Radiant Dawn

          I was on Facebook this afternoon, and I saw that my friend from camp, who is now a priest, had shared his Christmas Mass homily. It is so beautiful, peaceful and touching that I had to share it.

Father Luke Millette's Christmas Homily:
While I was in seminary at Rome, we held a competition every year to see who could decorate their hall best for Christmas. So one year my hall decided to paint posters with the "O Antiphons." For those who don't know, the O Antiphons are 7 different titles of Jesus which are used during the 7 days leading up to Christmas. Even if you don't know these titles, all of us have sung them in the song "O come O come Emmanuel" when we sing O Emmanuel, O Wisdom from on high, O Lord of might, and the like. Everything was going well with the decorations until someone got the bright idea to send me up to the roof to burn the edges of the posters so that they would look like old scrolls. Without going into details, we will just say that the poster depicting "Radiant Dawn" truly did light up the night and became a little more crispy than I intended...

Our celebration of the birth of our Savior falls near the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, when night seems to reign supreme. Throughout time, every culture has celebrated the solstice in some way, and a common feature between all seems to be an exaltation of light, a reminder that no matter how dark the night, the light will always return. While many have tried to equate the Christian celebration of Christmas with some of these ancient pagan rituals, most modern scholarship shows that the differences between them are far greater than the similarities, so no strict correspondence actually exists between the two. What we do see, however, is a desire which existed throughout every culture that one day the darkness will truly lift, a desire which was only fully realized with the coming of Christ, the true dawn.

Unfortunately, sometimes it seems as if darkness still reigns supreme. All we must do is lift our newspapers to see stories of darkness, violence and hatred. Our own lives are often filled with tragedies and grief. Many of us here might be suffering joblessness or financial difficulties. Many of us might be suffering from bad health or mourning the death of a loved one. Many of us might be faced with brokenness, sorrow, despair, doubts and fears. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, the darkness still seems so dark.

Yet, in the midst of this darkness, in a small dim room hollowed out of a cave in the little town of Nazareth, an angel appeared to a young Jewish girl and asked her to bear forth the Son of God to the world. And in this place, hope blossomed and a light was kindled. Such a small flickering light, seemingly too small to push back the darkness. But Mary carried this light, and let it grow within her womb, until one fateful day, as the whole world huddled under the darkest of nights, a small child was born in a stable. Such a small, seemingly insignificant child, and yet, scripture tells us that all heaven and earth broke forth in rejoicing in the midst of the darkness. Angels appeared to shepherds in the field, shining forth in brilliant light, shining like the stars in the sky, proclaiming the glad tidings that the Radiant Dawn had arrived. Even a star guided the way to where He lay. All of heaven and earth shone with light at the coming of the King. As John says in the beginning of his gospel, Christ, "the true light who enlightens everyone has come into the world," and this "light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

All of the liturgies and rituals and traditions leading up to Christmas prepare us for the coming of the light. We decorate our houses and trees with lights. The Advent wreath becomes increasingly brighter and brighter with more and more lit candles the closer we come to Christmas. Again and again, we are reminded that Christ is our light! The point is that no matter how dark it gets, the darkness will not conquer. Darkness can only exist where there is no light, and the barest flicker of light, no matter how dim, will always dispel the darkness. 

Christ is our light! Christ is the true radiant dawn who dispels the darkness! As long as we believe this, as long as we cling to this, our hearts will always be filled with hope, a hope that no darkness can extinguish. This is the source of our Christmas joy, turning us into a people of hope, as we are reminded that the darkness has been dispelled with the rising of the Radiant Dawn. If we cling to this, our hearts can always be filled with joy, hoping and believing and knowing that the darkness, no matter how dark it may seem, will never defeat us.

When the spirit descended upon Mary, she was alone in a small dark room, where hope seemed dim. Yet, more than 30 years later, she sat in an Upper Room, surrounded by her Son's followers, as they were all bathed in tongues of fire. That light, which seemed so small at the beginning, turned into a raging fire which set the world ablaze. As long as we have faith in the love of Jesus Christ, our hearts will never grow dim, our hope will never fail, and we will never be alone. For Christians, Christmas is a time of new beginnings. A time when we are reminded that no matter how battered and bruised we may feel, the night will never conquer us. The true dawn has come, and a light has broken into our hearts which will never fade. So we must awaken and allow our hearts to hope again. We must allow our hearts to believe and trust that the true light has come, a light which will never fade. As scripture tells us, "Awake O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will be your light."

As I later reflected on how our poster which depicted the "Radiant Dawn" ended up in flames on that dark night, I was struck by how appropriate it truly was. Christ truly is the Radiant Dawn, a light which dispels the darkness of the night, a light which the darkness can never extinguish. May the love of Christ blaze in each of our hearts, a blaze that no darkness will ever quench.