We anticipate Him at the Vigil Mass. There is an air of expectation. In fact, the Gospel is possibly one which is most dreaded because of the tongue-twisting names of Jesus’ ancestors. However, its intent is to prepare us for His birth. Both the Antiphon and the Collect remind us of His coming and how we can be confident in facing Christ as our hearts are gladdened by the joy of salvation.
As we proceed further into the heart of the night, the Good News or the Gospel proclaims that the awaited Saviour has come into the world. The Collect contrasts the enveloping darkness with the bright Light of Christ as Luke’s Gospel presents us with the familiar narration of the annunciation by the angels. The hosts of heaven appearing to the shepherds in the field urge them hasten to the City of David, where they shall find the Lord and Saviour of the world born and laid in a manger.
The next morning, in stillness of dawn, we savour the radiance of Christ’s birth. Our prayer is that through His brightness which illuminates our minds, our deeds too may shine with the brilliance of His presence. The simple petition is that our actions will match with our confession and the Gospel continues from the previous night with the shepherds as they visit Mary, Joseph, the new-born King and they worship Him. If the previous celebration is called the Mass of the Angels, this makes it the Mass of the Shepherds.
Finally, in full light, we celebrate the Mass during the Day. Also called the Mass of the King, we enter deeper into the mystery of the Incarnation. The Gospel is taken from the beginning of John’s Gospel. The Collect reminds us that as God humbles Himself to share in our humanity, He restores our dignity by giving us all a share in His Divinity.
These four Masses give us a bigger picture of the mystery of God’s Incarnation in order that we can be saved. Is there a smaller picture?
There is. We have two challenges to face. The first is the loss of the ability to anticipate as indicated by the Vigil Mass. Waiting is a part of life. Waiting for a fruit to ripen to enjoy its fullness and sweetness is a good analogy. Those who eat an unripe fruit know its taste is sharp and bitter. The dilemma we face is a widespread loss of the art of anticipation. In fact, we have forgotten this important virtue of patient waiting and instead, we demand instant gratification.
There seems to this tide of “I want it now” that can never be stopped. In fact, some priests have tried. For example, carols are usually like “Angels we have heard on high”, or “The First Noël” are supposed to be sung only about this time but they are played or carolled early on because we no longer make a distinction between Advent Season and Christmas Season. For many Advent is Christmas. A priest who dares to insist on not singing until the 12 days of Christmas, which starts on 25th Dec, will be considered a wrong kind of a priest. Does the inability to delay gratification explain why we struggle to abstain from meat on Friday or fast during Lent? It may even clarify why co-habitation has become the norm rather than waiting for the proper Sacrament of Marriage to take place first? This loss of anticipation may have also contributed to our loss of the sense of heaven. The result is an entitlement that we must be happy in this life or not at all.
There is always “suffering” while we wait and that is not because we are deserve to suffer. Our myopia is to focus on the pain without realising that in delaying gratification, we increase the beatitudes of our Christmas joy. Wine are aged to perfection only if we were patient. Heaven requires waiting but we are too eager for it. And it brings us to the description of St Bernard for the coming of Christ.
His description of the 3 Comings can help us appreciate our second challenge. According to the “Doctor Mellifluus”, He came in the past, He is with us now and we await His return. It helps to think of Him being with us as both objective and subjective realities. Historically He came and that is the objective fact of the Birth of Christ about 2000 years ago. But currently and personally, where is His subjective presence? The popular Christmas song: “Christmas isn’t Christmas till it happens in your heart” captures this pointedly because further in the lyrics, it says “give your heart to Jesus and you discover when you do, that is Christmas for you”.
An essential element of anticipation is to prepare the heart for Christ so that He can also take flesh in our souls. We need Him not only because He is our personal Saviour. We need Him because the world needs Him through our thoughts, words and actions. We can be caught up with the necessary festivities of commemorating His historical coming, forgetting that the vital preparation that is here and now, must also take place. At Christmas, the God the Father invites us to respond generously to His Son’s coming. Jesus, even as He lies in the manger, is saying: “Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one of you hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share a meal at that person's side” (Revelation 3:20). The best Christmas response is the ancient prayer: Come, Lord Jesus, come. Maranatha.
