VIGIL MASS (Nativity of the Lord)

Midnight Mass

Christmas

Barely a number of hours and the most awaited event of the year comes. Beyond the thrills of the season, I wonder what significance Christmas has in our hearts. At this very moment, it is then vital to ask ourselves: “Who do we await this Christmas?

            If we analyze and observe people during this season, we will be surprised to discover that most of us are waiting for Christmas and not for Christ. Children wait for Santa Clause and the gifts from their ninongs and ninangs. Employees have been preoccupied with their 13th month pay. Teenagers wait for Christmas parties. Even the poor do not wait for Christ; they wait for the Christmas goodies some religious and civic organizations will give them. Everybody waits for someone or something except Christ.

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            People have become so materialistic in their relationships with God and men. When someone returns home from abroad, for example, we do not actually wait for the person but for what he brings (the balikbayan box and not the balikbayan). And this happens during Christmas. We wait for what Christmas will materially bring, but not for Christ.

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            My dear friends, it is Christ who is coming on Christmas. Like Zechariah in the one of the Gospel readings for the Simbang Gabi masses, we must be full of anticipation. We must wait for a humble and poor Christ and not for a Christ formed by our own fantasies and imaginations. This was the fault of the Jews. They waited for the messiah but for one who was a product of the materialistic concept. The Messiah came but they received him not.

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            How about if Christ comes to you on Christmas day in the form of a poor and humble person, or in the form of a sickness or calamity or in the form of the death of a dear one? Will you still receive Christ on Christmas day? Perhaps, some of you have seen the film “Christmas Tree”. In that film the gift that the father found under the Christmas tree was the death of his only son. This happens not only in films but also in real life. If this happens to you, will you still accept Christ this Christmas?

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            My dear brothers and sistersS let us anticipate for a Christ not made to our own measure – a Christ replete with beauty wealth and splendor. But for a humble and poor CHRIST. And it is only then that CHRISTMAS can have significance in our hearts. To one and all, have Mary and Christ for Christmas!

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