One of the most popular Christmas Carols, I believe, is Silent Night. Would you sing it with me:

Silent Night, holy Night 

All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon virgin, mother and Child

Holy Infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

One of the most popular Christmas Carols, I believe, is Silent Night. Would you sing it with me:

Silent Night, holy Night 

All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon virgin, mother and Child

Holy Infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.

It is very beautiful, and it expresses what perhaps is a deep dream and longing for all of us: that somewhere, somehow, our lives can be places where all is calm and all is bright; and indeed somewhere we can truly find heavenly peace in our own life.

We know however, don’t we, that our lives are very often not calm and certainly not always bright. The reality of our lives, like the life of every human being, is that we are often in turmoil. And rather than being filled with brightness and peace, we are weighed down by events that can only be described as deep darkness.

Every year, on the Sunday before Christmas, I am invited to the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre to say Mass for the residents there. For me, this is a very important, personal preparation for Christmas. It helps me to truly focus on what Christmas is really all about for us who believe in Jesus and who follow him in our Christian faith.

When I go to the Wascana Rehab Centre, I am able, as Pope Benedict said in his Christmas homily last year, to “see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light”.

The people at Wascana have suffered illnesses, or have had surgery which has permanently affected their physical and mental abilities. There are people there who have suffered strokes, young men who have suffered brain damage from pmotor cycle accidents or physical attacks. Some of these People will live their lives out there. It could be a difficult thing to be with them. But then I think: “is it not here, then, that the words of Isaiah, that we heard tonight, have their true meaning: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness – on them light has shone.”

Here are people, perhaps more than many others, who need someone to save them from being crushed down by what they suffer and endure. Here are people who need, in a special way, the light of peace and joy to shine on them. For me, it is with them that I recall the true and deep meaning of Christmas; a meaning that is not found in the superficial glitter of the Mall, but rather in the healing light of Jesus, the Saviour, who enters their lives and who shines into their darkness.

We all have our own burdens. We are unsettled by happenings in our world. The horrid and unimaginable tragedy that took place in Newton, Connecticut these recent days shakes our sense of well being. That young children would be deliberately killed so violently is truly an evil. It cannot be described in any other way. It was surely a work of darkness which has greatly, if not permanently damaged the lives of their families. That frightens us as we realize how powerless we are in the face of some of the things we must face in our lives.

That darkness works its way into our own personal lives as things happen which upset us or throw our lives into turmoil. A sudden diagnosis of a serious illness for ourselves, or for someone we love can shatter the calm of our lives and take away its brightness for us. Financial difficulties can threaten us. Even struggling with the purpose and goal of our lives can be a cause of anxiety and fear for us.

I think that for most of us here, we would not have to think very long to find something which causes worry and anxiety for us. Things that threaten us and cause us to be afraid are there in our lives destroying the calmness and brightness of life for us. And often we feel that these things are so overwhelming for us that we are powerless and do not know what to do. We hope for a power that is greater than the power that weighs us down with its darkness. In other words, we look for a Saviour.

So God speaks to us, tonight. The darkness of the night is shattered by the bright light of God and the Angel says: “Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the City of David, a Saviour, who is the Christ, the Lord.”

We truly celebrate Christmas when we know what it is that we need God to save us from, what it is that we ask Jesus, who has become “God with Us,” to save us from– what fear, what worry, what anxiety, what turmoil, what darkness do we struggle with and need to be saved from?

Tonight we celebrate that in Jesus, God has not only come among us, but has become one of us. God has taken upon himself our human condition. Jesus is God who has experienced what it means to live as a human being as we do. Jesus knows the darkness, he has experienced the sorrow, pain and fear that we do. And he comes now with great power to save us. As the Psalms teach us: “he stirs up his might and comes to save us.”

St. Augustine speaks of this power of Jesus to save us. He says:“You would have suffered eternal death, had he not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for this mercy. You would never have returned to life, had he not shared your death. You would have been lost if he had not hastened to your aid. You would have perished, had he not come.”

But he has come, and he has saved us and does save us and will save us. Last Sunday, as I was walking with the Chaplain towards the chapel in the Rehab Centre, we met one of the residents on his way to Mass as well. He had obviously had serious brain surgery which was evident in his appearance; he was in a wheel chair for he could not walk. 

I said hello to him and asked him how he was. And he smiled. The chaplain said: “He cannot speak. He answers by smiling.” I looked at him, and he smiled. And I thought, here is a moving example of how God’s light has shone into the soul of a fragile fellow human being and has lifted his darkness.

So then, with the shepherds, we kneel before Jesus who is the Christ, the Lord. We gaze on him and we know that we will not perish, but we will share with him in the fullness of life forever. We are filled with hope, for we know, as we open our hearts to him, he will drive out our darkness and as we become one with him, he gives to our life calm, brightness and heavenly peace forever.

Let us sing that verse of Silent Night once more.

Silent Night, holy Night

All is calm, all is bright.

Round yon virgin, mother and Child

Holy Infant so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.