Next week we will be celebrating the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord beginning Tuesday the 24th of December with the Vigil Mass. As you probably know, there are three other Masses for Christmas: first, the Mass during the Night; second, the Mass at Dawn; third, the Mass during the Day.
As one would imagine each of the Masses has its own proper prayers and readings, thus enriching the celebration with more scripture passages being read and more prayers formulated by the Church which help us reflect upon the mystery of God?s love for humanity by providing for mankind?s salvation.
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TV Mass Homily for Christmas Day with Bishop Lennon Such a momentous event calls for a strong and lively proclamation which, in fact, happened that Holy Night according to St. Luke in his Gospel read at the Mass during the Night. It is the story of the shepherds tending their sheep and receiving a message from an angel that a Savior has been born. The message was followed upon by 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.??
This proclamation is well known to us since we know the story of Jesus? Birth so well. The linking of ?Peace? with the Savior was prophesized in the prophecy of Isaiah where it says the child who is born for us is named Prince of Peace. It also states that his dominion is vast and forever peaceful. This notion of peace being such an important aspect of the Savior?s coming, and in fact his Mission, is undisputable.
There are many ways this can be considered, especially with prayers and from the Mass texts proper to Christmas and from the Common of the Mass texts, especially the Communion
In the choice of the Entrance Antiphon, one of them states ?Let us rejoice in the Lord, for our Savior has been born in the world. Today true peace has come down to us from heaven.? The mention of ?true peace? invites us to look at the Birth of Jesus having a unique quality with respect to peace.
I would suggest that in the Prayer after Communion for the Mass at Dawn one can find that in devout celebration of the Nativity of Jesus we may come to know with the fullness of faith the hidden depths of this mystery.
From the Prayer over the Offerings from the Mass during the Day, I invite us to reflect on the manifested reconciliation that makes us wholly pleasing in God?s sight and is the peace of which the angels sang, entering in the mystery of God?s love for us which is the story of our salvation.
Lastly, from the Common of the Mass following upon the Our Father we experience the Church?s use of peace several times. In the prayer asking the Lord to deliver us from every evil we ask him to grant peace in our days, a peace which is realized by being ?always free from sin and safe from all distress.? Again, we see the coupling of the gift of peace with being pleasing in God?s sight. And when the priest says to the faithful ?The peace of the Lord be with you always,? he is referring to that same peace that the angels sang of on that Holy Night--?Peace to those on whom his favor rests.?
I can think of no greater gift that I could wish for you and for all the Faithful of the Diocese of Cleveland than that you experience every day the Peace of the Lord. Merry Christmas!
(The above column by the Most Reverend Richard Lennon, Bishop of Cleveland originally appeared in the Friday, December 20, 2013 issue of the Catholic Universe Bulletin, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Cleveland.)