Many Catholics seem to have “forgotten” that there is Mass for Christmas Eve. It is celebrated in the morning of December 24. It is not Christmas Vigil Mass, which takes place late afternoon or early evening, followed by Christmas Midnight Mass,, Christmas Dawn Mass, and Christmas Day Mass.
The Scripture Readings for Christmas Eve Morning
Mass are: 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Luke 1:67-79.
The First Reading (2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16) is
about David expressing is desire to build the permanent house of God on earth,
namely, the Temple (vv. 1-5), and how God responded to this through Nathan the
prophet, with His promise to send Christ the King raised out of the Davidic
line (vv. 8b-12, v.14a, v.16). David is
the youngest son of Jesse, who descends from Judah, whose father is Jacob,
whose father is Isaac, Abraham’s son with Sarah. He was anointed to serve God
as king by Samuel, the son of Hannah and Elkanah, as commanded by God, in
Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16:1-13). He was also anointed by the men of Judah as their
king in Hebron (2 Samuel 2:1-7). Having overcome those who were loyal to Saul,
whom God replaced with David, as king, all the tribes of Israel came to him in
Hebron and acknowledged him as their king and shepherd (2 Samuel 5:1-3; 1
Chronicles 11:1-3). Then, David conquered the Jebusites and their city,
Jerusalem, establishing this city as his royal city to rule the all descendants
of Jacob, including all the men of Judah, moving the center of his operation
from Hebron to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6-16; 1 Chronicles 11:4-9; 14:1-7). And
the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem, placed inside the tent
pitched by David, and he offered burned sacrifice to God, blessed his people in
the name of the Lord Almighty, and offered a loaf of bread, a cake of dates,
and a cake of raisins, to each person of the whole crowd, who came to celebrate
the placement of the Ark in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:1-19; 1 Chronicles 13:1-14;
15:1-16:43).
Now, as God gave him rest from all his enemies (2
Samuel 7:1), David is settled well as king in the royal palace built with
cedar, but the Ark of the Covenant is placed in the tent. So, David wanted to
provide the permanent house to place the Ark, in which God finds a place. So David
said to Nathan, a prophet, about his intention to build a house for God, for
the Ark to be securely placed (2 Samuel 7:2).
To this, though Nathan gave David a “green light” to
do so (2 Samuel 7:3), God spoke to Nathan to tell David:
Is
it you who would build me a house to dwell in? I have never dwelt in a house
from the day I brought Israel up from Egypt to this day, but I have been going
about in a tent or a tabernacle. As long as I have wondered about among the
Israelites, did I ever say a word to any of the judges whom I commanded to
shepherd my people Israel: Why have you not built me a house of cedar?
(2 Samuel 7:5-7).
Furthermore, God spoke to David through Nathan:
I
took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to become a ruler over my
people Israel. I was with you wherever you went, and I cut down all your
enemies before you. And I will make your name like that of the greatest on
earth. I will assign a place for my people Israel and I will plant them in it
to dwell there; they will never again disturbed, nor shall the wicked ever
again oppress them, as they did at the beginning, and from the day when I
appointed the judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your
enemies. Moreover, the Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a
house for you: when your days have been completed and you rest with your
ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will establish his royal throne forever. I will be a father to him, and
he shall be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will reprove him with a human rod
and with human punishments; but I will not withdraw my favor from him as I
withdrew it from Saul who was before you. Your house and your kingdom are firm
forever before me; your throne shall be firmly established forever
(2 Samuel 7:8-16).
And Nathan spoke all these words of God to David (2
Samuel 7:17).
In the first part of the above words to David
through Nathan (vv. 5-7), God made it clear that building a nice cedar house or
even a brick house for Him does not necessarily mean honoring Him. So, God even
said to David if He had ever complained or demanded people to build Him such a
house.
Reading and reflecting on this (2 Samuel 7:5-7), in
the Christmas eve morning, we think of the house to welcome the Son of God,
whom God had promised to David to raise out of his lineage (2 Samuel 7:12b-15;
cf. Matthew 1:6-16), in as he will arrive tomorrow morning in a predawn hour.
Historically, the Son of God was not placed in a
nice comfortable baby bed when he came out of Mary’s womb, as he was placed on
a manger, wrapped with swaddling cloths (Luke 2:7). And there is no evidence
that God complained about the way His newborn incarnated Son was treated by
Mary and Joseph. In fact, the stable where Joseph took Mary in, and where she
gave birth to the incarnated Son of God, was a temporary house of God, and the
manger was the Tabernacle, from which the incarnated Christ is brought to us as
the living Bread of Life. And we wil welcome the newborn incarnated Christ into
our hearts tomorrow before dawn. For this, through the teaching of John the
Baptist, we have been preparing our hearts to be fitting as a house of God for
him to nestle in. So, if you had spent a lot of money and worked hard in
building a nice “nativity house” for baby Jesus during this Advent without
repenting your sins and prepared your heart for him, then, all the money and
hard work, you have put will not please God. God does not really care such a
thing, as He explicitly said about David’s intent to build a nice cedar house
or something even better for God (2 Samuel 7:5-7).
The second part (vv. 8-16) is a prophecy, as well
as, a covenant that God made to David through Nathan. But, God first reminded
how He guided David to the kingship (2 Samuel 7:8;1 Samuel 16:1-13) and His
unfailing presence with him (2 Samuel 7:9a). Then, God begins delivering His
prophetic promise to David to make his name great and known to all over the
world (2 Samuel 7:9b), namely through the Christ the Son of God being the
Davidic everlasting King, who establishes the house for God’s people, namely
His everlasting Kingdom (2 Samuel 7:11b-16).
Because God was always with him, David was able to
overcome all his enemies and establish his royal palace in Jerusalem, moving from
Hebron ( 2 Samuel 2:8-4:12, 5:17-25; cf. 8:1-14; 10:1-19; 12:26-31; 1
Chronicles 12:1-40; 14:8-17; cf. 1 Chronicles18:1-13; 19:1-20:8). And David
knew this so well in saying that the Lord had given him rest from all is
enemies (2 Samuel 7:1). And God reminds David of His perpetual companionship
with him as He began delivering his promise (2 Samuel 7:9a). Rather, God’s
promise to David was not really about him but to his people, who are also God’s
people, providing a secure home, free from any disturbance, as God has given
him rest from all enemies (2 Samuel 7:10-11a). God reveals His will to
establish the permanent Davidic house for him and the people whom he govern in
His name and those who are to follow the one whom God will raise out of the
Davidic lineage, namely, Christ the Son of God, who is to establish his
everlasting Kingdom, the very house that God wants to provide (2 Samuel
7:11b-16). And it is out of God’s everlasting love (chesed) (i.e. 1 Chronicles 16:41; 2 Chronicles 5:13; 7:3, 6; Ezra
3:11cf. 2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1-4, 29; 136:1-22; cf. John
3:16) that the Davidic Kingdom established by God thorugh Christ will last
forever – as his love endures forever, so does the Davidic throne and Kingdom,
ruled by Christ the Son (2 Samuel 7:15-16).
What a great promise (covenant) that God made with
David – not just for him but for us all who welcome, believe, and follow Christ
the King sent to us by God’s everlasting love (2 Chronicles 7:15-16; John
3:16), raised out of David lineage (2 Chronicles 7:12)! And he is to appear to
us, to come into our hearts, tomorrow in a predawn hour!
In this God’s prophetic promise to David, God
Himself establishing the permanent house of David, through His Son, the Christ,
incarnated (John 1:1, 35) in Mary’s womb (Luke 1:31, 35) and born of this
blessed virgin (Luke 2:7), is also our house, called the Kingdom brought by
Christ upon his coming, representing his new covenant. And we already see
security and peace in this house (2 Samuel 7:10-11). And this is also echoed
and reflected in Isaiah 2:2-5; 25:1-12;26:1-21;27:1-14, as well as in Micah
4;1-13, and projected in Isaiah 66:18-24 (cf. John 17:20-23; Revelation
21:1-22:5). For this, God is willing to renew us as we turn our hearts to Him through
Christ (i.e. Baruch 5:1-9; Isaiah 29:22-24; 30:18-33).
This certainly makes us sing with joy and
gratefulness: We give thanks to the Lord for His covenant-love-mercy (chesed) endures forever (e.g. 1
Chronicles 16:41)! And so does the house that God establishes through Christ
the King, who is arriving soon, being born of Mary!
God’s promise to David in establishing the house for
God’s people through Christ, His Son, raised out of the Davidic royal line (2
Samuel 7:5-16) is also found in 1 Chronicles 17:4-13.
The Gospel Reading (Luke 1:67-79) is Zechariah’s
canticle of praising God for keeping His redemptive covenant (vv. 68-75) and
prophesizing on the role of his son, John the Baptist, as the forerunner of
Christ (vv. 76-79), upon the birth of his son with Elizabeth, John the Baptist
(Luke 1:57-66).
Knowing his son, John, was born as the forerunner of
Christ to come (Luke 1:13-17), to fulfill Malachi 3:1-5, 22-24, to prepare the
way for the sun of justice to rise (Malachi 3:20), namely, for Christ to come,
his father Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:67) and praised
God for raising His salvific and redemptive strengths, symbolized with a horn
(Luke 1:69; cf. Psalm 18:3; 75:6; 89:18; 112:9;148:14). Namely, this is Christ
the King, raised out of the Davidic line (2 Chronicles 7:12; Isaiah 11:1; cf.
Isaiah 6:13). Because of this, his barren wife, Elizabeth was conceived and
gave birth to John, so that he can prepare the way of God’s strong horn of
salvation to come. And this salvific horn is to ensure the salvation within the
house of David (2 Samuel 7:11, 16; Isaiah 2:2; 56:7-8) for the faithful
servants of the Davidic King, Christ (Luke 1:69b).
Zechariah sees the house of David, protected by
Christ the Davidic King, as the horn of salvation and redemption, is the
fulfillment of what God promised to David for security, freedom and peace, not
disturbed by enemies (2 Samuel 7:10) and of what God promised to Abraham for
rescuing from enemies (Genesis 22;16-17), for all those who are faithful to
remain in holiness and righteousness before God (Luke 1:70-75).
For God’s promise to David in establishing the house of David as Christ’s Kingdom (2 Samuel 7:10-16), strengthened with a horn of salvation, protected from enemies for peace to those who are holy and righteous (saints) to God (Luke 1:69-75), Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist, is to be called a prophet of the Most High to go before Christ the Lord to prepare the way for him (Luke 1:76-77). So, John the Baptist was, indeed, the voice in the wilderness, proclaiming to make the way of the Christ to come by repenting and converting back to God (Isaiah 40:3-5; cf. Luke 3:4-18; cf. Malachi 3:1-5,23-24), to let people know the Lord, the Christ, and his salvific power (Luke 1:77; cf Jeremiah 31:34).
As God’s promise to David for his house as the
everlasting Kingdom for peace through His Son, Christ, raised from the Davidic
lineage, out of His ever enduring love (2 Samuel 7:10-16), Zechariah sees this
fulfillment also through God’s tender mercy through the rising sun from on high
to come to us (Luke 1:78). And this is in juxtaposition to the sun of justice
to bring healing to those who are holy and righteous (Malachi 3:20). So,
Christ, as the rising son, will shine on those who are in darkness and in the
shadow of death to redeem them to the path of peace (Luke 1:79), fulfilling
Isaiah 9:1-6.
Mary and Joseph are nearing to Bethlehem.
Mary can give birth to the incarnated Christ any
time.
The sun of justice will rise upon the birth of the
incarnated Christ, to bring light to redeem and guide those who are lost but
ready to repent and convert their hearts to God, to the Kingdom, which God
promised to David as his house, as well as the house for his people and God’s
people, us.
Now Christ the light is about to be born of Mary the
Immaculate Conception, Blessed Virgin, God’s most favored human, who praised
God in her Magnificat canticle (Luke 1:46-55). The sun of justice for healing
from on high will rise soon to break the darkness and to fill the house of
David, the house of God on the holy mountain with his light of salvation and
peace. So, let our hearts be filled with Christ the light! Let our hearts be
the true Christmas light as we bear the new born Davidic King, who comes to
establish the house of salvific light for everlasting peace, as God’s love
lasts forever.
Merry Christmas in advance!
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