Christmas Eve Homily 2005
A new father, Zach, shares the following: 1
He is walking in a back lane near his family's home
just as the dawn of day.
It is so quiet that he can hear the sound of a racoon's paws on the pavement.
He is carrying his newborn daughter Emma in his arms.
Suddenly a woman opens a backyard gate.
When she sees this stranger approaching out of the darkness
she lets out an audible gasp of fear —
"Wow, am I in trouble!"
As she sees Emma in Zech's arms,
that fear gives way to gentle laughter,
and then to a brief but graceful conversation.
This is a good example of a baby's real power:
in an instant to transform fear into relaxed delight.
Zach writes:
My newborn Emma has tremendous power.
No one, not even my spouse, Jeannie,
could have so radically changed my life,
depriving me of sleep,
demanding relentless attention
at all hours of the day and night,
sometimes keeping me from doing vital tasks.
Emma needs to be fed, on her schedule,
changed, held, burped and bathed.
And yet Emma is completely vulnerable.
She is utterly dependent on mom and dad for physical care.
And without unconditional love she will not flourish.
A baby is an amazing symbol of power and powerlessness,
or perhaps more accurately, power within powerlessness.
The child Jesus is both Son of God and son of Mary
power within powerlessness.
This power within powerlessness
is true of Jesus as a babe,
and is true also of his ministry.
Saint Augustine put it this way:
"The creator of humankind was made human
so that the Ruler of the stars would be nourished at the breast of a woman;
that the Bread of life might be hungry;
the Fountain of living water thirsty,
the Light of the world, sleeping;
the Way be wearied with the journey;
the Foundation be hung upon a tree;
Strength be made weak;
Health be wounded;
Life die."2
How can these paradoxes hold?
How can they be true?
These paradoxes hold and are true
because this is the way love works.
Love gives away power.
It makes itself vulnerable.
It has no more masks, no more certainties,
no must-win situations, no face-saving gestures.
Love undermines and transforms fear.
One of the most familiar verses in the Gospels, John 3.16 reads,
"for God so loved the world,
that he gave his only Son,
so that every one who believes in him might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world
to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him."
We may have many questions about this night and its meaning.
One of them might be:
What kind of a God would do this?
Abbot John Klassen, OSB
December 25, 2005
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