O COME LET US ADORE HIM!

A Blessed & Holy Christmas to you!  As joyfully proclaimed in today’s Gospel Acclamation, “A hallowed day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, worship the Lord, for today a great light has shone down upon the earth.” 

Today, we the faithful of God are invited to worship & adore Jesus this Christmas.  At the very first Christmas, men, both influential (the Magi or Wise Men) and lowly (the shepherds) bowed in reverent awe & worshipped the new-born infant Jesus.  This very day, we too make our way in our hearts to the manger in Bethlehem to adore the Lord as we celebrate Christmas.

How fitting & appropriate that we celebrate the Eucharist on Christmas Day – Bethlehem in Hebrew means “House of Bread” & we have this awesome privilege to receive Jesus, the Bread of Life in Holy Communion.  The wood of the manger (the feeding trough for animals) points our focus forward to the wood of the Cross that Christ will hang upon, crucified for our sins because He loves us (cf Galatians 2:20). 

So, for us today, after the celebration of Christmas Mass, how should we move forward?  Scripture tells us in Luke 2:20 that the shepherds went away glorifying & praising the Lord for their experiences.  Can we, likewise, rejoice & give glory to God by sharing our experience of God’s love with our family & friends this Christmas time? The Wise Men returned to their home country after they visited the baby Jesus by another way (cf Matthew 2:12).  Can we, after our encounter with Jesus this Christmas, also move by another way & do things differently?  Perhaps by being more loving, grateful, patient, kind, caring, compassionate, forgiving & humble?

 Let the glorious refrain of our much-loved Christmas Carol resound in our minds, our lips & our hearts today:

“Venite Adoremus Dominum. O Come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!”