This is my homily for Christmas 25 December 2010. I am the Catholic campus minister for this Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) campus and for the FDU Newman Catholic Association. We resume our Sunday Mass (7:30 p.m.) on Sun. Jan. 23, 2011.
[__01___ ] A few years ago, as a seminary student at Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall in South Orange, NJ our on-campus university library went to 24 hour access.
I remember hoping that our library would be open. This was good news; and it was an upgrade from the late 1980’s and my undergraduate experience at Franklin and Marshall College (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) at which the college library was locked – from the inside and outside at 11:00 p.m. sharp.
Very easily could one have been locked inside. This actually happened to a friend of mine. And, I am sure my tuition-paying parents wish this had happened to me. They would have been pleased if police/security had picked me up for violating library hours by the excesses of late-night reading, writing, and arithmetic.
[__02___] 24-hour access is given to things we find valuable. CNN. Wireless Internet. Movies on demand.
If something or someone is very valuable, we desire access day and night.
After hours, after the close of business for most people [but not for shepherds] comes the birth announcement of our Lord and Savior. The shepherds of Bethlehem are experiencing a 24-hour news cycle.
And, these shepherds will also become sources of information, ambassadors of the Good New Messages. They are the first disciples.
[__03__] But, these shepherds are not yet trusted sources of
information. Could I compare them to CNN in 1980? Or, perhaps, our current view of Facebook and YouTube.
Some of the more traditional sources of Temple and religious information would prefer that they be filtered or investigated….
During this momentous late-night announcement, where is are mainstream media and religious authorities of Jerusalem?
[__04 __] Well, they are sleeping, right? The Pharisees, for example, are home. They are the folks with the credentials and microphones and calculators and cameras and other technical equipment– the Pharisees, chief priests, scribes, were sound asleep at home during this first Christmas. And, they might have wondered why no one called them. Since they were not there, it must have been nothing important.
This will, in part, explain their later reluctance to hear the Good News, to heed the Gospel. They will resist the message whether it is brought by the shepherds, the apostles, or Christ himself. Crucify him. The Pharisees are not in the loop. And, these authority-figures would prefer their news in prime time.
[__05___ ] The Good News – and interruption to the regular broadcast - is that –
“For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting.” (John 3:16)
John 3:16.
For example, Jesus is present 24 hours, all the time in –
• Holy Communion
• In the Tabernacle
The Lord waits for us, forgiving us when we repent. The Father in the Parable stays awake for his younger son – the prodigal - to return. (cf. Luke 15).
The Good Shepherd, Jesus, himself instructs these shepherds and us about steadfastness and loyalty.
Seek the one who is lost, the one out of one hundred. Leaving behind the “other 99”, we also – in love and mercy – put aside our own timetable for those we love.
[__06___] Boys and girls – brothers and sisters – this means doing the right thing 24 hours a day, even when no one is watching.
You and I face, at times, great challenges from others who are stronger, more knowledgeable. Or, we face challenges from those who may be unkind or unforgiving.
This is also the experience of the shepherds in the Gospel.
Through this after-hours and 24-hour message, they are inspired and called to interrupt their lives for the Gospel.
They are interrupting their regular pattern and work.
We might compare the shepherds to those who stayed up really late at night to watch the lunar eclipse this week.
Some of us stayed up – or woke up – in the dark for this 72 minute display of light turning to darkness, and then, darkness turning to light.
[*** The Eclipse – AP Associated Press article, December 21, 2010
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth casts its shadow on the full moon, blocking the sun's rays that otherwise reflect off the moon's surface. Some indirect sunlight still pierces through to give the moon its eerie hue.
The 3 1/2 hour celestial spectacle was visible from North and Central America where skies were clear. Portions of Europe and Asia only caught part of the show. The totality phase — when the moon was completely immersed in Earth's shadow — lasted 72 minutes.
Since the year's only total lunar eclipse coincided with winter solstice, the moon glowed high in the sky.
The last time this occurred was more than three centuries ago on Dec. 21, 1638. It will happen again on Dec. 21, 2094, according to U.S. Naval Observatory spokesman Geoff Chester. [Mark your calendar – that is only 84 years away.]
Lunar eclipses are safe to watch with the naked eye, unlike solar eclipses. The next total lunar eclipse will occur in June 2011 and will not be visible from North America.***]
Were there not, the day after the eclipse, some of your friends/classmates who stayed up late and some who did not?
The ones who did were the eyewitness, the messengers, similar to the shepherds, who are interrupted at an unusual time, at a late hour.
[__07__] And, you and I – who come to Holy Communion, to church to receive Christ –we are also those who saw and those who tell about it.
We tell about this Good News both by what we say and do, both when we can be seen in the light and when people cannot see us in the dark.
For example, boys and girls, we are called to:
• Kindness to the person whom others ignore
• Generosity even to someone who cannot or will not say thank you.
• Saying I’m sorry even this means taking responsibility when other people are dishonest and do not accept responsibility.
This is the Good News of 24-hour access, where we also have access where once the door was locked and power was turned off. This reminds us of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone.” (Isaiah 9:1)
[__end__]
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