Merry Christmas!  There’s something particularly special about saying those words here, in this sacred space, on this holy day.  While the world outside swirls with tinsel and commerce, here we encounter something authentic — a truth that breaks down the boundaries between earth and heaven, and God and humanity embrace that we can experience the genuineness and purity that is what we celebrate this day.

Thanks so much for stopping by to read this homily for THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD – CHRISTMAS DAY December 25, 2024.  I appreciate your sharing this on your social media posts and your feedback and comments…  I’m also grateful for all those who’ve asked for the audio version and share them as well at SOUNDCLOUD click HERE or from ITUNES as a podcast HERE.  May the Lord be glorified in your reading and sharing- Father Jim – 

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I have to confess: having passed my 50^th birthday might have turned me into a little bit of a Grinch or Scrooge. While I’ve always emphasized the true “reason for the season,” I used to embrace most of the festive extras — those endless marathons of Elf and Christmas Vacation, even that 24-hour TBS ritual of A Christmas Story that once held me captive for its entire run.  But over the last year, something shifted for me.

Just ask our Newman Catholic Center at Montclair State University student leaders. During our Christmas party planning meeting, they were excitedly discussing their ideas: the food, the gingerbread house contest, the gift exchange that they called “White elephant” (but which I’ve dubbed “vicious Christmas” where presents are stolen so often it can turn quite nasty). I nodded along as the kind and gentle chaplain until someone mentioned “Christmas Karaoke.” That’s when I intervened with my new “No Mariah Carey rule.”

You see, after enduring “All I Want for Christmas Is You” performed (and I use that word very loosely) back-to-back last year, I was a bit traumatized.  This song — now marking its 30th year as part of our cultural soundtrack — has become more than music. It’s a phenomenon that arrives like clockwork every November 1st, when Mariah herself appears in carefully choreographed videos declaring “IT’S TIME!” But for our Newman Catholic Center Christmas party this year, we chose a different time signature. As one quick-witted student explained to a disappointed freshman requesting to sing this at their go of Karaoke, “I’m sorry, but all Fr. Jim wants for Christmas is for this to be Mariah-free.”

With sincere apologies to Ms. Carey and her devoted fans, it’s fascinating how we become attached to these traditions — from the precise placement of ornaments and lights on the tree to movies whose dialogue we can recite in our sleep, from songs that echo in shopping malls to specific dishes that we insist make Christmas “real.” My own brother declared last Christmas “ruined” because Friendly’s discontinued their Ice Cream Jubilee log, a family dessert tradition for years (which kind of rang hollow as trays of my Mother’s homemade cookies were being devoured).

A good priest friend of mine recently observed that perhaps we cling to these traditions so tightly because they serve as bridges — spanning the distance between now and then, between who we are and who we were.  Sometimes this nostalgia stems from missing loved ones no longer with us. Other times, we’re searching for that same joy and love we remember, mistakenly believing it can only be found in the past.

The Church’s preparation for Christmas didn’t begin with the first plastic Santa found in a store window back around Columbus Day or Mariah’s annual proclamation. It began with Advent, four Sundays ago, a time of spiritual preparation and reflection on the important foundations of our faith. This season isn’t about pretending Jesus hasn’t been born or treating the nativity like another holiday rerun. It’s about acknowledging our profound need for Jesus Christ and understanding the revolutionary ways He enters our lives.

St. John’s Gospel — which has become my favorite Christmas reading — takes an extraordinary approach to talking about Jesus’ entry into human history. While St. Luke and St. Matthew in their gospels give us the spectacular details of Jesus’ birth, John goes straight to the heart of creation itself being renewed, of light overcoming darkness. As John so beautifully described “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” This isn’t just a historical account or ancient history; it’s the present moment – it’s happening now, wherever darkness dwells — in our wounds, our broken relationships, our illnesses, our losses, our sins.

Christmas reminds us that God enters into all of that darkness not with force or fanfare, but as gently and perfectly as a newborn child. And perhaps that’s where Mariah’s song, despite its overplay, holds a grain of truth: When we strip away all the tinsel and trappings, isn’t Jesus truly all we want — all we desperately need — for Christmas – and for every one of our days?

He comes to us not just once a year but every day, especially here where His Word is proclaimed from Scripture, in the Eucharist where He continues to make Himself little, defenseless, accessible, to us under the appearances of the most common elements of bread and wine.  His presence illuminates our darkness, His love heals our brokenness, His grace fills our emptiness. While the world’s Christmas lights will dim and holiday songs will fade (WAYY too quickly – as even this afternoon they will start to disappear from streaming services), His light continues to shine with undiminished brilliance, transforming our darkness into dawn, our emptiness into fullness, our longing into love.

That’s why we gather here — not just on Christmas, but every day. Because in the end, all we truly want, all we truly need for Christmas, is Him. And unlike the fleeting joy of holiday songs or seasonal traditions, His gift of presence is eternal, His light perpetual, His love ever-new, breaking down every boundary between heaven and earth, between darkness and light, between who we are and who we’re called to become.

Merry Christmas!