Mid Night Mass 2020 Sermon

COME, DEAR LORD, LET ME LIVE AGAIN

Some tonight are Empty and drained and come to the House of God

to have hearts warmed;

by the Birth of God into the midst of His Creation.

In the days of old,

God’s presence among His People was signified by the ark of the covenant,

thus some Church Fathers considered Mary as

“The Ark of the new covenant” as she carried The Son of God

from whom all Creation came and does exist.

Christians acknowledge: it is us

who soiled God’s Creation at the beginning

by creating and placing other God’s before Him,

and it is He who

begins the process of un-soiling us;

making all things anew

as He rightly begins to take  His proper place

Above of all our childish gods.  

It is God, coming to us in the form of this innocent and sweet baby,

who reveals His true Goodness through revealing His True identity  

to all who accept and acknowledge Him.

So tonight I ask a simple question…

Why would we (?) such  “a happy people” as we are

want to concern ourselves with the filth and darkness of a thing called sin?  

Why worry ourselves

with this thing called God?    

We have just  read

in eight different languages

from the Gospel of St. John:

“In him was life;

And the Life

was the light of men”

Life, and the light of men…this my friends is the answer to the question of why we are here tonight.

All of us can and do exist,

because God provides us the things of nature –

the sun, the rain, the seasons,

even the seeds for the crops.  

Often He will provide

an abundance even for that

which we have no need, for our existence.

Is that all that we want or desire – to exist?

Is there more to life than existence?  

If not, then life loses its meaning,

its grandness,

its goodness and purpose.

Are we struggling and fighting for a mere existence?

all of which are temporal and are of nature itself.  

God did not create us to simply exist, as do the animals.

But out of Love for His Creation,

He saw all,

and said it was not just good, but Very Good;

and then after creating Man,

He breathed into his nostrils

the Breath of Life,

and man became a living soul.

Another term for life is the  greek word ZOE meaning a higher level, a level that God intended for each of us.

In John (6:48) we are told that Jesus is “bread of Life.”

While our physical life has its needs and struggles for survival,

our souls,(Our Nephesh – our being) requires more than a mere simple existence,

Our existence needs Life,

and “LIFE” is now found

In this baby, laying in the manger tonight, who will tell us some 30 years later,

That He, who is named Jesus  will tell us

I am the way,

the truth,

and the life:

no man cometh unto the Father,

but by me.

In other words, God is telling us that the path to our reconciliation with Him

must come through His Son.

At creation, we had life,  we had a wholeness, we were complete

because we were one with our God.

We even walked and talked with Him;

but because we wanted more,

we decided, that God is not good enough for us,

for we sought, and seek today, to be our own little gods –

as we decide what is right and wrong,

what is moral and what is not,

as we rely upon our desires and wants,

instead of desiring what God demands.

thus we lost our wholeness, our oneness with God

as death was brought into the world

by our falling-away from our God,

And as we lost our Life with God,

As we lost our God,

And He lost us –

His People, His Creation of which He had given the breath of Life.

And it is tonight at the Incarnation of our Lord,

He comes searching for you and me,

to reclaim what was, is STILL IS – His.

Tonight this baby comes so that we all may say

“Let me live again”,

Let each of us, pray this night to him, let me arise 

and return to my God once more,  

let us cry out – come “Abba, Father” – for I am now ready

To live again

“give me life.”

The year of our Lord 2020 has been a difficult year for many.  

Think back a year ago, for most,

there was normality,

while not perfect,

for many life was predictable.  

While some have sought and returned to some normality,

others have been put in a position where even normality is very difficult.  

And this situation, in itself, has brought much pain and suffering as they,

and we,  

have lost fellowship with friends and even with life itself.  

For this fact alone,

it has been “a dark night” for many who seek the path to God.

As a family in Christ, we all have suffered together.

Let this evening be the night that the “Light” starts to peer

into that dark night,

which has tried to conceal the pain of separate-ness.

and may that Light provide a path through the fog of this secular world.  

Let that Light, the beacon,

provide you the way

to continue your journey home.

Come and seek the warmth of the outreached arms of a Loving God…

Tonight, hear His comforting words

“Come unto me all ye that travail and are heavy laden and I will refresh you.”

Yes, do come:

This is “His House” – yes it is protected by Him.

This is “His Tabernacle” as His Body is within our midst.

His Presence is real and omnipotent

having unlimited power; able to do anything.

Let us remove all doubt, which is the work of Satan Himself.

And replace it with total Trust in Him

as His Sacraments feed and guide us forward.

Diseases, including viruses, will come and they will go,

But His Love, the Love of Jesus Christ, and His Church will always prevail.

Let Him Feed and protect you, and your family.

That does not mean,

that we of Christ are immune to sickness, pain, and even death.

But it does mean, we are not fear anything of this world, for our life lives in another world.

Our peace and joy is of a God greater than the affliction of anything that man battles.

The victory is ours

and thus we come on humble and bent knees this night.

Receiving the health and strength that we so desperately need, to feed our hungry and LIVING SOULS.

O God, … Come Lord Jesus …

And let us live again

The hour cometh and how is….