This will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. (Luke 2:12)
I confess I sometimes sympathize with the Grinch. I look for ways to stop Christmas from coming. The closer it gets, the more trouble I have finding signs of anything except materialism, nihilism, and human loss. I desire to flee.
Fortunately, God doesn’t think the way I do! God doesn’t run away from us; God comes to find us. God doesn’t condemn us, but looks for the good and the true in us. God finds it too. Truth is, love and kindness are everywhere, if we are small and still enough to recognize them.
The sign God gives is so simple and quiet, it could easily be lost in the busyness of commerce — except it’s not. Over the centuries, this sign has spoken to human hearts continually. Here’s the answer to human longing, given without conditions or condemnations. As often as we overlook that answer, God offers it again. Christmas doesn’t happen once a year; it’s with us always, as God is with us, forever, unconditionally.
— Mary Marrocco
Readings (Mass During the Night):
Isaiah 9:1–6
Psalm 96:1–2, 2–3, 11–12, 13
Titus 2:11–14
Luke 2:1–14
For readings for other Christmas Masses, click here.