starts out “T’was the night before Christmas?” That’s tonight isn’t it? And does anyone remember who that poem says the children, who were all “nestled in their beds,” were expecting? It was St. Nicholas! And he arrived in a spectacular way didn’t he?
Now here’s a question that’s really hard. Does anyone know why St. Nicholas, whose feast day was three weeks ago on December 6th, would be coming around on Jesus’ birthday? Who can tell me what St. Nicholas is best remembered for? He came to children late at night and gave them gifts. There is a long story about why he gave them the gifts, but St. Nicholas (who was a Bishop by the way, and God probably made him a Cardinal because his suit is red and not purple) started giving his gifts a long time ago (even before your grandma and grandpa were born).
Why do you think his habit of giving gifts to children happens on Christmas now? Who else gave gifts at Christmas? The three wise men, the Magi came to Jesus and gave gifts didn’t they? We are going to celebrate that part of the Christmas story in a little over a week from now.
Who else gave a gift on Christmas? God gave a gift. He had his angels come and tell a whole bunch of people he was giving a gift. Does anyone know who he told first (this is trick question now)? It wasn’t the shepherds. It wasn’t the Magi, it wasn’t even the old prophets, although they knew the gift would be given. I’ll give you a hint. The Archangel Gabriel told someone first? It was the Virgin Mary that was told first, and she had to know first because she was the one who would actually deliver the gift to the whole world.
Who listened to the Gospel tonight? The Archangel Gabriel also told someone else about the present. Who was that? Joseph had to know because he had to take care of his new wife who was St. Mary and he was also going to have to take care of the gift that was the baby Jesus while he was growing up. Think of how great that would have been, to spend all that time with Jesus while he was growing up.
Isn’t that wonderful? It is not only Jesus birthday but he was the birthday present as well. So what better time for St. Nicholas to bring gifts than on the night when we remember God’s great gift to us.
There’s another part to this story as well. It’s a birthday and like all birthdays and we should give gifts to the person whose birthday we celebrate. What do you think Jesus would like as a gift? Remember now, Jesus has the whole world, so what do you think we can give him that he would like? It’s pretty hard to find something he doesn’t already have isn’t it? Let me give you a few ideas of what he would like.
He would like to get a card from you with your very own prayer on it. That would be something you could give from your heart and that’s what he really likes (if he had a refrigerator in heaven he’d put it up with a magnet and leave it there).
He would like you to do something nice for your mom and dad, or even your brother or sister. He would especially like it if you did something nice for a person who didn’t really like you. That’s the way Jesus is, he loves everyone.
There are lots of ways we can give gifts to Jesus and he likes to get them all year long. And guess what? A long time ago, people started to notice that when they gave gifts to Jesus, they seemed to get gifts in return. I’m pretty sure that’s where the song came from. You know: “he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake …”
Tonight we say Happy Birthday to Jesus (only we usually just say Merry Christmas). It should be a wonderful celebration because it’s when God gave all of us the greatest gift of all, and remember he expects us to share it!
Pax
[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014
[3] The picture used is “Nativity” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1732
[5] See NAB footnote on Matthew 1: 18-25
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