Archbishop of Sydney

Christmas Day

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
25 December 2003

Earlier today I was talking to a young priest, a friend of mine, ordained only a few years.  We both discovered that we were still preparing our sermons, and striking a bit of difficulty in finding the right words to explain the beauty and mystery of Christmas, when the Son of God was born at Bethlehem.

He was a bit surprised that we were in the same predicament, although I explained that after preaching for over 35 Christmases my challenge was to say something fresh, which I had not used before, which would strike a chord, rather than sound like a record stuck on an old track.

He said he was going to talk about the birds in his church, sparrows which fly in and cannot get out.

The parishioners leave open the doors, but the sparrows keep heading for the clear glass windows and are surprised when they hit the glass.  The locals try to direct them towards the doors, but are unable to communicate with the birds.  Probably a sparrow would have more luck in showing the way, leading the other birds back to freedom, to the world of trees and bushes where they belong.  Certainly my priest friend and his parishioners were unsuccessful in this.

I was inclined to tease the young priest by claiming that I could not see the Christmas point of his story.

It suffices at this stage to explain that God became man, so that we would take notice of him because he was one of us.  And Jesus’ humanity, his life and teaching are also a wonderful insight into the nature of God.  Jesus shows God to us.

Christmas is certainly a double-sided mystery, because as well as being a true baby, unable to speak or help himself, Jesus is also the only Son of the Eternal God, the second person of the Trinity.

On many occasions I have been asked whether Catholics had to believe that Jesus had no human father, that Joseph was not the father, only God.  I always repeat the clear teaching of the Christian Church.  Jesus had no human father.

If this was not true, the basic claims of Catholicism would fall over, because a human being could not rise from the dead as Jesus did.  And if Jesus is not God as well as man, his teachings would have only human authority.  They could be improved.

The first reading is beautiful poetry; although generally the situation of the people in darkness who see the light, the people living in the land of shadow is not poetic at all.

Sometimes the difficulties are run of the mill; the heat of the summer, the shopping, wrapping, posting of presents and greeting cards, the credit cards being near the limit, the children becoming nuisances as they freshen up with the finish of school.

Others can have heavier burdens, truly a bar on their shoulders, a yoke weighing them down.  This might be sickness, a marriage breakdown, long-term family bitterness, difficult teenagers or a parent who seems unloving.

Still others can even be like the shepherds when the angel appeared to them i.e. genuinely frightened, not sure of where to go, what to do, although pretty sure they are out of their depth.

To all these people, to all of us whatever our situation, the message of the Christmas angel is valid.  Do not be afraid.  Do not be afraid.  The message of Christmas is news of great joy.

We might be like the birds trying to fly to freedom and hitting the glass, invisible barriers to happiness and meaning.

We might be people, not searching for God, but people who have found God in the Christ child, and follow his way however imperfectly.

For all of us, the message of Christmas is news of great joy.

And for all of us, whatever our situation, it is not difficult to miss the message of Christmas.  Many of the clues in our decorations and Christmas cards point in another direction.  The popular hymns are better.

Christ, by his birth in a stable at Bethlehem, jars our ordinary everyday ways of thinking.  The Christ child did not grow into a fierce prophet like Elijah.  Neither was he a warrior, nor a King, not a political agitator, not a rich man.

The helplessness of the Christ child, his poverty, did not deter King Herod from the slaughter of the innocents.  This reminds us of the importance of joining the struggle between good and evil, that human actions cannot be adequately explained just by illumination, superior knowledge on the one hand and ignorance on the other.

The Christ child is the Son of God; son of the transcendent God who is the lord of history and the creator of the universe.  We are not devotees of a non-person, of the forces of nature, of Mother Earth.  We are not searching simply to become in tune with the vibrations of the universe.

At Bethlehem Jesus and his mother were greeted by different types of people.  He calls us all to organized community living, to the regular service of others, not to a vague spirituality which leaves selfishness in place.  We are called to wisdom and compassion, practising our own forms of self denial to help others.  Any religion which requires nothing of us, or next to nothing, is a sham.  All human activities demand a price.  So does God.

And the Christ child calls us to peace at home and abroad.  Peace at home between different ethnic and religious traditions, mutual respect, not violence and bloodshed.  This means restraint, self discipline, sometimes forgiveness.

My prayer is that the Christ child will bring peace to our hearts and homes; to all those sick or disturbed, those in detention centres or jails, those with little or no hope.

The Christ child brings good tidings to all, especially the suffering, from our living God.

Let me conclude with a couple of excerpts from a beautiful Christmas prayer written by the English author Robert Louis Stevenson, writer of “Treasure Island”

“Give us, Lord Jesus the eyes of children
To see your birth with Christian wonder.
Help us to share in the song of the angels,
The gladness of the shepherds,
And the worship of the wise men.
Close the door on hate,
And open the door of love, all over the world.”

“May Christmas morning
Make us happy to be your children
And Christmas evening
Bring us to rest with grateful thought,
Forgiving and forgiven. Amen.”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.