A gifted speaker was asked to recall his most difficult speech assignment. "That's easy," he said. "It was an address I gave to the National Conference of Undertakers. The topic was, 'How to look sad at a ten thousand dollar funeral.'"
An American serviceman returning from Viet Nam was asked how the war had affected him. "The thought that the end of my life is a hole six feet deep and six feet long casts a dark shadow on everything I do now." The birth of Christ at Christmas is the start of the light that dispels that shadow. Easter is its full bloom!
Perhaps the most difficult task of the early Christians was trying to look sad. Something so tremendous happened with the Resurrection that there was no way to hold back the joy. This Jesus who had lived among them had been put to death, and now He was alive. This was real joy, the end of death.
"The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light" and for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shone (Matthew 4:16). Christmas is the beginning of Grace, God's life in us.
"Hail (Mary) full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women," was the greeting of the Angel Gabriel to Mary (Luke 1:28). The very life of God was within Mary. The same life of God is in us through Baptism and the Bread of Life that is Jesus.
How can we feel less than joyful? God has entered our lives and baptised our humanity. We are not the same since that incarnation. We are not the same since our redemption!
Our lives, our joys and sorrows, our laughter and tears, our hopes and our fears are now redeemed. Humanity now has dignity and worth. Eternal life starts here: "I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10).
Christ's birth at Christmas did not eliminate suffering in the human condition. As Paul Claudel put it, "Christ did not come to do away with suffering He came to fill it with His presence." The loneliness of suffering is now a participation in the Mystery of Good Friday.
Thanks to the birth of Jesus we do not ever need to feel abandoned by God; rather we can experience being filled by God's life. That dark grave is no longer filled with despair. As my father once explained to us children, "Dying is like falling asleep and waking up next morning in heaven."
It amazes me that we are so slow to catch on to the message of joy and hope that begins with Christmas. Some 70 billion people have gone before us and we still don't understand the process.
Perhaps we need to listen to the words of Jesus that He echoed so many times after He had come back from death to life: "Fear not!"
In the miracle of Christmas, the hope that springs from the little town of Bethlehem spreads joy to the entire world. Like the shepherds in the fields, we spread the good news to everyone we meet by telling them what we have seen and what we have heard.
