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Dear Friends in Christ,

The Gospel of St. Luke, heard at the first Mass of Christmas Day, relates to us the fact, that of all the people God might have chosen as the first recipients of the word of salvation, He sent His angels to lowly shepherds, grazing their flocks in the hills around Bethlehem.

Why did He do this? Why did He pass by all the others He might have chosen - kings, princes, Pharisees, wise scholars and wealthy merchants? Why did He choose humble, lowly shepherds?

The answer is - I think - that God was not looking for hearts that would hear of Jesus from a position of wealth, pride, or power - no - God was looking for hearts that would meet the news - the good news of salvation from a position of need, of hope, of longing - soul-hungry hearts that would accept the news of a Savior, because the news itself would become their treasure, their comfort, and their reward.

And after the shepherds heard the angelic news, that on that day, in the city of David, a Savior was born, a Messiah, Christ, the anointed One, the Lord - after the song had poured forth from the angelic voices, and entered into the wonder of their earthly hearts, the shepherds moved to the next logical - the human course of action.

"Let us go, then…" - they said - "Let us go to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which God has made known to us."

And so they did - and so they found, just as the angels had told them, lying in a manger, the new-born Child, watched over by His mother Mary, and by Joseph, her husband. The shepherds did not ask for proof - they demanded no certificates of authenticity - they requested no clarifications. They simply remembered, that from the heavens, this event had been described to them - and when they saw that it was even as the angels had said, their faith took hold - their faith opened their eyes and their ears - their faith revealed to them the glory that was God-become-man, the long-awaited and now born Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Lord.

St. Luke finishes the story of these humble, un-named but supremely blessed shepherds, saying:

Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God, for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

Dear friends, that is what happened in history, for with willing obedience, we believe that what we have heard is the history, simple and literal, of what took place that wintry night outside Bethlehem.

But what does it mean now - how does it apply to us - how shall we understand - or better, how shall we have revealed to us, this wondrous news they received? And how shall we have in us, their hearts, the hearts of shepherds - hearts that can go home tonight with no doubt, but with the sole certainty that salvation has come, and the glory of the Lord has been shown to us?

I think God chose shepherds for reasons that stretch well beyond that night in history. I think He chose shepherds, ordinary working men and women, because we are ordinary working men and women. We are not kings, queens, princes, sages, moguls - we may have pretensions, we may have inflated opinions of our own self worth - but in moments of truth, of authentic self-confrontation, of standing naked before the eyes of God, in those moments we are ordinary, humble, simple working men and women, striving our best to do good, to earn the means to care for our children and our loved ones, and to share with those who do not have what we have, the blessings God has given us.

We are shepherds - we are watching our flocks, by night and day, caring for those we love, keeping the wolves at bay, mending the fences and securing the gates - and as with those shepherds of Bethlehem, we give God glory for what we have seen and heard.

For we see much, we behold our soul's treasure, every day of our lives - here in the Church we attend, in the symbols of our faith and tradition, the statues, the stain glass, the sacred vessels and the rich vestments of our celebration - and more deeply, we see our soul's treasure in the bread and wine which becomes the Body and Blood of the Lord, the Lord upon whom we look with wonder and love, even as the shepherds looked with wonder and love upon the Babe in the manger, that night two thousand years ago.

And we hear much, we hear the sounds of salvation and peace and wisdom, the greetings of priests and people, the vocal pleasantries of human conversation, the music, the bells, the majesty of the organ's rich voice threaded through and through by the gold of the choir, joining with us in hymns and anthems of praise - and more exalted even, we hear the Word of God, read from the Prophets and Chroniclers of the Old Testament, bestowed from the inspired poetry of the New, and proclaimed from the mouth of God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, who speaks to us, who speaks into our ears, from the pages of the living Gospel.

And like the shepherds on that night and the days that followed, we return, to our homes, to our places of business and commerce, and above all, into our own hearts, giving glory to God, and praising Him, for what we have seen and heard.

Dear friends, it remains only for us to find in this same Gospel, as we find in all the words of the Holy Gospels, the answer as to what we should do, in response to the gift that has been given to us, the song that has fallen on our ears from angelic voices, the light that has shone on us from a star, brighter and above all other stars. And the answer is there, on that same page:

When they saw . . . the infant lying in the manger . . . they made known the message that had been told them about this child…and all who heard it were amazed.

This world is not so perfect, so polished, so sophisticated and cosmopolitan, that it cannot stand to hear a message uttered by shepherds, or fall to its knees before the glory of a Child who conquers death. But the Child waits every day for the message to be carried forth, and every day, shepherds must take up His message, His cause, and bear His hope into the world. For all that God has given us this day, in His Holy Son, the only gift we can return is our promise to do this - to bear the message of salvation, of redemption, of everlasting freedom from sin and death, by the example of our lives, by the example of our love - for those we love, certainly - but also for those who show us no love. For even as death despises life, yet in Christ, death is conquered by life - so too, shall those who hate us, be conquered by the power of His love in us. The birth of this mystery - of love triumphant in the face of evil - is Christ as He came to life from the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem, and Christ, as we come to life in Him, through the Sacrament we share. Let us pray that our Christmas will be filled with the song of this life, and that our love will conquer the evil of the world.

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