December 25, 2012 | Vigil Mass

December 25, 2012 | Vigil Mass

Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas)
Lectionary: 13

Reading 1 from the Holy Book of Isaiah
Is 62:1-5

For Zion's sake I will not be silent,
for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet,
until her vindication shines forth like the dawn
and her victory like a burning torch.

The holy saint and prophet, Isaiah, can not be contained. The Word of God pours out of him.

Nations shall behold your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
you shall be called by a new name
pronounced by the mouth of the LORD.

He is proclaiming and prophesying the coming of the Lord.

You shall be a glorious crown in the hand of the LORD,
a royal diadem held by your God.
No more shall people call you "Forsaken,"
or your land "Desolate,"
but you shall be called "My Delight,"
and your land "Espoused."

And he is proclaiming the eventual salvation and purification of the Nation of Israel, God's holy people.

For the LORD delights in you
and makes your land his spouse.

And the union of the Church with her Lord.

As a young man marries a virgin,
your Builder shall marry you;
and as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride
so shall your God rejoice in you.

No one can say this better than St. Paul:

Ephesians 5:25-27
King James Version (KJV)
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29.

R. (2a) For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Blessed the people who know the joyful shout;
in the light of your countenance, O LORD, they walk.
At your name they rejoice all the day,
and through your justice they are exalted.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

He shall say of me, "You are my father,
my God, the rock, my savior."
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.

R. For ever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Allelujah, Christ is born!

Reading 2 from St. Luke's record of the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 13:16-17, 22-25

When Paul reached Antioch in Pisidia and entered the synagogue,
he stood up, motioned with his hand, and said,
"Fellow Israelites and you others who are God-fearing, listen.
The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors
and exalted the people during their sojourn in the
land of Egypt.
With uplifted arm he led them out of it.

If I remember my geography, Antioch is in Galatia.  And St. Paul is there, recounting the history of the people of Israel to the Gentile population of that land.  He tells of the Exodus out of Egypt, whereby God sent His Angel in the pillar of a cloud to be the rear guard, while Moses led them through the desert.

Then he removed Saul and raised up David as king;
of him he testified,

Then we skip to the time of King Saul, when the people of Israel insulted God by demanding a human king.  And their first King erred by being disobedient to God.  Thus God punished him and replaced him with David the Son of Jesse.

'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart;
he will carry out my every wish.'
From this man's descendants God, according to his promise,
has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus.

And from King David is descended Jesus, the Son of God who inherited the promise of bringing salvation to the people.

John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance
to all the people of Israel;
and as John was completing his course, he would say,
'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he.
Behold, one is coming after me;
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.'"

A holy man, St. John was born to proclaim the way of the Lord.  So holy was he that many thought he was the Messiah.  But he only was born to proclaim the coming of the Lord.

This is the Gospel that St. Paul was teaching in Antioch.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew
Mt 1:1-25

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.

There are two promises here alluded to.  The promise to Father Abraham and the promise to King David.

Genesis 22:17-18
King James Version (KJV)
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;  18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

2 Samuel 7:12
King James Version (KJV)
12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 

In both cases, this seed is Jesus Christ.

As I mentioned before, genealogies are not my strong suit.  I recommend that you read the writings of  people like Dr. Scott Hahn and Jeff Cavins.

Abraham became the father of Isaac,

Abraham had two children.  One by the slave woman, Hagar.  He is not the child of the promise.  But Isaac, is the legitimate child of Father Abraham's wife, Sarah.  Isaac is the seed of the promise.

Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

Isaac is also the father of two sons.  Esau the first born twin and Jacob.  Esau being the first born, inherited the promise of God.  But he sold his inheritance to his brother, Jacob, for the price of a bowl of soup.

Jacob was renamed Israel by God and he had 12 children by various wives.  But Judah is the son through whom we trace the Genealogy of Jesus.

Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah,
whose mother was Tamar.

The interesting thing here is that Tamar was Judah's daughter in law who was tricked by Judah when his son died and left her childless.  She, in turn, pretended to be a prostitute and seduced Judah into an affair while he was traveling away from home.  Twins, Perez and Zerah, were conceived as a result.  And so, we follow Jesus' line through a somewhat illicit affair. Read more.

Perez became the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab became the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
whose mother was Rahab.
Boaz became the father of Obed,
whose mother was Ruth.

We'll skip on down to a very beautiful story about a very beautiful and faithful woman, Ruth, whose qualities are discovered and cherished by a very just man, Boaz.  Read this beautiful story, here.

Obed became the father of Jesse,
Jesse the father of David the king.

David became the father of Solomon,
whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.

We'll skip down to another shameful part of the genealogy of Jesus.  The wife of Uriah is not named.  She is Bathsheba, whom King David saw bathing on the roof of her home and took to bed although she was married to another man.  Then King David had that man murdered and Bathsheba became his wife.  Solomon is the result of that union and the seed of the promise of King David.

Solomon became the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asaph.
Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah.
Uzziah became the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amos,
Amos the father of Josiah.
Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers
at the time of the Babylonian exile.
After the Babylonian exile,
Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud.
Abiud became the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok.
Zadok became the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar became the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,

I skipped all the way down because I don't know a whole lot about those folks.

Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Note how St. Matthew does not call St. Joseph the father of Jesus Christ, but the husband of Mary.

Thus the total number of generations
from Abraham to David
is fourteen generations;
from David to the Babylonian exile,
fourteen generations;
from the Babylonian exile to the Christ,
fourteen generations.

Fourteen is a multiple of seven which is a symbol of Covenant and perfection in Scripture.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

St. Matthew recounts that Jesus was conceived in Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit while she was still a virgin.

Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.

St. Joseph was not as yet aware of this and assumed that his bride had stepped out on him.

Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."

But the Angel Gabriel appeared to him in a dream and revealed the entire truth, that Jesus was conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit.

All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us."

This prophecy was spoken by Isaiah at the time of Ahaz.  Hezekiah was the seed of that promise.  But the veiled seed, was of course Jesus Christ, Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).

When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
He had no relations with her until she bore a son,
and he named him Jesus.

St. Joseph listened to the Angel Gabriel in his dream and took Mary into his home.

Or the alternate Gospel reading
Mt 1:18-25

Since the alterrnate reading is simply the second half of the first, I'll leave it without comment.

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
"Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins."
All this took place to fulfill
what the Lord had said through the prophet:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us."
When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.
He had no relations with her until she bore a son,
and he named him Jesus.

Merry Christmas!

Sincerely,

De Maria