Christmas Homily (2025)
Christmas – Mass During the Night
Isaiah 9:1-6
Psalm 96:1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13 (Luke 2:11)
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-14
December 25, 2025
We gather to celebrate something wonderful. As the angel said, there is “good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.”
The birth of a savior fulfilled many prophecies. God had to do many things to bring it all together as prophesied. God is awesome!
In the birth of our savior Jesus Christ, “the people in darkness have seen a great light.” Jesus comes to bring light to any and all darkness in our lives! When our lives seem gloomy, Jesus brings light.
He gives us hope! We need hope! Hearing the news of Jesus’ birth draws many people here. The birth of Jesus brings us “abundant joy and great rejoicing.” His birth is a step towards our salvation.
Today, “a child is born to us.” God gives his Son to us.
Jesus comes as our king but He is not born in a kingly setting. When “the time came” for Jesus to be born, Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem for the census. There was “no room for them in the inn.”
Jesus, our Savior and our king, and the Son of God, was born in a stable. He did not come for his own glory.
Jesus became incarnate in the flesh at his conception and born in a stable to take the yoke of sin that we bear and smash it.
Indeed, as we profess in the Creed, “For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives us four reasons for why Jesus became incarnate in the flesh. He did it to save us, that we might know God’s love, to be a model of holiness for us, and to make us partakers of the divine nature (to redeem us) (see paragraphs 457-460).
What happens at Christmas is so incredible that we cannot celebrate it all in one day. We celebrate it as a season starting on Christmas day with the birth of Jesus followed by the Feast of the Holy Family, the Solemnity of Mary as Mother of God, the Epiphany of the Lord when the magi came from a far, and then concluding the Christmas season with the Baptism of our Lord.
Our church is decorated to tell us what Christmas is really about.
The most obvious symbol of the real meaning of Christmas, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, is our nativity scene. At the center of the nativity scene is what should be at the center of our lives, Jesus. Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior and our King, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
The swaddling clothes show us that we should not be concerned about having fancy clothes. Humility is the way to holiness and Heaven.
Baby Jesus is laying in a manger. A manger is not meant to be a crib. It is meant to be a food trough for animals. Jesus will give us his Body and Blood in the Eucharist as food for our souls.
Who is there at his birth with Jesus?
Of course Mary and Joseph are there! Mary is the mother of Jesus and He will give her to us to be our mother.
Joseph is there to be Jesus’ adoptive father. As his father, Joseph will keep Jesus, along with Mary as his wife safe (see the gospel for the Feast of the Holy Family). Joseph does this as commanded by the angel.
There are shepherds there. Shepherds were the first people besides Mary and Joseph to see Jesus. Shepherds were considered to be of lowly status. Jesus is a king but He comes to save us all, not just people of elite earthly status.
Later, when we celebrate the Epiphany of the Lord, we will hear the story of the magi who come to give Jesus homage. On that feast, we will add the magi (aka three kings) to the nativity scene.
The nativity scene shows us the first Christmas but it is not the only “decoration” we have in our church to tell us what Christmas is really about.
If you look around the church, you will see Christmas trees. Probably most of you put up a Christmas tree in your home. Do you know why the Christmas tree is part of our Christmas decorations?
We don’t use just any type of tree for Christmas. We use evergreen trees to remind us of the everlasting life that Jesus makes possible for us. The trees have been carefully trimmed so that they point us up to Heaven.
The trees have Christmas lights on them. Many people also put Christmas lights on their homes. Why? Remember the words that began our first reading from Isaiah? Jesus brings light to the darkness. Jesus is the “light of the world” (see John 8:12).
When you gather at home to celebrate Christmas, look at your tree, the lights, and a nativity scene if you have one, and remember what Christmas is really about.
It’s not just the decorations that can reveal to us what Christmas is really about.
What about the Christmas music you play? Of course, the Christmas music we sing in church tells us something about what happened when Jesus was born. What about the Christmas music you listen to at home? What does it tell you about Jesus’ birth?
Do your decorations and music help you “Keep Christ in Christmas”?
What Jesus does for us began with his Incarnation and birth. It does not end there. On Holy Thursday, Jesus gives us the Eucharist as food for our souls. On Good Friday, Jesus gives himself on the Cross for us to deliver us from our sins. On Easter morning, He rose to reveal everlasting life. To do all this He had to first be born like us.
Please announce to all what Jesus has done for us. “Tell his glory among the nations.”
Please let yourselves be transformed by what we celebrate now so that you might “reject godless ways and worldly desires, and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope” and the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.