What a difference 4 hours makes.  We had our Children’s Mass here at 5 o’clock, and they were so noisy!  Listen to the quiet!  We had about 350 children, with their parents and grandparents, so there was standing room only.  I asked the kids to come forward during the homily.  It’s a scary moment!  The boys misbehave and the girls don’t.  Nothing changes.
 
Here we are.  It’s a Saturday night, at 9:30.  The church is full of people who believe in Jesus Christ.  What is it about Christmas, though, that’s so special?  Normally on Saturday we have two vigil masses. One is held at 4 and one at 6.  These masses are not filled.  There’s just a few hundred people that attend.  What is it about Christmas that fills the churches, this church and churches throughout the world?  I was watching the Holy Father’s Mass, from St. Peter’s.  Of course, invitation only, and it was packed.  Thousands and thousands of people were there.  What is it about Christmas? 
 
Is it the birth of a baby?  I read the story this morning about a family with four children.  The youngest was a little girl, Nancy, who was four.  The family said, “Well, it’s time she learned the true meaning of Christmas.”  They sat down with all the children, and talked about the birth of Christ, the Son of God.  They thought she understood it very well.  The day after Christmas, Nancy said to one of her older siblings, “I love Christmas!  I had a great Christmas.  I hope that Mary and Joseph have another baby real soon.”  Well, they didn’t need to have another baby.  Their one child was enough, not only for them but also for the whole world.  It’s not just about the birth of a baby, as spectacular and miraculous as that is.  Although, that was some baby Mary had!  Still, you have to remember this is a Jewish family.  I can just imagine at times … Mary as humble as she was and is, must have been tempted to brag.  Can you imagine her sitting around, having a cup of tea, with the other Jewish mothers?  “Well, my son’s a doctor.  He’s doing very well.  He has his own practice now, making good money.  You should see the children: perfect.”  “My son the lawyer. He’s the best lawyer in town.”  Mary probably just smiled and said, “You should see my boy.  What a boy!” 
 
No, it’s not just the birth of a baby.  Is it the birth of a savior?  That would get many yeses, probably.  You know, we need to be saved.  Have any of you tried to save yourself?  I have and failed.  We can’t save ourselves.  St. Paul says, “The good we wish to do, we do not do.  The evil we wish to avoid, we do.”  Isn’t that true?  We keep falling back, and falling back.  We are built-in backsliders.  We can’t save ourselves, we need a savior.  Adam and Eve started it. They couldn’t follow the rules.  We can’t either. 
 
What does it mean to be saved?  Many churches say, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior,” and it is almost like that’s it.  That’s the extent of Christianity or the extent of their faith.  Nevertheless, what does it mean to be saved?  Saved for what if you’re just going to step into your old habits.  Saved to what?  It’s more than about a savior this Christmas. 
 
Is it God is with us, Emmanuel?  It’s good to have God as a friend.  It’s good to be close to God.  It’s more than that. 
This is it.  Now listen. 
 
God became man so that man can become God.  St. John tells us “we are God’s children now.  What we will later be has not yet come to light.  When it comes to light, we shall be like God, for we shall see God as He is.”  In other words, John is telling us we shall share God’s divinity.  That’s why Christmas happened, the incarnation of the Living God, the enfleshment of God.  God became a human person, just as human as you in all things but sin.  He knew pain. He knew fear. He knew hunger and thirst. He got sick.  He felt passion, happiness, anger, and sadness.  He was just like us in all things but sin.  Of course, He had to become man, had to become human.  Justice demands that he, who sins, redeems himself.  God couldn’t pay the price for us but God, made man, could.  Jesus as a human person took on all of our sins, nailed them to the cross, and then rose again, free and beautiful, and us with Him in baptism.  He had to become man to do that. 
 
When He became human, He elevated all of us.  He elevated the human condition above the angels.  Angels will wait on you one day, if you make it into heaven.  Therefore, every human person is sacred.  That means, set apart by God.  You are a child of God.  You are one with Christ in baptism.  I want to read something, a few paragraphs, written in the fifth century, by St. Leo the Great.  He was the Pope at the time of the end of the Roman power.  Listen to this, and take it personally.
 
 
That is why Jesus became man.  That is why we have Christmas.  He shared our humanity so that we can share His divinity.  When the deacon mixes the water and the wine, he puts some water into the wine, and he says, “By the mingling of this water and wine, may we come to share the divinity of Christ, who humbled Himself to share our humanity.”  I am convinced, most Christians, most Catholics, don’t understand this.  We prefer to focus on our wretchedness, on our sinfulness, and our unworthiness.  When we do that, we act accordingly.  I am convinced that if we focus on how close we are to the divine in baptism, we might act more in accordance with that reality.  Some Christians teach that in baptism, our badness is covered up.  One such leader of a faith said that in baptism, our badness is covered up “like snow covers dung.”  That is not our belief at all.  In baptism, our Original Sin is forgiven. We become a child of God.  Not dung, but divine. 
 
Every once in a while, on Christmas, and I give the same message every Christmas because it is “The Message,” someone will say “I’ve been reading some new age philosophy.  This sounds like new age stuff, this “becoming God” stuff”.  No, this is not new age stuff. From the beginning of the church, this was the church’s teaching.  I do not know where it got lost.  I don’t know about you, but I didn’t hear this when I was a kid.  Did you?  I didn’t hear it.  St. Gregory said, in the fourth century, “This is the great mystery of Christmas.  This is why God became man and became poor for our sake.  It was to raise up our mortal flesh, to recover the divine image, to recreate us.  I am to be buried in Christ, and to rise with Him, become a co-heir with Him, a Son of God, and indeed, God Himself.”  That’s a saint speaking. He was canonized.  St. Peter says, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and Godliness, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promise, to become partakers of His divine nature.”
 
That is the point.  That is why we celebrate Christmas.  We really and truly share God’s life.  What could be greater than that?  What could be more perfect a gift?  Now, we live in the sure and certain hope that our lives will never end, and after this short period of this pilgrimage on earth, we will be with God and those we love through eternity.  That is why Christmas is holy, and beautiful, and precious, and sacred.  That is why you, Christian, are beautiful, and holy, and precious, and sacred, to God and to each other. 

Come let us adore him Christ the Lord.