The Incarnation Of Christ Your Son Was Made Known By The Message Of An Angel
Fourth Sunday of Advent
The opening prayer of today’s Mass is the prayer that we use at the end of the Angelus: “Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection”. This reflects our Gospel which is the story of the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel tells Mary she is to be the mother of Jesus.
In Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus angels announce the significance of what might otherwise been seen as insignificant, routine events. A woman conceives a child, a boy is born. Yet Gabriel’s message is that the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary and her conceiving Jesus marks a fundamental change in our world. The Son of God becomes one of us, God incarnate, sharing our flesh, blood and nature. It is the culmination of all the history which has gone before. In Luke’s account of that first Christmas it is the angel who tells the shepherds what has happened. A helpless little child has been born in the most unpropitious of circumstances, in a stable because his parents have been forced to come to Bethlehem for the census and there is no room inside the inn. Yet the angels declare that this is news of great joy for the whole people because a Saviour has been born and they glorify God.
Despite the words of the prayer I started with we get the message of the Angel second hand, through the tradition passed on by Luke. Who is it who has made known to us the significance of the birth of Jesus? It is the Church, it is the scriptures, it is those who passed the faith on to us. Who is it who makes the significance of Christmas known to our world today? Us. We are called to be like Gabriel or like the angels who appeared to the shepherds. It is our task to declare the news of great joy, the news that God has come to us. We are the ones who have to let the world know the meaning of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection.
In normal circumstances we would be struggling to make that message heard against the voices which see Christmas as “the holidays”, a chance for spending and indulgence. Even seen as chance to be with our families, we know that is not the most important thing about Christmas. This year is rather different. For many people it will be a lonely and austere Christmas. We will be restricted as to whom we can see. Our celebration will be muted. We may have to be very careful about what we can spend because of the impact on us of the economic effects of Covid19. We may be remembering those who have died or are sick. The message that we are called to bring to the world this Christmas is a message of hope. Christ in the Gospels brings healing and life. This is not a trite message. Christ has come and shared our lives, our lives of suffering, sickness and death. By his sharing in the reality of our suffering we have the hope of sharing in his resurrection, as we pray in that opening prayer. This is the message of the angels that we are called to share with the world on this, rather subdued, Christmas.
A happy and blessed Christmas to you all.
Fr Chris Pedley SJ