THE LIGHT HAS OVERTAKEN THE DARKNESS
Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR
Christmas Day Homily
Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Catholic Church
Memphis, Tennessee, USA
25th December, 2008.
Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR
Christmas Day Homily
Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Catholic Church
Memphis, Tennessee, USA
25th December, 2008.
Dearest beloved, today is Christmas! Today we celebrate John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life.” Brethren, today, we celebrate John 10:10 Ut vitam habeant, et abundantius- “I have come that they may have life, life in abundance.” Today we celebrate the joy of the world. Today we celebrate the overtaking of darkness by the Light. Today we recall as we celebrate the greatest miracle ever to occur in human history. The Creator became a creature. Divinity assumed humanity; the Master became a servant; the Giver became a beggar, the Protector looking for security and protection. Today’s gospel says
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The Word, Jesus was from the very beginning. He was with God and he was God himself. From the very beginning, he was with God. Everything on earth and in heaven came through him. If he were not, if he never was, if he is not, then nothing would have come to be. This Jesus we celebrate today, according to today’s gospel is the source of life; his divine life is the light of the world. And guess what? This light shines brighter than the sun and stars. As it shines, it attacks the darkness in the world, it attacks the darkness in our lives; it attacks the darkness in human families, societies and communities. It reveals secrets; it reveals to us our sins, the sins we have covered for too long. The light also reveals the loving-kindness of God. It dispels the silence and loneliness of darkness. It wages ceaseless wars against the darkness of ignorance- the lack of the knowledge of how much God loves us. Our joy today is that darkness will never overcome the light. The light leads us to freedom. It is in this light that we see light, the light of glory!
Dearest beloved, today we celebrate the victory of the light over darkness. Sometimes we mistakenly think it is only Easter that we celebrate the victory of Christ Jesus. No! Christmas is also a celebration of victory. His entrance into the world was the entrance of light. And as the gospel of today says, “…the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” That darkness has not overcome it means he is the one overcoming darkness, and that is victory.
Brethren, the night Jesus was born is usually regarded as a ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ as we sing in a song. It is indeed a holy night because it was the night Jesus, as it were, left his throne in heaven and walked into human neighborhood. He identified with us in our humanity. He came from the bosom of the Father, to the bosom of a Woman. He put on humanity, that we might put divinity. He became the Son of man that we might become sons and daughters of God. We needed Jesus to come and save us. If he did not come, we would be lost-lost of eternity with God. Through Jesus, God shut down the cycle of sin. Jesus came into the world to sympathize with us in our weakness. Hebrew 4:15-16 says, “Our high priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weakness. On the contrary, we have a high Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin.
The night Jesus was born was also called a Silent Night. Remember that when people are expecting something vitally important, when people are in high expectation of something, they tend to be silent. Remember “Deal or no deal” show! When the box of any of the contestants is about to be opened to him or her and to the audience to see whether he or she has won the million dollar buck, there is usually a dead silence. People are so silent in great expectation of winning. The world stood still in great expectation of the Great King Jesus Christ. It was indeed a Silent Night. It was the most silent of all the nights when we stand in awe, in great expectation of our Deliverer, our Healer, our Reconciler with God. It was the most silent night of great expectation of the Prince of Peace, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. We were anxiously waiting for redeeming Lord and Savior. We were so silent and anxious! Like the “deal or no deal show” contestants, we stood still in great silence, anxious to win, but not money, but freedom and salvation.
On another note, the night Jesus was born was the most silent night of all the nights because it was the night God silenced the Devil. It was the night our enemy was silenced. It was the night “the accuser of the brethren” was silenced. It was the night the bragging wings of that despicable evil doer were cut short. It was the night God silenced him and sealed his lips. It was the night the pride of that shameless, old, ugly looking creature was put to an end. It was the night that pompous, unrepentant and unremorseful evil hawker, whose only job was to kill, to main and to destroy was humbled and disgraced. He was ultimately silenced and shut up. It was indeed a silent night!
Dearest beloved, the message of Christmas is the triumph of life, goodness, and love over death, evil, and hate. In a world where genocide is tolerated, where many are forgotten in different corners of the world, where the cries of the poor and suffering do not touch hearts any longer, the birth of Christ reveals how God so loves each of us that he sent His only Son to take up all human pain and sorrow, in order to nail it to the cross and transform it into eternal life in the Resurrection. We are living in a time of global financial crisis, wars, suffering, diseases and global warming caused by reckless exploitation of our planet; consequently these have brought us to a crisis of humanism. Most people now think that social life is so broken that the best we can hope for is survival, just for the time being. But Christmas brings us a much deeper hope. The stable at Bethlehem unveils and reassures us that despite all we see and hear, despite all the tears and the bleeding happening especially in Africa, there is still One who has utter compassion for all who suffer, for all who are obliterated and abandoned. The angels’ song of “peace on earth” brings hope in the face of difficulty. The worst thing to do is to loose hope. Christmas tells us “we cannot walk alone”. Christmas tells us the best is yet to come.
The Christmas message is a message of hope. The Light has overtaken the darkness. God became a human person and shared our common human and earth pattern. Our best hope is that we are not walking alone; we are not standing alone; we don’t have a God who is so far away; we have a God who lives with us and in us. He is Immanuel- God-with-us! He is not Deus Absconditus; He is Jehovah Shammar- God who is present here! He is Immanuel- God who is with us in all life journeys. In joy and sorrow, he is there. In sickness and good health, he is there. In gloom, doom and boom, he is there with us. In decrease and increase, he is there. In abundance and empty, he is with us. In tears and laughter, God is there with us. At birth and at death, God is with us. From the cradle to the grave, he is right with us. At loss or in gain, still call him Immanuel. In riches and in poverty, still call him Immanuel. In times of crisis and in times of serenity, still call him Immanuel. When couples sit in their sitting rooms, watch TV together, tell lovely stories, and enjoy the gift of each other, call him Immanuel because he is there. When these same couples quarrel, and threatened to go their separate ways, still call him Immanuel. He is still there. He never leaves. In Darfur, Burundi, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, Bosnia, and other regions of our planet that have witnessed bloodshed and genocide, God is there. He is still Immanuel. In America, Japan, Germany, Nigeria and worldwide, God is there. He remains Immanuel.
The darkness of evil
The darkness of hunger
The darkness of diseases
The darkness of slavery
The darkness of human trafficking
The darkness of genocide
The darkness of ethnic cleansing
The darkness of silence of powerful nations over the penury and human loneliness and abandonment of other not so fortunate nations
The darkness hatred
The darkness of wars
The darkness of unspeakable and untold human suffering
The darkness of missed opportunities
The darkness of lost hopes
The darkness of indifference to other people’s needs
The darkness of fraud and greed and selfishness that crumbled the Wall Street and end up affecting the Main Street
The darkness of corruption of most African leaders
The darkness of deceit and deception
The darkness of “anything goes” politics and morality
The darkness of blindness to truth
The darkness of ignorance and dishonesty
The darkness of oppression and suppression
The darkness of racial divide and ethnic divide
The darkness of such lines like first world countries, third world countries, developed countries, under-developed nations, upper class, lower class, white, Caucasian, Black or Brown, Red, that end up diving nations
The darkness of defining people in relation to accidents only and not in essence
The darkness of loneliness and loneliness and abandonment
All these darkness can never overtake the Light. That Light is Jesus who is born for us today. That Light will always overshadow and dominate the darkness. Jesus is born brothers and sisters. Come on let us go over to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is derived from two Hebrew words “Beth” or Bayit meaning “House” and “Lehem” which means “Bread”. Put together, it means “House of Bread”. The house of bread is the house of fulfillment. It is Bethel, which means, house of God. Come on, clean up your tears, and let’s go to Bethlehem!
Merry Christmas!
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The Word, Jesus was from the very beginning. He was with God and he was God himself. From the very beginning, he was with God. Everything on earth and in heaven came through him. If he were not, if he never was, if he is not, then nothing would have come to be. This Jesus we celebrate today, according to today’s gospel is the source of life; his divine life is the light of the world. And guess what? This light shines brighter than the sun and stars. As it shines, it attacks the darkness in the world, it attacks the darkness in our lives; it attacks the darkness in human families, societies and communities. It reveals secrets; it reveals to us our sins, the sins we have covered for too long. The light also reveals the loving-kindness of God. It dispels the silence and loneliness of darkness. It wages ceaseless wars against the darkness of ignorance- the lack of the knowledge of how much God loves us. Our joy today is that darkness will never overcome the light. The light leads us to freedom. It is in this light that we see light, the light of glory!
Dearest beloved, today we celebrate the victory of the light over darkness. Sometimes we mistakenly think it is only Easter that we celebrate the victory of Christ Jesus. No! Christmas is also a celebration of victory. His entrance into the world was the entrance of light. And as the gospel of today says, “…the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” That darkness has not overcome it means he is the one overcoming darkness, and that is victory.
Brethren, the night Jesus was born is usually regarded as a ‘Silent Night, Holy Night’ as we sing in a song. It is indeed a holy night because it was the night Jesus, as it were, left his throne in heaven and walked into human neighborhood. He identified with us in our humanity. He came from the bosom of the Father, to the bosom of a Woman. He put on humanity, that we might put divinity. He became the Son of man that we might become sons and daughters of God. We needed Jesus to come and save us. If he did not come, we would be lost-lost of eternity with God. Through Jesus, God shut down the cycle of sin. Jesus came into the world to sympathize with us in our weakness. Hebrew 4:15-16 says, “Our high priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weakness. On the contrary, we have a high Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin.
The night Jesus was born was also called a Silent Night. Remember that when people are expecting something vitally important, when people are in high expectation of something, they tend to be silent. Remember “Deal or no deal” show! When the box of any of the contestants is about to be opened to him or her and to the audience to see whether he or she has won the million dollar buck, there is usually a dead silence. People are so silent in great expectation of winning. The world stood still in great expectation of the Great King Jesus Christ. It was indeed a Silent Night. It was the most silent of all the nights when we stand in awe, in great expectation of our Deliverer, our Healer, our Reconciler with God. It was the most silent night of great expectation of the Prince of Peace, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. We were anxiously waiting for redeeming Lord and Savior. We were so silent and anxious! Like the “deal or no deal show” contestants, we stood still in great silence, anxious to win, but not money, but freedom and salvation.
On another note, the night Jesus was born was the most silent night of all the nights because it was the night God silenced the Devil. It was the night our enemy was silenced. It was the night “the accuser of the brethren” was silenced. It was the night the bragging wings of that despicable evil doer were cut short. It was the night God silenced him and sealed his lips. It was the night the pride of that shameless, old, ugly looking creature was put to an end. It was the night that pompous, unrepentant and unremorseful evil hawker, whose only job was to kill, to main and to destroy was humbled and disgraced. He was ultimately silenced and shut up. It was indeed a silent night!
Dearest beloved, the message of Christmas is the triumph of life, goodness, and love over death, evil, and hate. In a world where genocide is tolerated, where many are forgotten in different corners of the world, where the cries of the poor and suffering do not touch hearts any longer, the birth of Christ reveals how God so loves each of us that he sent His only Son to take up all human pain and sorrow, in order to nail it to the cross and transform it into eternal life in the Resurrection. We are living in a time of global financial crisis, wars, suffering, diseases and global warming caused by reckless exploitation of our planet; consequently these have brought us to a crisis of humanism. Most people now think that social life is so broken that the best we can hope for is survival, just for the time being. But Christmas brings us a much deeper hope. The stable at Bethlehem unveils and reassures us that despite all we see and hear, despite all the tears and the bleeding happening especially in Africa, there is still One who has utter compassion for all who suffer, for all who are obliterated and abandoned. The angels’ song of “peace on earth” brings hope in the face of difficulty. The worst thing to do is to loose hope. Christmas tells us “we cannot walk alone”. Christmas tells us the best is yet to come.
The Christmas message is a message of hope. The Light has overtaken the darkness. God became a human person and shared our common human and earth pattern. Our best hope is that we are not walking alone; we are not standing alone; we don’t have a God who is so far away; we have a God who lives with us and in us. He is Immanuel- God-with-us! He is not Deus Absconditus; He is Jehovah Shammar- God who is present here! He is Immanuel- God who is with us in all life journeys. In joy and sorrow, he is there. In sickness and good health, he is there. In gloom, doom and boom, he is there with us. In decrease and increase, he is there. In abundance and empty, he is with us. In tears and laughter, God is there with us. At birth and at death, God is with us. From the cradle to the grave, he is right with us. At loss or in gain, still call him Immanuel. In riches and in poverty, still call him Immanuel. In times of crisis and in times of serenity, still call him Immanuel. When couples sit in their sitting rooms, watch TV together, tell lovely stories, and enjoy the gift of each other, call him Immanuel because he is there. When these same couples quarrel, and threatened to go their separate ways, still call him Immanuel. He is still there. He never leaves. In Darfur, Burundi, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, Iraq, Rwanda, Bosnia, and other regions of our planet that have witnessed bloodshed and genocide, God is there. He is still Immanuel. In America, Japan, Germany, Nigeria and worldwide, God is there. He remains Immanuel.
The darkness of evil
The darkness of hunger
The darkness of diseases
The darkness of slavery
The darkness of human trafficking
The darkness of genocide
The darkness of ethnic cleansing
The darkness of silence of powerful nations over the penury and human loneliness and abandonment of other not so fortunate nations
The darkness hatred
The darkness of wars
The darkness of unspeakable and untold human suffering
The darkness of missed opportunities
The darkness of lost hopes
The darkness of indifference to other people’s needs
The darkness of fraud and greed and selfishness that crumbled the Wall Street and end up affecting the Main Street
The darkness of corruption of most African leaders
The darkness of deceit and deception
The darkness of “anything goes” politics and morality
The darkness of blindness to truth
The darkness of ignorance and dishonesty
The darkness of oppression and suppression
The darkness of racial divide and ethnic divide
The darkness of such lines like first world countries, third world countries, developed countries, under-developed nations, upper class, lower class, white, Caucasian, Black or Brown, Red, that end up diving nations
The darkness of defining people in relation to accidents only and not in essence
The darkness of loneliness and loneliness and abandonment
All these darkness can never overtake the Light. That Light is Jesus who is born for us today. That Light will always overshadow and dominate the darkness. Jesus is born brothers and sisters. Come on let us go over to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is derived from two Hebrew words “Beth” or Bayit meaning “House” and “Lehem” which means “Bread”. Put together, it means “House of Bread”. The house of bread is the house of fulfillment. It is Bethel, which means, house of God. Come on, clean up your tears, and let’s go to Bethlehem!
Merry Christmas!
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