Celebrated By Archbishop Denis Hart,
at St Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne,
on Tuesday 25th December, 2001, at Midnight

Introduction

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

I extend a warm personal welcome to each of you tonight. Together we come to the crib filled with the wonder that our God became human and took on the weakness of our flesh. He is our Saviour. His whole life given offered for us gives us light and hope.

The events of this year show us how sorely we need that hope. We are invited to stand in awe at the crib, remembering that our God values us so highly that he entered fully into the darkness of this world to cast light and joy upon it.

Like Mary, the first witness of this mystery, let us treasure all these things and ponder them in our hearts with love.

We remember our sins to make ready to pray this Mass with love and hope.

Homily

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

During 2001 so many of our brothers and sisters have walked in darkness. Our television screens have been filled with a seemingly endless torrent of refugees searching for a homeland. The hatred of war is ignited in Afghanistan and Israel and revenge is spoken of as a consequence of the barbarous violence of September 11th.

We all feel uncertain; we fear that our hold on life is tenuous. This is a situation repeated many times in the history of the world. Over fifteen hundred years ago Saint Peter Chrysologus wrote these words:

"As God sees the world tottering to ruin because of fear, he acts unceasingly to bring it back by love, invited by grace, to hold it by charity and clasp it firmly with affection."

Each of us is drawn to the crib as if by a magnet. The wonder of the scene, its simplicity, gives new hope to humanity. Jesus Christ, a refugee himself in the flight into Egypt, lacking basic human needs and security, became like us and shared our uncertainty to restore our hope. Truly we can say with Isaiah "the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone." (Isaiah 9:1)

More than this the words of the angel in Saint Luke's account, "Do not be afraid. Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)

The birth of Jesus and the knowledge that we have a Saviour puts a different perspective on what we have experienced this year. Even in a human context the courage and resolve demonstrated after September 11th shows that Jesus' way - to realise that we need each other and believe in the value and dignity of each person - is indeed the way forward for our common humanity. In Jesus our God took our flesh to enable and save it. He is there for everyone who comes into the world, for believer and unbeliever alike, to remind us of our destiny. He challenges us "to give up everything that does not lead to God." (Titus 2:12)

Pivotal to our relationship with him is regular contact with him in prayer, being nourished by his word and his sacrament regularly in the Sunday Mass. Pope John Paul II said at the beginning of the year, "I wish to insist that sharing in the Eucharist should really be the heart of Sunday for every baptised person. It is a fundamental duty to be fulfilled, not just in order to observe a precept, but as something felt as essential to a truly informed and consistent Christian life." (Novo Millennio Ineunte 36)

I believe that only in Jesus can we understand the dignity we have as human beings. Only in a personal relationship with him can we find the courage and perseverance to live for others, to readily contribute to the life of our community.

Indeed in all areas of life we need to work towards common solutions, concentrating on a vision of a renewed and restored humanity, rather than the cost of achieving it. Particular challenges for each of us in the community are the way we treat those who are most dependent. Australia as a rich country has a responsibility to those who are displaced from their homeland by political systems, war or famine. A compassionate response at the level of local community and as a country is part of what we owe as a rich nation.

The fact that our God shared our human life underlines our responsibility to those weakest and most dependent; the poor, those who suffer in mind or body, the frail, the elderly, the child in the womb. We need to develop a shared culture of life rather than a culture of death and hatred. The developing reproductive technologies of our age need to respect that every child conceived is a human being and has a right to a mother and a father, who will provide for their physical, spiritual and emotional needs as they grow to their full potential.

For us as Christians these remain challenges. Pope John Paul reminds us, "Those who have come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves, they must proclaim him." (Novo Millennio Ineunte 40)

Above all the contemplation of the nearness of Christ our Saviour to each one of us and the wishes and prayers we have for those we love and those who need us do have a consequence: they challenge us above all to holiness so that we will then be given for others as Jesus was. We will work together in renewing our world with the hope that comes from Jesus Christ. Then in the words of the Holy Father we will be prepared "to launch out into the deep" (Luke 5:4) of facing together the challenges which confront the world at this moment.

May Jesus our God, who became fully human, show us the way to peace of mind, heart and deed this Christmas.

+Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.