The Word Enfleshed

 

To the church in the diaspora[1]

& to the church of the unchurched[2]

 

Christmas Day 2007, Mass at Midnight

Isaiah 9:1-6        Titus 2:11-14        Luke 2: 1-14


First reading

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, as they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, and the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, from David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains by judgment and justice,
both now and forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this!

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Glory to you, Lord.

 

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph, too, went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem
because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them,
“Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:
“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Introduction

The three Masses of Christmas

Christmas is the only day in the liturgical calendar which has three different Masses assigned. That dates back to the 7th century when the popes started to celebrate Christmas Mass in various churches around Rome.  By the 19th century it was a well-established custom in the Western Church.  The gospel for the first Mass of Christmas has the heavenly multitude of angels praising God and singing “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth” (Lk 2:14). So the first Mass of Christmas is called the Mass of the Angels. The gospel for the second Mass has the shepherds saying to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this wonderful thing that has come to pass” (Lk 2:15).  The second Mass is called the Mass of the Shepherds.  In the gospel for the third Mass, St. John, that soaring eagle, writes,  “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh” (Jn 1:1, 14). That Mass is called the Mass of the Divine Word.  In the missalette the three are better known as Mass at Midnight, Mass at Dawn and Mass during the Day.

 

The first Mass of the Angels may be used not only at midnight but also at dawn and during the day. The gospel for that Mass is wonderfully enfleshed with shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, with choirs of angels singing “Glory to God in the highest” and with an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger and warmed by the breath of beasts. That gospel rightly deserves to be read at all three Masses of the Incarnation.

 

The Christmas urge to tell stories

There is something about Christmas that does not like fleshless words but does, indeed, like stories. For what are stories but words enfleshed. When there are a lot of shepherds and sheep, oxen and ass, stable and straw, kings and coffers, and whole choirs of angels hovering over a babe and singing Gloria in excelsis Deo, then there is a lot of flesh and blood, and then, indeed, there is story.

 

At this time of the rolling year when the Word became flesh (Jn I: 14), there is a universal consent to tell stories. The readings at Mass from the 17th on (when the Novena of Christmas begins) tell one story after the other: Once upon a time there was an old priest, Zachariah by name, offering incense before the altar of the Lord in the temple, and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him… (Lk 1:5-25). Once upon a time there was a maiden at prayer and behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to her and told her not to be afraid. The Holy Spirit would overshadow her, and she would conceive a son and call him Jesus (Lk 1:26-38). Once upon a time there was a man named Joseph, and he was puzzled about his espoused wife being with child… (Mt 1:18-25). Once upon a time a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. And while shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to them saying, “Don’t be frightened. I bring you tidings of great joy. This day, in the city of David, a savior is born to you who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:1-14).

 

The Milwaukee Christmas story

At this time of the rolling year, not only scripture but also the media obeys an irresistible urge to speak not with fleshless words but with stories. Yearly the season features such classical favorites like Amahl and the Night Visitors, Miracle on 34th Street, and especially Dickens’ Christmas Carol.  The evening news, too, searches for a story bearing tidings of good news to relieve the bad news of the fast-departing old year -- bad news like the price of gas at the pump or the price of war in Iraq.  When editors find a gem of a Christmas story, they anoint the front page of their newspaper with it.

 

Such a gem graced the front page of the Milwaukee Journal for Saturday, December 8, 1984 (23 years ago). We have told ourselves this story before, and we tell it again because that’s what good stories are for. They are for telling and retelling so that they keep inspiring and energizing us over and over again.

 

Act I

This story begins to happen on December 6, the feast of jolly old St. Nick, famous for his gift-giving. It starts as all good stories start. Once upon a time there was a bus driver whom everyone likes and calls Kojac. He's going west on Wisconsin Ave.  It's about 3:30 in the afternoon and it's only l0 degrees above zero. Enters a woman, and she is tattered and torn, and she's pregnant, and she has no shoes on her feet! Mind you, 10 degrees outside and she has no shoes on her feet. School's out, and the bus is full of high school kids, and they're all making fun of her. The bus pulls up to 124th and Bluemound Road. 

 

A kid steps up to the front and is ready to get off. He's about fourteen years old -- just that perfect age when kids supposedly have no brains in their heads and are utterly selfish.  "And then I saw the darnest thing I had ever seen in my life,” said the bus driver. "The darnest thing! This kid had his shoes in his hands, and his feet were bare! And he says to this woman in front of all his peers who are laughing at her, `Here, M’am, you need them more than I do!'  I cried," said the big strapping bus driver.  "I cried, and so did the woman!" Well, the barefoot boy steps off the bus into the winter cold, and Kojac wipes away the tears and off he drives his bus.

 

Act II

But the story doesn’t die there. It comes to life again the next morning. The bus driver is on his route as usual, and he arrives at 124th and Bluemound Road where the lad (Francis is his name) got off the day before.  And lo and behold, an angel of the Lord appears! There stands the boy again!  Kojac dashes out, lays hold of the angel and pulls him over to his bus. There he captures the story with his camera, for stories, flesh and blood that they are, are not only to be heard by the ear but also to be gazed upon by the eye. After the snapshot, big Kojac gets back into his bus, pulls out a long green handkerchief, blows his nose, wipes away the tears and says, "That's Francis. He got me again!"

 

Act III

The next day, Saturday, December 8, the snapshot and story of big Kojac and little Francis anointed the front page of the Milwaukee Journal.  The following morning, Sunday, December 9, the story went forth by UPI to the entire nation to be read and seen by all. Even President Reagan read the story and sent the boy a letter of thanks. By Sunday, thousands of others were joyfully weeping with Kojac over their cup of coffee and the Sunday newspaper.

 

Act IV

The story lives on! That kid is a hero certainly because of his compassion and thoughtfulness. That is the obvious note which the story strikes as clearly as a Christmas bell. But he is hero also for his courage in front of a bus full of peers demanding blue-jean conformity from him. His courage was so outstanding that on the 8th anniversary of the story, the Milwaukee Journal in its Sunday edition for December 20, 1992, called attention to the fact that the story of Big Kojac and Little Francis was included in a recently published book entitled Courageous Kids.

Act V

The story lives on! Last year, 2006, a friend sent this e-mail.

I know the parents of that barefoot boy. He was a student at Marquette High School and his father was (is) a topnotch trial lawyer at Q&B. I called the father after reading the story in the Milwaukee Journal. I found out that it was his kid. I told the father that if his son ever ran for any office of any kind, I’d vote for him. When the then principal of Marquette High was asked to comment, he simply remarked that the boy’s parents had done a wonderful job of raising such a kid.

 

I also heard that the boy’s mother was really ticked off when the kid showed up shoeless that evening. The kid had pestered his parents for the sneakers, and they had cost a good $70 or so. Her immediate reaction was anger when he came home without the costly sneakers. But at the end of the day, both his mom and dad were so proud they nearly burst!

 

Practitioners of innocence

In The Francis Book published in 1982 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Francis of Assisi, Colman McCarthy writes that Francis “was not a preacher of truth or an upholder of virtue. He was a practitioner of innocence.” He chatted with the birds of the air and beasts of the field.  He talked things over with the ferocious wolf of Gubbio who was terrifying the local folk, and he calmed the beast down.  He bent down and kissed lepers, and he did many other flaky things.

 

The barefoot Francis from Milwaukee, like the barefoot man from Assisi (his namesake), was also a practitioner of innocence. A kid like that who is so courageously brave in front of his peers does not lose his innocence by lying with some girl whom he really loves and to whom he is truly committed. He certainly loses his virginity but not his innocence. That he loses when his peers and the prevailing culture manage to convince him to grow up and to put away his flaky nonsense and stop talking to the birds and beasts.  He loses his innocence when his peers and the prevailing culture manage to convince him to keep his shoes on his feet and his feet solidly on terra firma, as he walks the cold icy paths of this hard cruel world which he can do nothing to better. When they convince him to act as they do, then, indeed, he loses his innocence.

 

Conclusion

Sent forth to enflesh the Word of God

Christmas is not for preaching truth. That simply puts us, followers of the Prince of Peace, at odds with Jews and Muslims and Buddhists and everyone else who has another truth other than the Christian truth.  Christmas is not even for upholding virtue. That simply has us looking down our long noses at others, or it endows us with political capital to solicit the votes of right wingers in the coming presidential election.  No. Christmas is for telling stories like that of big Kojac and little Francis. And the Ite Missa est, the dismissal of Christmas Mass, sends us forth to enflesh the Word of God as mother Mary and the barefoot boy from Milwaukee powerfully enfleshed it.

 

 

 


 1] Diaspora is a Greek word meaning dispersion. Originally it referred to the settling of scattered colonies of Jews outside Palestine after the Babylonian exile. It’s now come to mean the migration or scattering of a people away from an established or ancestral homeland or parish!

[2]] By “the unchurched” is especially meant not those who have left the church but those whom the church has left!