Imagine, if you will, trying to attend all four Masses this
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: the Vigil, Mass during the Night, Mass at Dawn, and Mass during the Day. What scriptural riches you might encounter!
All of the first readings for these two days are taken from the
Book of the Prophet Isaiah, whose message is one of hope. At the Vigil Mass, we hear of Jersualem’s vindication shining forth like the dawn,
when God delights in his people as a
man in his spouse. Midnight Mass tells
us that the people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light, for a child is born to redeem us all. At dawn, Isaiah proclaims that our savior comes, while the daytime Mass brings glad tidings to us because their God is our King!
Not surprisingly, our psalms are all songs of praise: Forever
I will sing the goodness of the Lord, Psalm 89 proclaims, while Psalm 96
calls upon us to exult before the Lord,
for he comes to rule the earth.
Psalms 97 and 98 also exhort us to rejoice,
for the Lord is king, and thus all the ends of the earth have seen the saving
power of God.
The Gospel texts naturally walk us through the story of our Lord's birth, from Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus and Joseph’s dream, to Luke’s account
of Mary and Joseph’s journey to
Bethlehem to register, where, of course, the child Jesus is born. Shepherds visit the baby, while Mary keeps all of these things, reflecting on them in her heart. And finally, John’s magnificent prologue,
which reminds us that In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, a testimony
to Jesus as revelation of the Father to humankind.
Lastly, our epistles remind us of all that we know of Jesus
thanks to the Incarnation: that he is
the descendent of David, savior of the world (Acts), he in whom salvation is
revealed (Titus 2), the love of God incarnate, come to save his people (Titus 3). A final, powerful reading from Hebrews speaks
of Jesus as the refulgence of God’s
glory, whom we, like the angels are to worship!
No one can attend every Mass, and perhaps no celebrant is
crazy enough to tackle all of these readings with four different homilies. But we would encourage you over the next few
days to make a bit of time each day to read these beautiful readings in sets, first all
of Isaiah, then all the psalms, then the Gospels, and finally the epistles,
meditating on their meaning and reflecting
on them in your heart. What better way to prepare for the coming of
Jesus than to enter more deeply into the stories that reveal his glory?
You can find all the readings for this glorious weekend
here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/122516.cfm
