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Christmas Eve Homily My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ: May the peace and love of the Child Jesus be yours in a very special way this Christmas Eve. May the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – bless you and your loved ones most abundantly on this glorious night. On behalf of the priests and the staff of Our Lady’s Cathedral and our Archdiocese, I extend to you and your families our very best greetings. We wish you a most blessed, happy and fulfilling Christmas experience. May the Child Jesus, the Eternal Son of God Who was born at Bethlehem grant you His peace, love and joy. Merry Christmas! We are often told that the best way to communicate a message is by way of a story. Unfortunately, some of us are not too adept at story-telling. Tonight, however, deacons, priests, bishops and other preachers and indeed all of us are given a special Christmas gift. It is the story of God’s love for us. It is God’s story itself because God so loved the world that He sent His Son Jesus to save us! Here in our cathedral we have a nativity scene. We see the stable and the crib with an image of the Child Jesus. Alongside the Child is His Immaculate Mother Mary and His foster father, Saint Joseph. Here and there are the shepherds, the angels and the animals representing all the creatures of God. As beautiful and moving as the nativity scene is, the story of Jesus does not end at the crib. Jesus came for a reason. He came to save us. The story of Jesus moves on from Bethlehem to Nazareth to Galilee and then to Jerusalem where He dies on the cross. Yes, the little Child born at Bethlehem grew up to be the Man condemned and crucified. But the story doesn’t end there either. After Jesus died on the cross, He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Still, the story doesn’t end. Fifty days after Jesus rose from the dead and now, reigning in heaven as the Eternal King, He sends His Holy Spirit upon the apostles and on His fledgling Church. He entrusts them with His mission of salvation. Now this community of His, which is His Church, indeed His Body, goes from Jerusalem to Macedonia to Greece to Rome and to the ends of the world as He commanded them. People of faith in Jesus, faith in this newborn Child Who is Lord and Savior continue the proclamation of the Good News which the angels announced in Bethlehem. Thus we, here in Oklahoma City tonight, listen to the story of Jesus and rejoice because God is truly with us. But even with this assurance and this Good News, the story doesn’t end yet because we are travelers. We are pilgrims. We have not yet completed our journey or arrived at our final destination. Tonight we celebrate the birthday of Jesus which is the story of Christmas. This is God’s story of His tremendous love for each of us. God’s Christmas story is not static. It is not just history. It is more than a remembrance or a recollection. His story is alive. He continues to come into our midst. His presence is renewed as bread and wine are changed into His Body and His Blood. Through the Church and through the sacramental life that Jesus instituted, we can have life and we can have it more abundantly. This is what Christmas is all about: God so loves the world that He sent His Son Jesus to save us. Jesus loves us so much that He gave Himself up for our salvation. Tonight then we humbly bow before the crib of the Child Jesus. We reverently kneel before His altar of sacrifice. We thank God for sending us His Son Jesus for without His birth in Bethlehem, there is no Christmas. There is no hope. There is no salvation. The entire story of eternal salvation rests upon the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem for He is Lord and Savior. It is in that assurance of faith that we extend greetings for a Blessed Christmas and offer once again, but with greater reverence, the Eucharist of our Lord Jesus Christ. Most Reverend Eusebius J. Beltran |