The Christmas Vigil, not yet Midnight, not yet Christmas Day, but the Vigil of Christmas has scripture readings that are both anticipatory and celebratory. The first reading—from Isaiah—just says flat out “I will not be silent,” “I will not be quiet.” And Isaiah goes on to assure you that “the Lord delights in you.” Indeed he does, so sing we must! We have a savior. We are thrilled; we are grateful.
The responsorial psalm puts the following words on our lips: “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.” Forever? Yes. Now that doesn’t mean we should be singing endlessly now, while still on this earth, but it does mean that an endless day awaits us, eternal awareness will be ours, and eternal life will be a song of celebration of the goodness of the Lord
In the Divine Office, what is sometimes called “the breviary,” the hymn for Morning Prayer on Thursday of Week III puts it this way: “In heav’n our joy will be/ to sing eternally:/May Jesus Christ be praised./ May earth and sea and sky/ From depth to height reply:/ May Jesus Christ be praised.”
Now, I have to confess that more than once I’ve wondered, as I’ve read those words in the breviary, whether I would consider it a genuine joy to “sing eternally.” I’d like to talk; there will be countless others available for long and interesting conversations! I think I’d like to read—there is so much I’ve not gotten around to reading on this book-strewn earth! But singing? I don’t think so. That’s not mine to decide, however; I’ll be happy to do as I am told!
The point of the Christmas Vigil liturgy, of course, is to focus on the “goodness of the Lord,” whose goodness decreed from all eternity that the second person of our triune God would be born—take flesh--in the humble circumstances of a stable, and he would live among us in order to instruct us on the essentials of the good life, and then move through death on a cross into resurrected glory so that we too can live with him forever. “Forever I will sing the Goodness of the Lord.” What a gift! Who could ask for more?
We will be exchanging gifts soon. That’s a wonderful Christmas custom. The gifts we exchange are little more than trinkets when compared to the gift each of us has received in the person of Jesus Christ and in all that he did for us. So celebrate we must at Christmas and what we are celebrating is the “goodness of the Lord.”
Unworthy as we may regard ourselves to be right now; as tired, frustrated and unfulfilled as we may considers ourselves to be; we simply must listen to Isaiah and believe him when he says, “The Lord delights in you.” If God delights in you, as he most surely does, how can you not delight in yourself at Christmas—the special day on which we recall and give thanks for the coming of the One who gave himself for us and lives within us, and in whom—in you and Christ within you—your God takes special delight.
At the funeral last summer of Peter F. O’Malley, a well-known Washington, DC-area lawyer who was active in Maryland politics, a generous philanthropist, and a loyal board member at his alma mater Mount St. Mary’s University, a story was told that relates to the Christmas Vigil some years ago. Peter had dropped in to see his pastor at St. Louis Parish in Clarksville, MD early that afternoon, and while he was there, a homeless man came by seeking assistance. The pastor responded to that request and then Peter took the man aside and asked if he had any plans for dinner that evening, Christmas Eve. Not surprisingly, he didn’t, so Peter said “I’ll be back here for the 4:00pm Mass—the Christmas Vigil—and I’ll look for you here. After Mass, I’ll take you home with me for Christmas Eve dinner.”
That was just one way in which Peter O’Malley walked the walk of Christianity and followed in the footsteps of Christ. It was his way of singing the “goodness of the Lord” in the spirit of Christmas love.
Regrettably, I’m told, the man did not return to take Peter up on his invitation. But the invitation was extended and it was sincere. It said something about Christmas to the man who received it; it said a lot about Christmas in the heart of the man who issued it and who is now celebrating his first Christmas home in heaven and surely singing “the goodness of the Lord."
