Christmas Vigil Mass
Mass for and with Children
Good afternoon. Again I say that I am delighted to see so many young people with us today ... and, of course, the parents who have brought them here to learn more about Jesus as we celebrate again his birthday.
On Christmas we are celebrating something that is so difficult to really understand. To understand what it means for God to become a human being is very difficult even for us adults.
You know how amazing and mysterious it is when a magician performs acts of magic. Have you ever seen a magician show you a hat that has nothing in it and then, after saying a few words, is able to pull a rabbit, a real, alive rabbit, out of the hat? You think you know how he did it? But are you really sure? If I invited a blind student to describe for us what an elephant is, could he do it? Yes and no. Yes, if he could touch it and feel it. No, if he had no way of feeling or touching it. You would have to describe the elephant for the student, wouldn’t you? You might say that an elephant is a large animal. The elephant has a trunk for a nose. But the blind person only knows the word "trunk" to mean a large suitcase. The blind student was give a small suitcase and told that a trunk is big suitcase. Or the blind person was told that a trunk is something that is a part of an automobile. The back area where people store things in their cars ... like trunks. See how difficult it really is to understand something which is so different especially if we have not seen it before.
That is what is happening to us today. We say that the birthday of the little baby we call Jesus is very special because this Jesus baby is not an ordinary baby. What is he? He is God. Then we ask ourselves what is this God? Do we really know? Some of us might say "Oh, yeah, God is Jesus." True. We know that Jesus was born just like you and me. Two arms, two legs, two eyes. He could speak. Eventually he could walk. But, but, but: don’t forget we said he was God who came to be a person.
As God, Jesus came to us but where from? Where was his home. Somewhere where none of us, even our parents, have never visited ... and we hope they don’t visit there too soon.
What I want you to know today is that it is impossible for us to really understand who and what God is with our human minds. The only way we have some idea about what our God is comes to us because we can learn something about Jesus.
This is why we have Christmas: to get an idea about what and who God is. At Christmas what is the main thing that all of us do? Well, when we are young, we get ready to receive gifts from Santa Claus and from our family and friends. As we grow older, Christmas becomes more about giving gifts than getting them.
What the birthday of Jesus is about is that God, the Father in heaven, is giving all of us a very special gift. What is that gift? It is the gift of his son, Jesus. God is giving us his son to help us.
God’s gift to us, the baby Jesus, was the very first time we had a Christmas. And that happened over 2000 years ago. Before that people did not have a time of the year when they celebrated the birthday of Jesus. So, with the birthday of Jesus, people came to know that this Jesus is a special gift to each of us from God our Father in heaven.
Because God was so good to us, Jesus, his son, acted like his Father. As he grew older and did his work — remember what he did? He was a teacher. For three years he walked around his neighborhood telling people about his Father and how good his Father is. What Jesus was telling them was how important it is to be like his Father. And what is that? At Christmas we are reminded of the answer: it is all about giving gifts. First of all giving something of ourselves: help other people when then need help; it means being good to other people. Jesus taught his students that they should be like the Father who gave them Jesus.
One thing we must remember: if Jesus had not been given to us as a special gift, would we have had anything like Santa Claus?
Santa Claus is someone who is like God: a special person who goes around the world bringing gifts to others who have been good. Santa Claus became for all of us a reminder that Christmas is really about what God wanted us to know: that Christmas is about Jesus being born, Jesus being God our Father’s very special gift to us.
Sometimes older kids will try telling you that Santa Claus isn’t real. Well, let me tell you this. As long as you give gifts to other people, as long as you are kind to people, you are doing what God did. He gave us Jesus, a very special gift. We cannot forget that. So, we have Santa Claus, especially at your age, to remind us that to be a good person, we have to be people who give to other people. We have to be unselfish. We have to love others. We have to be kind to others. So, don’t ever think Santa Claus isn’t real. Santa Claus teaches us what Jesus taught us: caring about other people is so very important. And we will always need Santa Claus for young people like you ... so that you can begin to get some idea of how good God is to us.
Mass for and with Children
Good afternoon. Again I say that I am delighted to see so many young people with us today ... and, of course, the parents who have brought them here to learn more about Jesus as we celebrate again his birthday.
On Christmas we are celebrating something that is so difficult to really understand. To understand what it means for God to become a human being is very difficult even for us adults.
You know how amazing and mysterious it is when a magician performs acts of magic. Have you ever seen a magician show you a hat that has nothing in it and then, after saying a few words, is able to pull a rabbit, a real, alive rabbit, out of the hat? You think you know how he did it? But are you really sure? If I invited a blind student to describe for us what an elephant is, could he do it? Yes and no. Yes, if he could touch it and feel it. No, if he had no way of feeling or touching it. You would have to describe the elephant for the student, wouldn’t you? You might say that an elephant is a large animal. The elephant has a trunk for a nose. But the blind person only knows the word "trunk" to mean a large suitcase. The blind student was give a small suitcase and told that a trunk is big suitcase. Or the blind person was told that a trunk is something that is a part of an automobile. The back area where people store things in their cars ... like trunks. See how difficult it really is to understand something which is so different especially if we have not seen it before.
That is what is happening to us today. We say that the birthday of the little baby we call Jesus is very special because this Jesus baby is not an ordinary baby. What is he? He is God. Then we ask ourselves what is this God? Do we really know? Some of us might say "Oh, yeah, God is Jesus." True. We know that Jesus was born just like you and me. Two arms, two legs, two eyes. He could speak. Eventually he could walk. But, but, but: don’t forget we said he was God who came to be a person.
As God, Jesus came to us but where from? Where was his home. Somewhere where none of us, even our parents, have never visited ... and we hope they don’t visit there too soon.
What I want you to know today is that it is impossible for us to really understand who and what God is with our human minds. The only way we have some idea about what our God is comes to us because we can learn something about Jesus.
This is why we have Christmas: to get an idea about what and who God is. At Christmas what is the main thing that all of us do? Well, when we are young, we get ready to receive gifts from Santa Claus and from our family and friends. As we grow older, Christmas becomes more about giving gifts than getting them.
What the birthday of Jesus is about is that God, the Father in heaven, is giving all of us a very special gift. What is that gift? It is the gift of his son, Jesus. God is giving us his son to help us.
God’s gift to us, the baby Jesus, was the very first time we had a Christmas. And that happened over 2000 years ago. Before that people did not have a time of the year when they celebrated the birthday of Jesus. So, with the birthday of Jesus, people came to know that this Jesus is a special gift to each of us from God our Father in heaven.
Because God was so good to us, Jesus, his son, acted like his Father. As he grew older and did his work — remember what he did? He was a teacher. For three years he walked around his neighborhood telling people about his Father and how good his Father is. What Jesus was telling them was how important it is to be like his Father. And what is that? At Christmas we are reminded of the answer: it is all about giving gifts. First of all giving something of ourselves: help other people when then need help; it means being good to other people. Jesus taught his students that they should be like the Father who gave them Jesus.
One thing we must remember: if Jesus had not been given to us as a special gift, would we have had anything like Santa Claus?
Santa Claus is someone who is like God: a special person who goes around the world bringing gifts to others who have been good. Santa Claus became for all of us a reminder that Christmas is really about what God wanted us to know: that Christmas is about Jesus being born, Jesus being God our Father’s very special gift to us.
Sometimes older kids will try telling you that Santa Claus isn’t real. Well, let me tell you this. As long as you give gifts to other people, as long as you are kind to people, you are doing what God did. He gave us Jesus, a very special gift. We cannot forget that. So, we have Santa Claus, especially at your age, to remind us that to be a good person, we have to be people who give to other people. We have to be unselfish. We have to love others. We have to be kind to others. So, don’t ever think Santa Claus isn’t real. Santa Claus teaches us what Jesus taught us: caring about other people is so very important. And we will always need Santa Claus for young people like you ... so that you can begin to get some idea of how good God is to us.
