Homily by Fr. Zenon Racki on the Sunday after Christmas

Beloved in Christ, Christ is born!

The Son of God has been born and has already become a danger to earthly power. During these festive days we sing beautiful carols, and in them we hear about the babies who were executed because King Herod was afraid of losing power. He thought that Jesus was coming to take over human power.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we can ask ourselves rhetorical questions. Do we not want to kill God in ourselves? Perhaps not physically, but spiritually, in our choices, in criticising our brothers and sisters, in what we choose in life. Jesus is still a small child, but he has to flee to the neighbouring country, Egypt. Why does he have to do this? Because someone like King Herod is afraid of losing his power, his life. Someone like Herod is afraid to leave something that is not his after all.

Today I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that in many texts of the Holy Scriptures, Jesus is described as the new Israel and the new Moses. What does this mean? We can clearly see in the Gospel of Matthew that as a child, Jesus, as well as Moses, had their lives threatened by a royal decree to kill both Moses and Jesus as children. Both Moses and Jesus were saved from the decree of the authorities. They also spent more than 40 days in solitude, communing with God. They were also both appointed by God to reveal His divine law. And today, on this Christmas, we see that Jesus Christ is the new Moses, the one who is to lead the new nation of Israel out of Egyptian slavery. Jesus Christ wants us to be a free people. Only when we get up and follow God will we be free.

St. Joseph, who heard the words of the angel at night: “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Let’s imagine: it’s night, everyone is resting, sleeping. Who wants to get up at night, and in winter? And then the voice of the Lord says to Joseph, “Get up and go.” Couldn’t he have waited until the morning? But God’s will must be done immediately. And St. Joseph gets up and goes again.

Here we can also emphasise this beautiful testimony of the Blessed Virgin Mary. For we do not find what she says, and why should we go? Can we wait until the morning? Or maybe we can postpone it until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? We see here such a beautiful, beautiful harmony of the Holy Family. This harmony arises from the fact that Christ is in their midst; God is in their midst. Jesus was not only born; he is constantly present. God is the one who unites Mary and Joseph. If it is like that in our families, if it is like that in our families, if there is this beautiful harmony, even if we have to flee to Egypt, even if there are some huge difficulties, but if the God of love is in the centre, then everything can be experienced, passed, and overcome.

Are we not afraid of this little God? Are we not afraid to take Him in our arms and, together with God, go through all the persecutions and go through all the difficulties that come in our daily life? Are we not afraid to let God into our lives? Herod was troubled, and we see that not only he, but the whole government, the whole of Jerusalem was troubled. The little child Jesus shook the whole of Jerusalem. He frightened its inhabitants only because someone was afraid of losing their power, their comfort, their lives.

How exactly does the birth of God happen in our lives? How do we experience these Christmas holidays? Is this period only a period of external joy? Or is it also a period when we seek to trust God, to be truly with God? Today we should ask ourselves, “What is happening in our lives right now?” Is the Lord in your soul, in your manger? Or is He preparing to flee to Egypt? Or is the Lord God lost somewhere in your life? Do we have a discussion with Jesus Christ at this time of Christmas? Do we open our souls, our hearts, and give them to Him? What exactly is going on in our personal spiritual life? Because the Christmas season is still going on, we can still sing carols; we can still praise and worship Him, the only Saviour, Jesus Christ, but we can also lose touch with God, with our Saviour.

Christmas is a time of meeting our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Christmas is an encounter with the great love that is the Lord God Himself.

Christ is born!

See also

October 19 Homily by Fr. Zenon Racki on the Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost June 16 Homily by Fr. Zenon Racki on the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost October 18 Solemn Holy Communion in Woodville