MERRY CHRISTMAS—JESUS CHRIST IS BORN
1. Flesh from Our Flesh
2. Son of God, Son of Mary
3. A Man Like Us
Greeting
A holy and joyful Christmas to all of you!
Christ is born to us,
he lives in us.
May he always be with you. R/ And with your spírit.
Introduction
1. Flesh from Our Flesh
Christmas Proclamation
Two thousand years ago, in the immense and powerful Roman Empire, Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken. Somewhere in the border region of Palestine, a young, humble couple, Mary and Joseph, set out from the insignificant town of Nazareth and traveled to the town of Bethlehem in Judaea. There was no room for them in the inn, and so Mary gave birth to a son and had to put him in a manger. An angel said to poor shepherds: “That child lying in the manger is the Saviour born to you and to the world: He is Christ the Lord.” This same news is proclaimed to us: Your Saviour is born to you. You are happy and you smile. But now you must proclaim in word and deed that Jesus is your Saviour and Lord. Let your mercy and love proclaim him. Let your sense of justice and fairness proclaim him. Let your love and unity proclaim him. Let your concern for the poor and your welcome to the weak proclaim him. Then we can really sing with one voice tonight: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to the people he loves.”
Yes, we are assured today that the Lord is really with us: He smiles on us through a little child lying new-born in a manger. God has come to us in his humble way. The star of his coming has come to rest on this church, on this community. Are we humble and little enough to accept him the way he comes to us?
2. Son of God, Son of Mary
Today the world is reminded how God became flesh from our flesh and blood from our blood. He joined us in our human poverty as he was born from the Virgin Mary in a stable by the roadside. There people could see how God had eyes to smile at us, ears to hear our cries and stammering, arms to extend to us and embrace us, a heart to beat for us and to love us, a mouth to speak to us words of endearment and truth, a life to live for us and to give up for us. Has his coming changed us and brought us close to him?
3. A Man Like Us
When God wanted to show himself as he is in a way we could understand, he became human, one of us, appearing with the face of a child. He showed himself in all our fragility, as if saying: Do you see now that I am near to you, that I am with you not to overpower you but with the face of peace and love and trust? Let us welcome with joy the Lord who comes to live among us and to join us on the journey of life. Now we can become more like God.
Penitential Act
We have lost our freshness and grown tired
because of our sins and failures.
Let us tell the Lord that we are sorry
and acclaim his coming among us.
(PAUSE)
People living in darkness,
here comes your light.
Let it enlighten and save you:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
People wounded and burdened,
here comes your Saviour.
Let him heal you.
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
People who keep hoping,
here comes God as a child
to make you adults in faith and love.
Let him bring you peace.
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Lord, let the peace of your pardon
come over us and over our world.
Lead us to the joy of a new world
and of everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray to our loving God
for giving us Jesus
(PAUSE)
Glory to you, God in the highest,
for bringing peace on earth to your people
and for letting your Son Jesus smile on us
from the arms of Mary, his mother.
Let him be our hope and our joy,
our forgiveness and our life.
Create us anew in the image of Jesus,
for then we become more like him,
you may recognize us in him
and our love can become deep and faithful.
Help us to give him to the world,
that all may become fresh and new again
through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
1 Reading: Isaiah 52:7-10
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, “Your God is King!” Hark! Your sentinels raise a cry, together they shout for joy, for they see directly, before their eyes, the LORD restoring Zion. Break out together in song, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the LORD comforts his people, he redeems Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6
R. (3c) All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God.
O Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done wondrous deeds; his right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm. R.
The LORD has made his salvation known: in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice. He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. R.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God. Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands; break into song; sing praise. R.
Sing praise to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and melodious song. With trumpets and the sound of the horn sing joyfully before the King, the LORD. R.
2. Reading: Hebrews 1:1-6
Brothers and sisters: In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe, who is the refulgence of his glory, the very imprint of his being, and who sustains all things by his mighty word. When he had accomplished purification from sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, as far superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say: You are my son; this day I have begotten you? Or again: I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me? And again, when he leads the firstborn into the world, he says: Let all the angels of God worship him.
Alleluia
Alleluia, alleluia. A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, and adore the Lord. For today a great light has come upon the earth. R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: John 1:1-18
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth. John testified to him and cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’” From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.
Commentary
Christmas! The great feast of the amazing grace of God’s love for humanity! The Word that is God becomes a helpless, defenceless human baby! God, who is perfection personified, whom the universe cannot contain, becomes a finite, localized, and fragile child. God who is life is born as a mortal. All this, out of God’s love for us, His desire to redeem us! On this Feast of all feasts, let us listen to the great mystic, Meister Eckhart:
“Here in time we celebrate the eternal birth that God the Father bore and still bears constantly in eternity, and which is also now born in time, in human nature. St. Augustine says that this birth is happening continually. We should ask ourselves: If it doesn’t happen in me, what good is that birth after all? What ultimately matters is that God’s birth should happen in me.”
May Christ’s birth—a Merry Christmas—happen in you and in me!
Intercessions
Joy is to be shared. Let us pray to Jesus our Lord that the Good News of his coming may warm the hearts of all, and let us say:
R/ Lord, stay with your people.
– That today may be a feast of joy for all our families and for all to whom we bring a bit of happiness this day, let us pray:
R/ Lord, stay with your people.
– That today may be a feast of joy for all children far and near, to those who are happy and to those who hunger and suffer, let us pray:
R/ Lord, stay with your people.
– That today may be a feast of faith for those who know the Lord and for those who do not yet know him, let us pray:
R/ Lord, stay with your people.
– That today may again become a feast of peace for those divided by quarrels, for countries divided by war, let us pray:
R/ Lord, stay with your people.
– That today may be a feast of joy for all our Christian communities and that we may share that joy as we go together the Lord’s way of peace, let us pray:
R/ Lord, stay with your people.
Lord Jesus, you are one of us. Help us to become more like you, that we may become your joy, as you are ours now and for ever.
R/ Amen.
Prayer Over the Gifts
Father,
with bread and wine we celebrate
the family feast of your Son.
He is one of us, and we are happy.
Let our joy be shared by all,
that people from all races and nations
may come and share his table.
Let there be no end to our feast
and no limit to our love and generosity,
for now there lives among us your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Let our joy for the coming of God’s Son flow into a prayer of thanksgiving to our generous Father in heaven.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
God has indeed become our Father through Jesus, who made himself our brother. With him we say with the fullest trust: R/ Our Father…
Prayer for Peace
Lord Jesus Christ,
your birth was the beginning
of a new peace for all the people you love.
May this Christmas sing of the glory of God
by leading us to walk hand in hand
and to share your tenderness.
Be our God with us that there may be peace,
now and for ever. R/ Amen.
May the peace of the Lord be always with you R/ And with your spirit.
Let us generously share the peace of the Lord
with one another. R/ Peace of the New Born Christ with you.
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus the Lord,
God’s Son and our brother,
our God-with-us.
He is our living bread come down from heaven.
Happy are we to receive him
as our joy and peace. R/ Lord, I am not worthy…
Prayer after Communion
Father,
what more can we say tonight
than “Thank you, thank you again”
for coming to us in a way
we do not even dare to expect.
Do not allow us to get so accustomed
to the presence of your Son among us
that we forget that he is here
and that we fail to recognize him
in the heart of our lives
and in the faces of our brothers and sisters.
Let his justice rule our earth
and his peace and love be alive in us,
for he is our Lord for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Our hearts can sing tonight with joy
of God’s love for us, his people.
With Mary we can sing her song of thanksgiving:
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has done great things for us.”
Yes, we remember on Christmas
that his Son Jesus has become one of us.
He is here as our companion in life.
He lifts up the wounded,
and he shows us in himself
that God loves us very deeply
and will never abandon us.
With joy we receive the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace and again, a holy, happy Christmas to all of you. R/ Thanks be to God.