Homily: Dec 17 2015 - What do you want for Christmas?

“What do you want for Christmas?”

It’s a simple question, even a common and familiar one this time of year.  “What do you want for Christmas?”

At first you might answer that you would like a particular object: a book, a sweater, a video game.  You might look a little deeper and hope for a certain problem to be resolved: you might hope for your family’s money problems to be eased, or reconciliation between family members who are arguing too much, or maybe physical healing for yourself or someone you love.  These Christmas wishes are much more precious.

Going deeper, we might hope for the unspoken desires of our hearts the ones that are hard to put into words: I want to know that I am loved, I desire a fullness of life that I haven’t known my whole life.  Here in the great depths of the human heart lie the deep desire for the One who loves us beyond all telling, the desire to know that we are loved by God. There in the deepest part of the heart of every single human person, is a desire for God, whether they recognize that or not.

So when someone asks what do you want for Christmas, we Christians, should say with all seriousness, we want Jesus.  We want Jesus in our hearts, we want Jesus in the hearts of all people.  Many people think that the material gifts will make them happy; but only with Jesus is true joy.  Many people want reconciliation and healing in their family; but the only true healing and peace comes when families have Jesus at the center of their lives.  Each one of us wants to know that we are loved by God; and Jesus can show us that, if we take the time to pray every day, to know him better, to serve him better, and to love him with our whole heart.

During the last days of Advent, the Church sings the O Antiphons during the Gospel acclamation and during Evening Prayer. Today, I chanted: “O Sapientia…O Wisdom coming forth from the mouth of God, which orders all things mightily.” Perhaps for Christmas, we hope to get our lives in order, to get our priorities straight, to value what really ought to be valued…Each of the O Antiphons express humanities desire for Jesus. Jesus is the Wisdom who rightly orders our life to God.

We heard that beautiful proclamation of the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel; Jesus’ family tree.  We see how according to God’s plan, through all those generations, from Abraham, through Jesse and King David, through the time of the Babylonian exile, God planned to bring Jesus into the world through Mary. If God can order generations upon generations of men to bring about the savior, he can order our lives, to bring Jesus into the world through us. God wants to provide for that great desire in people’s hearts for Jesus, through us; but if Jesus is not in our hearts, then we cannot give, what we do not have.

So during Advent, we continue to make room in our hearts for Christ to dwell, and that we may be open to serving God by bringing Christ to others, for His glory, for the building up of his kingdom, and the salvation of souls.