December 25, 2025 Homily: Fr. Vigoa — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:02This morning the church dares to
2. 0:05proclaim something extraordinary.
3. 0:09Not only that God has entered our story,
4. 0:13but that before there was a story at
5. 0:16all,
6. 0:17God was already there.
7. 0:20In the beginning was the word, and the
8. 0:23word was with God,
9. 0:26and the word was God.
10. 0:29John does not begin with Bethlehem.
11. 0:32It does not begin with Mary or Joseph or
12. 0:35the angels or in a manger.
13. 0:39He takes us all the way back
14. 0:41before time, before history, before
15. 0:44creation itself.
16. 0:47Before there was light,
17. 0:50before there was dust,
18. 0:52before there was a breath in human
19. 0:54lungs,
20. 0:56there was the word.
21. 0:59And there is where Christmas morning
22. 1:01deepens this mystery.
23. 1:05Matthew tells us how Jesus enters
24. 1:08history.
25. 1:10John tells us who he has always been.
26. 1:16The child lying in the manger is the
27. 1:18eternal word through whom all things
28. 1:21were made.
29. 1:24The tiny hands that grasped Mary's
30. 1:27fingers are the hands that shaped the
31. 1:30stars.
32. 1:32The voice that will one day cry out from
33. 1:34the cross is the same voice that said,
34. 1:38"Let there be light."
35. 1:41And then John gives us the line that
36. 1:43changes everything.
37. 1:47And the word became flesh and dwelt
38. 1:49among us.
39. 1:52Not visit us,
40. 1:54not hover hover over us, not appear to
41. 1:58us briefly and then leave. No, he dwelt
42. 2:01among us.
43. 2:03Literally, he pitched his tent among us.
44. 2:07God moves into our story.
45. 2:11This is not poetic metaphor. This is not
46. 2:15a theological This is a theological
47. 2:18earthquake.
48. 2:20The eternal God did not save us from a
49. 2:22distance.
50. 2:24He entered fully into our condition,
51. 2:28our limits, our vulnerability, our
52. 2:31suffering, our death.
53. 2:34And here's where the first reading from
54. 2:36Isaiah comes alive.
55. 2:39Isaiah tells us, "How beautiful upon the
56. 2:42mountains are the feet of the one who
57. 2:44brings good news,
58. 2:47who proclaims peace, who brings glad
59. 2:50tidings, who says to Zion, 'Your God
60. 2:52reigns.'"
61. 2:54For centuries Israel waited,
62. 2:58waited through exile, waited through
63. 3:00silence, waited through darkness, and
64. 3:03Isaiah dares to say, "God will stay
65. 3:06silent no longer."
66. 3:10"Break forth together in song," the
67. 3:12prophet says, "for the Lord has
68. 3:15comforted his people."
69. 3:18Christmas is that moment when God's
70. 3:20silence ends.
71. 3:23Not with thunder,
72. 3:25not with armies,
73. 3:27but with a newborn baby.
74. 3:30The good news does not arrive in as an
75. 3:33explanation.
76. 3:34The good news arrives as a person.
77. 3:38And Hebrews makes this even clearer in
78. 3:41our second reading. It says, "In times
79. 3:43past God spoke in partial and various
80. 3:46ways through the prophets.
81. 3:49In these last days he has spoken to us
82. 3:52through his son."
83. 3:55In other words, God has everything he
84. 3:57wants to say,
85. 3:59he has said everything in Jesus Christ.
86. 4:04If you want to know what God is like,
87. 4:07do not look elsewhere.
88. 4:10Look at Christ.
89. 4:12Look at his mercy.
90. 4:14Look at his humility. Look at his
91. 4:16willingness to enter into poverty and
92. 4:19rejection.
93. 4:20Look at the cross that is already hidden
94. 4:23in the wood of the crib.
95. 4:26This is why John speaks so honestly to
96. 4:28us.
97. 4:30He came to what was his own, and his own
98. 4:33people did not accept him.
99. 4:37Christmas does not deny the darker
100. 4:40parts.
101. 4:41It confronts it.
102. 4:43"The light shines in the darkness," John
103. 4:46says,
104. 4:47"and darkness has overcome it."
105. 4:50And the And the darkness has not
106. 4:52overcome it.
107. 4:55Some of you come to this mass this
108. 4:57morning radiant and joyful.
109. 5:01Others are coming to mass with grief,
110. 5:04with exhaustion, with fear,
111. 5:07disappointment, or doubt, with worry.
112. 5:11Some come because of faith.
113. 5:14Some come because of habit.
114. 5:17Some come because you are searching and
115. 5:19don't know quite yet what you're looking
116. 5:22for.
117. 5:24John does not shame you.
118. 5:26John does not shame any of that.
119. 5:29He simply says, "The light has come."
120. 5:32And here is the breaking, the
121. 5:34breathtaking truth of about Christmas.
122. 5:38God did not wait for us to understand
123. 5:41him before coming.
124. 5:43He does not wait for us to clean
125. 5:45ourselves and have a perfect life. He
126. 5:48does not wait for perfect faith.
127. 5:52He came so that those who believe in him
128. 5:54might be children of God.
129. 5:58Not servants,
130. 6:00not spectators, not outsiders, but his
131. 6:03children.
132. 6:05That means Christmas is not just about
133. 6:07something we observe. It is something we
134. 6:10are invited into.
135. 6:12The word became flesh so that our flesh
136. 6:15could take up into God.
137. 6:19He enters our history so that our
138. 6:22history may be redeemed.
139. 6:24He takes on our humanity so that we
140. 6:27might share his divine life.
141. 6:30This is not sentimentality.
142. 6:33This is salvation.
143. 6:35So, when you leave this church today,
144. 6:37do not rush past the mystery.
145. 6:41I invite you to visit the crèche,
146. 6:44to look again upon the Christ child.
147. 6:48Let yourself be looked at by him.
148. 6:52Carry this truth into your homes and
149. 6:54into your hearts.
150. 6:56Why? Because God has spoken.
151. 6:58God has come, and God has stayed.
152. 7:02And because the word became has become
153. 7:05flesh,
154. 7:06because light has entered darkness,
155. 7:09because God has chosen to dwell with us,
156. 7:13nothing,
157. 7:14absolutely nothing, will ever be the
158. 7:17same.
159. 7:18For Christ is our savior born today.
160. 7:23Thanks be to God. Merry Christmas.