Christmas Midnight Mass: 24.12.2024
Cathedral of the Assumption, Carlow @ 10pm
Blessing of Crib:
Mary will you take this baby boy
Mary will you take this baby boy
Will you fill the world with love and joy
Will you take this baby boy?
Mary will you go to the little town
Mary will you go to the little town
Will you find a manger to lay Him down
Will you go to the little town?
Mary will you show your little son
Mary will you show your little son
To the kings on whom the star has shone
Will you show your little son?
Mary will you tell him we love him so
Mary will you tell him we love him so
Will you tell him we would like to show
That we love him, love him so?
Let us pray …
We pray, Father, that you bless this crib
May it inspire all who visit it with the memory of your love.
May it brighten the hearts of the people of the Cathedral Parish and of our Diocese who are tuning in on the webcam,
and lighten their burdens.
You have already done so much for us;
may the memory of this open our hearts to all the great things you still want to do for us.
May there always be room in our hearts for your Son, and for all your children in need. He who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
Introductory Words:
You are most welcome as we gather together for Midnight Mass as distinct from Mass at Midnight, I’ll return to that later. Those who have returned to be with family at Christmas here in Carlow, I hope you feel a welcome also in our splendid Cathedral with your faith family.
For many of you this building, this sacred place, this mother church of our diocese has a deep sacramental connection in your lives; being here for Christmas is especially important. To all of you I say Welcome, Cead Míle Fáilte, Bienvenue, Benvenuto, Willkommen, Witaj.
The exactitude in detail of Luke’s gospel is chilling; it’s message profound and comforting. How could anyone not have the gift of faith as we look on the infant in the manger?
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy for all the people”[1] was the message of the angel to the shepherds, as it had been nine months earlier to Mary. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, yet that angelic proclamation two thousand years ago offers huge comfort. Let us who have walked in darkness not be afraid of this great light that now shines on us. The name the prophet Isaish offers this light is: “Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace”[2]:
- Lord Jesus, this night you have made our gladness greater. Lord, have mercy …
- Lord Jesus, this night you have made our joy increase. Christ, have mercy …
- Lord Jesus, this night we rejoice in your presence. Lord, have mercy …
Welcoming the light of Bethlehem:
I welcome a tangible link between our ceremony here in Askea and Christmas in Bethlehem. A nativity scene in Bethlehem this year places the Baby Jesus among a pile of rubble. The Church of the Nativity there is nearly empty. And in the darkness, He still comes. In the brokenness of our world, He comes. In the destruction we choose, He still comes to bring hope. When we are bent on tearing down, He has come to build back up.
The light of Bethlehem has been minded by the Poor Clare’s in Dublin.
Homily:
Tradition is defined as “the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation”. The Church sees tradition as something that carries with it divine authority.
In our day to day life we probably see tradition as a way of thinking, behaving or doing something that has been custom and practice since God only knows when!
The Indian Jesuit priest Anthony de Mello tells a great story called ‘The Guru’s Cat’. It describes the scene when the guru sat down to worship each evening, the ashram cat would get in the way and distract the worshippers. So he ordered that the cat be tied to a particular pillar during evening worship.
After the guru died, the cat continued to be tied to the same pillar during evening worship. And when the cat died, another cat was brought to the ashram so that it could be duly tied during evening worship. Centuries later, learned treatises were written by scholarly disciples on the liturgical significance of tying a cat up while worship is performed.
On Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, I want to draw attention to two Cathedral traditions that have changed this year, both of them after a period of consultation with many stakeholders, the parish team, the parish council, the sacristans, the liturgy group, the flower arranging group, the altar society to namecheck just a few. It has been very much a synodal type discussion, mirroring the events of the Universal Synod out in Rome and the Irish Synodal Pathway that is about to crank up in the Spring.
The first refers to this very Mass and its timing. Check your watches, it’s not midnight and yet it is Midnight Mass. The Midnight Mass tradition goes back years here, but it was also part of the tradition in many larger towns across the diocese and country.
The earlier 10pm offers an opportunity of retiring to bed at a more reasonable hour. It also accommodates choir members, readers of the Word, Ministers of Holy Communion, sacristans, stewards and collectors who all have families and commitments. It further eases pressure on priests who have more Masses to celebrate with less personnel into the future.
Just to clarify we are celebrating Midnight Mass, which is perfectly liturgically acceptable the world over. Indeed the Midnight Mass liturgy has been used at much earlier Masses, we can be confident its midnight somewhere! For us tonight it’s just past midnight in Greece and Finland. But when we go down this road we are restricting ourselves to a temporal clock and not the eternal one that links heaven and earth, like the birth of the Christ child this Christmas night. God stooping down to be one of us.
The second tradition is the location of the crib, which I know in my eleven years has had a number of positions from mounted on the Sacred Heart Altar to around the ambo to a new home this year, on the front sanctuary steps before the main altar. Just like around the ambo, the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, so in front of the altar where Eucharist is blessed, broken and shared. It’s also where those who join using webcam can access the nativity so easily on their screen. But of course nothing beats being present. The shepherds travelled in from the fields; the Wise Men would take a longer and more circuitous route while the angels all the time hover around.
Two traditions that determine how we celebrate Christmas. And in ways they don’t, because Christmas essentially reminds us that the Son of God was born into a most insignificant little clan of Judah and there were many more powerful ones. His parents knocked on closed doors, with only a stable door ajar for comfort. He took flesh on the edge of the town among the poorest of the poor. God becoming incarnate in the littleness of the stable, alongside the ox and donkey.
We shouldn’t get caught up in particular traditions, customs or practices, all which are man made and often not Christ child centred. I’ll conclude with the words of St. John Henry Newman and invite you to make his prayer your own this night:
“May each Christmas, as it comes, find us
More and more like Him who at this time
Became a little child, for our sake;
More simple-minded, more humble, more affectionate,
More resigned, more happy, more full of God”.
The call of Christmas is to do what God did, become human and become full of God! Happy Christmas!
[1] Lk.2:10
[2] Is.9:5