Fr. Roger J. Landry
Church at Shepherds Field, Bethlehem, Israel
Mass during the Pilgrimage of the Leonine Forum
February 22, 2018
Is 9:1-6, Ps 96, Tit 2:11-14, Lk 2:1-20
To listen to an audio recording of today’s homily, please click below:
The following text guided today’s homily:
- Before Mass, in the sacristy, we were talking to the Franciscan Friar from Spain who is sacristan here at Shepherd’s Field. The Franciscan have custody of most of the holy sites throughout the Holy Land, but it’s particularly fitting that they’re here in Bethlehem, because of the way their founder, St. Francis of Assisi, helped to revivify the celebration of Christmas among Christians. In 1223, St. Francis inaugurated a pious practice that today has become so common that many think that it always existed. This great saint, as he was traversing the rolling hills of central Italy one December to proclaim the Gospel, noticed that few of his countrymen were taking the mysteries of the faith seriously. Many were not even preparing for Christmas. Of those who were getting ready to celebrate the Lord’s birth, they looked at it as an event tied exclusively to the past. The mysteries of the faith had become sterile. The central persons in the drama had become stale and lifeless, incapable even of stimulating his contemporaries’ imaginations — and therefore no longer capable of inspiring them to a greater relationship of mutual love with God in the present. To counteract these tendencies, on Christmas Eve 1223 in the small town of Greccio, St. Francis set up the first crèche in recorded history. He brought in live animals — an ox and an ass. He recruited a newborn baby and a young set of parents. Hay and a manger were brought in. There was even the attempt — with hundreds of burning torches — to create the luminescence of a bright star. And Francis could not have been happier with the results. People came from all over to see the living nativity. Through all the sounds, sights and even smells, the multitudes became convinced that Christmas was not just a cute story, but a real event, one that was not just past, but something which they were called to enter in the present. Soon living crèches like this spread throughout Italy and into other parts of Europe. The phenomenon soon extended into art, as artists started to paint nativity scenes with all the main characters dressed anachronistically in 13th century garb — to emphasize that Christmas is not just a bygone event, but, even more importantly, one very much in progress, in which every believer is called spiritually to go to Bethlehem and pay give homage. As St. Francis’ first biographer wrote, “The Child Jesus had been forgotten in the hearts of many; but, by the working of his grace, he was brought to life again through his servant Francis and stamped upon their fervent memory.”
- The purpose of our visit here to Bethlehem today is meant, similarly, to “bring the child Jesus to life again” so that he may be “stamped upon our fervent memory.” Just as in St. Francis’ time, the “Child Jesus has been forgotten in the hearts of many.” Notice I said in the hearts of many, and not the minds. The minds of multitudes still recall the facts and details of Christ’s birth. Our memories are full of the words of Christmas hymns learned long ago. But the hearts of many of us have grown cold. Our reflection on Christ Jesus in Bethlehem does not ignite their hearts on fire with greater love for him. Today, here in Bethlehem, is a day to correspond to God’s help to change that!
- We could do that by focusing on the mystery of Christmas from the perspective of Mary and Joseph or the wise men coming from afar, but insofar as we are here in this cave in Shepherds, it would perhaps be best for us to focus on the lessons we can learn from the Shepherds. I’d like to focus on four.
- The first lesson is vigilance. The Shepherds were on watch. They were able to hear the message proclaimed by the angels because they were awake and this alertness points to an interior readiness to receive God’s word through the Angel. Their hearts were open. Deep down they were waiting for God and longing for God. They were in a state of Advent waiting for a revelation. They were willing to stretch their imaginations to recognize that God’s highest glory would be found wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger and that such lowliness would be in turn lifted to divine heights. The shepherds are models of what it means to be awake and alert for the Lord’s arrival. Like the shepherds, we are all called to be vigilant, to be alert and awake. If we’re not awake to the presence of God with us, to his word announced through messengers, then we’re essentially living in a dream world that will make us often miss God’s promptings.
- The second lesson the shepherds teach us is how to respond to God’s promptings. The Gospel passage tells us that “they made haste” to go to Bethlehem. This expression calls to mind what we pondered in Nazareth about Mary, that as soon as the angel told her that her elderly cousin Elizabeth was pregnant in her old age, she “went with haste” to care for her. The shepherds, like Mary, did not wait to respond to God when they found open time in their calendars. They responded immediately. And like with Mary who didn’t need to be told or even suggested to go help her cousin, neither did the shepherds need to be cajoled: the angels told them the fact that the in Bethlehem a Savior was born for them who is Christ and Lord and they said to themselves as soon as the angels had departed, “Let us go, then to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place that the Lord has made known to us.” They considered what God had revealed to them so important that they had to go immediately. Pope Benedict in his great book on Jesus’ Infancy Narratives, asked whether we Christians live by the same priorities. “How many Christians,” he said, “make haste today where the things of God are concerned?” He said in a Christmas homily in the Vatican, “It is probably not very often that we make haste for the things of God. God does not feature among the things that require haste. The things of God can wait, we think and we say. And yet he is the most important thing, ultimately the one truly important thing.” For many of us, we don’t give the things of God priority. We squeeze them in if we have time left over after we do all the other important and unimportant things on our agenda, rather than centering our life on God. We believe we can postpone the things of God, like prayer, studying his word, learning our faith, doing works of charity. Many of us are not really open to God, but have closed our hearts to him. Were not ready to leave the narrow confines of our own insulated world, of our own wishes and whims, to journey to meet the Lord and to worship him. The shepherds’ example teaches us that God should be our highest priority. They teach us the freedom that comes from faith, the freedom that helps us to put everything else in second place to God, so that we may always respond promptly to God’s inspirations. The Israelites had waited centuries for the coming of the Messiah, but when we came the vast majority of the Israelites were not alert and were not prepared to change their priorities to be with Him who had taken on our nature to be God-with-us. The inn-keepers had no room for him. The scholars of the law around Herod had no room for him. He came to his own, St. John will tell us in his Prologue, and his own people did not accept them, but those who did, he became power to become children of God. The shepherds accepted the message, made God their priority, went without delay to be with God, and received this power. Mary and Joseph and the wise men also responded in the same, totally adjusting their lives to the reality of Christ’s coming into the world. They all show us that it’s possible to do the same.
- The third lesson the shepherds teach us is that we have to move, we have to change, in order to encounter the Lord as he wants. By God’s designs, the Holy Family could have been directed to the cave where the Shepherds were dwelling so that the Shepherds would not have had to move at all. But even though the eternal Son of God traveled the great distance from heaven to earth to be with them, he was born a short distance away, so that they, likewise, would have to move. They needed to get up to go to Jesus. They needed to make a sacrifice. They needed to dare to go beyond their limits. We, too, need to get up from where we are and go to Bethlehem. At no point in his public life did Jesus ever say to us, “Stay where you are!” He always told us, “Come, follow me!” Our faith is dynamic. We need to be willing to change. We need to be willing to journey. We need to be willing to go to the Lord where he is, rather than try to get him to accommodate himself to our own preferences. That requires conversion. But as Pope Benedict once wrote, “The birth of Christ challenges us in this way to reassess our priorities, our values and our very way of life. [Christmas] is an occasion for deep reflection, even an examination of conscience.”
- The fourth lesson we learn from the shepherds is that if we really live Christmas well, if we’re vigilant, if we leave where we are and go without delay to the Lord where he is to be found, then we will be changed by him for ever. In the Shepherds’ case, St. Luke tells us that after having adored Jesus, they returned, “glorifying and praise God for all they had heard and seen.” They became evangelizers, taking the good news of great joy that the angels had announced to them, out to others. They became, essentially, like new angels singing glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to all those on whom his favor rests.
- As we prepare to adore here on the altar the same Christ whom the Shepherds adored in swaddling clothes in the manger not far from here, we ask the Lord, born for us today, to work in us the same miracle of faith and love he worked in the Shepherds, so that we may always be alert to how God-with-us is still and always with us, to convert from our present habits and go to him without delay, and then, having been transformed by this encounter, become angels that others will be able to hear from on high tonight, tomorrow and always. Venite, Adoremus Dominum!
The readings for today’s Mass were:
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (Is 9:1-6)
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom
a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy
and great rejoicing,
as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,
as men make merry when dividing spoils.
For the yoke that burdened them,
the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster
you have smashed, as on the day of Midian.
For every boot that tramped in battle,
every cloak rolled in blood,
will be burned as fuel for flames.
For a child is born to us, a son is given us;
upon his shoulder dominion rests.
They name him Wonder-Counsellor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.
His dominion is vast and forever peaceful,
From David’s throne, and over his kingdom,
which he confirms and sustains
By judgment and justice, both now and forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm (Ps 96, 1-3.11-13)
In Bethlehem Saviour is born unto us: the Messiah, the Lord.
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
In Bethlehem Saviour is born unto us: the Messiah, the Lord.
Announce his salvation day after day.
Tell God’s glory among the nations;
among all peoples, God’s wondrous deeds.
In Bethlehem Saviour is born unto us: the Messiah, the Lord.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them.
Then let all the trees of the forest exult.
In Bethlehem Saviour is born unto us: the Messiah, the Lord.
They shall exult before the Lord, for he comes,
for he comes to rule the earth,
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
In Bethlehem Saviour is born unto us: the Messiah, the Lord.
Reading II
A reading from the letter of Saint Paul to Titus (Ti 2, 11-14)
Beloved:
The grace of God has appeared, saving all
and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires
and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of the great God
and of our saviour Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness
and to cleanse for himself a people as his own,
eager to do what is good.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Verse before the Gospel (Lk 2:10-11)
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.
I proclaim to you good news of great joy:
today a Savior is born for us, Christ the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.
GOSPEL
✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Lk 2:1-20)
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrolment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child,
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were shepherds in this region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
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.”
So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph,
and the infant lying in the manger.
When they saw this,
they made known the message
that had been told them about this child.
All who heard it were amazed
by what had been told them by the shepherds.
And Mary kept all these things,
reflecting on them in her heart.
Then the shepherds returned to this place,
glorifying and praising God
for all they had heard and seen,
just as it had been told to them.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
