The light of Christ, who was born for all on Christmas, offers hope from the darkness of today’s world, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory said at a Mass of the Nativity of the Lord celebrated on Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.
In his homily, Washington’s archbishop that while it is human nature to fear the darkness, people venture out in the night as Christmas begins to celebrate the birth of Jesus and to seek his light in their lives.
“People who usually do not frequent church come in great numbers on this night. Folks who as a rule do not venture far from their homes at such an hour, are out and about on this night, because we all walk in darkness and we all long to find the light that shatters gloom and fear, hatred and war, doubt and discouragement. And that light is born this night,” Cardinal Gregory said.
Challenges facing today’s world cause fear and sadness in the day as well as the night, the cardinal said, noting, “On this night, we must also recognize that there is still too much gloom all around us, and not just at nighttime. We realize that uncontrollable natural disasters, and desperate widespread poverty, the relentless wars currently in the Holy Land and Ukraine, unexpected unemployment, enduring racial intolerance, and the seemingly inescapable church scandals, hatred and violence, terror and emotional depression visit us even in the daylight.”
Quoting the beginning of first reading from Isaiah 9:1-6, the cardinal said, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”
Speaking of Jesus’s humble birth, Cardinal Gregory said, “This night, however, a baby is born in bleak poverty, and his birth removes the deepest and the most frightening kinds of poverty that any of us might ever know, a poverty that deprives the human heart of hope.”
The cardinal added, “A baby is born this night, the kind of baby that today, all too frequently might well have been aborted, because his conception was so ill-timed, his mother, an unmarried young woman, his arrival unplanned for and quite inconvenient. At night, this child is the light to whom Isaiah referred, and his birth removes not only darkness, but it offers the possibility of doing away once and for all with the gloom of sin and the fear for all people.”
The joyful Mass, which began at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve, opened with the cathedral’s Schola Cantorum choir, directed by Thomas Stehle, leading the congregation in singing “Adeste Fideles” (“O Come, All Ye Faithful”), accompanied by the cathedral’s organist, Paul Hardy, and a string quartet.
Cardinal Gregory processed to the cathedral’s St. Anthony of Padua Chapel, where he blessed the nativity scene, sprinkling holy water on it and incensing it.
Before blessing the nativity scene, the cardinal noted that day marked the 800th anniversary of when St. Francis of Assisi erected the first nativity scene on Dec. 24, 1223 “as a means to set forth the message of Christmas.”
“When we look upon these figures, the Christmas gospel comes alive, and we are moved to rejoice in the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God,” the cardinal said.
After kneeling before the manger, Cardinal Gregory in a prayer noted that God sent His Son to be born of the Virgin Mary. “To our lives he brings joy and peace, justice and mercy and love,” the cardinal said, and he asked God to bless all who look upon the manger, and that they be reminded of Jesus’s humble birth and lift up their thoughts to Jesus, “who is God with us and Savior of all.”
Scripture readings and prayers at the Mass were offered in English and Spanish. Priest concelebrants at the Mass included Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the cathedral’s rector.
The Schola Cantorum choir sang a soaring rendition of Handel’s Messiah during the offertory, and led the congregation in singing the joyful Christmas carols “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and “Silent Night” during Communion.
As he closed his homily, Cardinal Gregory expressed gratitude for the faith of local Catholics, and he said he felt blessed to begin Christmas with them.
“In wishing you and all of your loved ones a very merry Christmas, I also want to add my heartfelt gratitude for the light that you have continued to be in my life during this past year,” the cardinal said. “I wish all of you and all of the splendid people of this local church every blessing throughout the coming new year. May Christ himself be present in each home and in every heart throughout the Archdiocese of Washington this Christmas and always. It’s good to be with others at night, especially to witness the light that is born for us all.”
The Mass concluded with the Christmas carol, “Joy to the World.”
At noon on Christmas Day, Cardinal Gregory will celebrate Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Like the Christmas Eve Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the Christmas Mass at the basilica can be viewed on livestream.
