His Excellency,
The Most Reverend Edward K. Braxton, Ph.D., S.T.D.
Diocese of Belleville
The Nativity of the Lord
December 25, 2024, 11:00 AM Mass
St. Teresa Parish, Belleville
No Room at the Inn of Our Hearts
(This is the text as originally written. During the actual delivery, some passages were omitted and other comments were added spontaneously. Nota bene: This text has not been thoroughly proofread. Therefore, there may be errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation.)
While the text below is the sermon that bishop braxton wrote for Christmas day, it is not the actual sermon he delivered. On that morning, he decided not to read from the prepared text, but to somewhat spontaneously deliver the essence of the sermon. In this format, he eliminated much of the text below and added many elements that are not found in this written text. A number of people asked for the text of the words he delivered. However, it is not possible to provide it.
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
Many people think that Christmas is just for children! Christmas trees! Lights! Reindeer! Santa Claus! New Toys! No school! No homework! Good food! Holiday movies! Parades! Relatives from out of town bringing even more toys!
Other people think that adults simply don’t have time for Christmas. There is so much to do: Christmas cards! Shopping! Wrapping gifts! Cleaning! Decorating! Cooking! Parties! Traveling! Adults, especially parents, may be so tired from everything that leads up to Christmas that they may be happy when it’s over so they can relax!
Nevertheless, adults are the real shapers of Christmas. Adults, who teach their children that Santa Claus brings them toys, could also teach them that Santa is a popular name for Saint Nicholas, the 4th century Catholic Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor, who loved children and put gifts in their shoes. Adults create the commercials that prompt children to feel that they simply “must” get a certain gift. Adults control the business and economic realities that make the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas the most important and the most profitable period of retail marketing in the entire year. Some adults decide that in today’s secular, post-Christian society, Christmas cannot be Christmas at all. So, “Seasons Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” replaces “Merry Christmas” in most shopping malls and on many Christmas cards. The snowy decorations suggest that what adults are actually celebrating is the winter solstice.
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In the end, it is adults who determine whether or not their children learn what the Gospels teach about the birth of Jesus. Mark and John, the first and last gospel to be written, have no Christmas story about the birth of Jesus at all. In Mark and John, John the Baptist storms on the scene introducing the adult Jesus, proclaiming, “Change your hearts! Repent of your sins! Believe the Good News!” Mark and John are anxious to get Jesus out of the manger and into the world.
Luke gives us shepherds (poor young adults who were generally considered social outcasts) as the first people to see the baby Jesus to stress his teaching that Jesus went out of His way to embrace the marginalized and the undesirables.
Matthew tells us that an unknown number of Magi from the East (not three kings!) were the first to visit the “newborn King of the Jews.” The Magi visit the “Child,” not the infant, in a “house,” not a “stable.” Matthew teaches us that the Messiah came not only for the Jewish people, but also for all people everywhere. This explains how the three gifts of the magi (gold, symbolizing royalty, frankincense, symbolizing divinity, and myrrh, symbolizing death) were transformed by artists into three gift bearers, one from Africa, one from Asia, and one from Europe. The point of Luke and Matthew is the same as that of Mark and John. Get Jesus out of the manger and into the streets and neighborhoods of every city so that His message of the saving power of selfless, sacrificial love can change people’s hearts so that they can change the world.
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In this morning’s gospel, Luke tells us that Mary gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room in the Inn. With the words, “no room in the Inn,” Luke is not only saying that there was no room in place where travelers spent the night. He is also saying there is no room in the hearts of His people, no room in the hearts of generations yet to come, no room for Jesus in the world. Luke is telling us there is a connection between the wood of the manger and the wood of the cross. The Crucifixion is the ultimate rejection of Jesus. The swaddling clothes of the baby Jesus prefigure the burial shroud of a dead man.
There are many ways in which we Catholics can make sure that there is no room in the Inn of our lives for Jesus. We can allow Christmas day to pass with no one in the family ever mentioning the name of Jesus even once. Or we make sure there is no room in the Inn of our lives for Jesus by reducing Him to a pretty picture on a Christmas card of a silent little baby, gurgling in the straw under the watchful gaze of Mary and Joseph, who asks nothing of us, who does not demand that we love ALL people as much as we love ourselves. This Christmas card Jesus does not challenge us to work for justice and peace. He does not ask us to think seriously about a world torn with war. He does not ask us if our belief in Him influenced the way we voted in the presidential election. He does not challenge our views concerning public policy, such as capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, and debates concerning human sexuality.
Of course, there is no baby Jesus anymore. He grew up, lived, taught, performed sacred signs and wonders, was crucified, died, and was buried. He was raised from the dead and lives eternally in the mystery of God whose Son He is. If we truly ponder the awesome mystery of “infinity dwindled into infancy” in the wonder of the Incarnation, we understand that we look back to Jesus’s birth in history only to look with clear eyes into our messy world of today and tomorrow. What must we do here and now to make room in the Inn of our families, schools, parishes, neighborhoods, and places of work for Jesus to be “born” anew, not as an infant, but as Emmanual, God with us, with a heart full of love. If we have made room in the Inn of our lives for Christ, then we understand what Saint Paul is teaching us this morning in his letter to Titus, “The grace of God has appeared training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age.”
His Holiness, Pope Francis, in his new encyclical, Dilexit nos (“He loved us”) writes that the most decisive question we can ask ourselves at Christmastime is, “Do I have a heart?” This is another way of asking, have we made room in the Inn of our lives for Christ this Christmas? Contemplating the symbolic, spiritual meaning of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Pontiff writes, “Our world has become ‘heartless’ and indifferent to greed and war, and we Catholics need to open ourselves up to Christ’s infinite love.” The Pope concludes, “We were made to love and to be loved.” Looking back on the almost violent political conflicts in our country, the life-destroying wars, it may seem that like the Bethlehem of old, there is no room in the Inn for Christ’s forgiving love.
Most of you know Charles Dickens’s famous story, A Christmas Carol, which teaches us that Christmas is truly for children AND especially adults. Ebeneezer Scrooge, a wealthy, greedy, miserly banker who considers Christmas a waste of time (“Ba! Humbug!”) is indifferent to the needs of the poor and needy around him, especially Bob Cratchet, his overworked, underpaid bookkeeper, and Cratchet’s family, which includes his disabled son, Tiny Tim. On Christmas Eve, Ebenezer is visited by spirits who tell him he will be condemned to roam the world for all eternity in heavy chains because of his sinful greed, his indifference to the needs of those around him, and his lack of love.
The Spirit then confronts Scrooge with a dire vision of the suffering caused by his lack of love. He sees the grave of Tiny Tim, for whom everyone mourns. But no one mourns for Scrooge, because he has never loved anyone. This shocking vision causes Scrooge to become a radically changed man on Christmas morning. Because he has made room in the Inn of his heart for God’s love, Tiny Tim greets him with “God bless us everyone!”
Gathered for the Eucharist on this Christmas Day to be nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ, we know well that the true meaning of Christmas is for all children and all adults everywhere. After you receive communion and return to your places, I invite each of you to spend some moments in silent prayer thinking of those areas of your lives where there is no room in the Inn of your heart for Christ to be born. What changes must you make so that Christ will be your honored guest in everything you do throughout the New Year?
“For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon His shoulders. And His name shall be called, wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace!”
Praised be Jesus Christ. Both now and forever. Amen!