Today’s Dawn Mass reminded me of that night. Too bad we had no Midnight Mass for that would have given us an idea of what was involved. In the material darkness of the night, we are reminded that there is a darkness more pernicious than just the absence of light. It is a darkness of the mind and of the soul, a spiritual darkness which only Christ the Light can dispel.
The Dawn Mass however shows us to whom the Light first appeared. On the very night of the Saviour birth, there were shepherds out in the cold and as dawn was breaking, a bright light appeared, and an angel announced to them the birth of the Messiah. The annunciation ended with a heavenly chorus that inspired our Gloria, a prayer recited or sung at Mass on feast days and solemnities.
Our notion of the shepherds has possibly been glamorised over the centuries. Almost all of the pastoral figurines we have in our crib sets would show one of them humbly shouldering a sheep whilst carrying a staff. Why not? After all, our image of Jesus is that of the Good Shepherd which actually proves the point of romanticisation. What is more? The Pope asked the pastors to smell of the sheep. But shepherds were the outcasts of the community—socially ill-fitting and religiously rejected. They were considered unclean for both a social setting and the Temple worship. If we need a modern copy, they were the “Banglas” or “Nepalis”[1] of their time for they took on the manual tasks of a labour undesired.
It is to this group of the unwashed masses, that the Gospel of salvation was first proclaimed. There are two ways—ad extra et ad intra—to approach this message and both reveal how extensively merciful God is in His salvific will.
Ad extra, Christmas should make us think of those whom society would deem as undeserving of salvation. Broadly speaking, we may have focused too narrowly in terms of “giving attention to”. For many of us, the Christmas spirit is to think of those whom we seldom have a second thought for. Perhaps this explains the “feel good” factor in some of the things we do. For example, once a year, as an expression of CSR—corporate social responsibility, companies will rush to distribute aid to the poor because it elevates their social standing or people who donate feel good that they have given attention to those at the margin. Many of the homes can be choosy at this time saying that they do not need your extra fruitcakes, used clothes, or hampers. Better still, they do not want KFC. Focussing on the poor is good but it is more than just economic attention. In the same way, we also take a closer look at people whom we may have neglected over the months. Our parents, our spouses, and our children. But, have we been so taken up by the material necessities of life that we have forgotten that people need more than just corporeal care and concern? Or even emotional support. All these ministrations, crucial as they are, they do not touch the heart of the Gospel message and that is redemption and salvation. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ the Saviour, not the teacher, not the prophet, not the guru and definitely not the therapist.
Thus, the question is this: “Who needs the good news of salvation brought to them?". "Who needs to know that Jesus Christ the Saviour is born?".
A question like this can be deceptive because we tend to think ad extra meaning that we gladly scan for those who need to be saved but what about ad intra. Most of us are comfortable with the idea that there are people out there to be saved but can be genuinely obtuse when it comes to ourselves. Am I in need of salvation? Do I need to be saved or only others do?
The amazing thing about us is that we seem to measure “evil” in the extreme like murder or serial killing. I have read a quip which says, “If you want to look thin, stand next to a fat person”. My apologies if it comes across as “fat-shaming” because that is not the intention. The point is, “How good are we if compared ourselves with the depraved in order to feel good about ourselves?”. Since I am not killing anyone or stealing money like Najib had done, then I must be pretty decent.
Depravity is never a reliable measure. We should glance upwards for our benchmark. God created us in His image, and this is where we all fall short, again and again. It is the perfection of God that we are supposed to live up to. That scale no one can ever measure up to on his or her own, not even Mary, the immaculately conceived Mother of Jesus. It is only with God’s grace that we do.
While the vices of sin are many, what is more deceptive is when we do not recognise that we need to be saved. One of the things which the pandemic has uncovered is this blindness. Apparently, modern pagans that we are, according to Fulton Sheen, we have all been immaculately conceived and the only default setting we have is to rely on our own devices[2] failing to realise that God alone is our Saviour.
The very appearance of the angel to the shepherds reminds us that no one is exempt from God’s salvific will. Everyone needs to be saved. As the shepherds hurried to welcome the new-born King, let us join them, recognising that we, like the rest of mankind, need salvation. God has given us His Son, Jesus Christ to be our Saviour. Glory to God in the highest.
[1] Precisely! It comes across so wrong to use them as examples and yet, our foreign workers are the ones who bear the brunt of the dirty, dangerous and difficult work that no citizens in the “right frame of mind” would want to do.
[2] A statement like this might sound anti-science and definitely fatalistic but it is not. We ought to use our God-given talents to do what is necessary. But we should never lose sight that God alone is our Saviour.
