Nativity of our
Lord (mass at dawn)
(Isaiah 62:11-12; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:15-20)
Nativity of our
Lord (mass at dawn)
(Isaiah 62:11-12; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:15-20)
African-American spiritual singers have taken up where
today’s gospel begins. Like the angels
in Bethlehem, they exhort listeners to “go tell it on the mountain that Jesus
Christ is born.” We, like the shepherds after seeing the infant Jesus, are to
make known the message that has been told us - salvation in Jesus’ name.
As the Letter to Titus read today expresses, he has saved
all of us through the bath of rebirth.
This experience is nothing less than incorporation into his body, the
Church. We are reborn in ever new, ever
strong flesh to love the invisible God in our neighbors. Doing so brings the unimaginable joy of
eternal life with our heavenly Father.
Often enough African-Americans who have weathered many
years faithful to the Savior demonstrate the spirit of this rebirth. I remember the elderly women who washed
clothes in our house of formation. They were
almost always upbeat and gracious. More
importantly, they were dependable for prayers to see us through the trials of
introspection and scrutiny.
