Christmas (Pro-life homily)

CHRISTMAS- (PRO-LIFE)

An 11-year-old boy with cancer lost all the hair on his head as a result of chemotherapy treatment. When the time came for him to return to school, he and his parents experimented with hats, wigs, and bandanas to try to conceal his baldness. They finally settled on a baseball cap, but the boy still feared the taunts he would receive for looking "different." Mustering up courage, he went to school wearing his cap - and discovered to his great surprise that all of his friends had shaved their heads to share their solidarity with their friend. It was their way of expressing their love and sympathy. Christmas announces to us that God showed his solidarity with us by becoming a human being.
First of all, Christmas is the feast of God’s sharing a Savior with us. Jesus was the incarnation of God as man to save us from the bondage of sin. The Hindu Scriptures describe ten incarnations of God “to restore righteousness in the world whenever there is a large scale erosion of moral values.” But the Christian Scriptures teach only one incarnation and its purpose is given in John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he sent His only Son so that every one who believes in Him may not die, but have eternal life.” So the moving force for God to send his son was his intense love for us. Every Christmas reminds us that we still need this Savior to be reborn in our hearts and lives to free us from our evil addictions and unjust, impure and uncharitable tendencies.

But God who created us without our consent does not save us without our consent. And so only by willingly accepting Jesus as one’s savior in one’s life can one be saved. That is the message of Christmas. God seeking cooperation from each one of us to save this world.
God could have chosen to send his son into this world as a grown up adult, capable of fending himself in this world. But instead he chose to send His son as a defenseless human baby born from a simple village girl. All powerful God sought consent of a simple girl to be born in this world. And ever since God seeks our consent to enter into our world. God’s coming to our life does not ensure us of free of troubles. When Blessed Virgin Mary said “yes” to God’s Word, she was saying “yes” to all possible troubles waiting for her in her life. But God was with her to see her through all those troubles.
According to the book of Deuteronomy, a girl becoming pregnant before her wedding was considered to be bringing ignominy and shame to her parents and so were to be stoned to death in front of her father’s house. Mary could have thus merited this punishment and brought death to herself and her unborn son. To save her life and to retain her honor she could have resorted to an easy solution- “abortion” as any woman of today would choose to do when they find themselves in trouble. But Mary did not, because she knew that was God’s will being fulfilled through her life. She knew God wanted her Son to be God’s instrument in implementing God’s plan of salvation. She knew that even before his son’s birth God had named him and called him to be Emmanuel, that means God was with her. The angel had promised her that her Son would save the people from their sins. Mary knew that even though her son was still not yet born, he was God’s son. Because she conceived him not in any ordinary human fashion. The angel did not speak about him as “it”, meaning a thing, as many people today would consider a fetus to be, but as Him, meaning a person. Bible never teaches us that a child is a “thing” which could be disposed of at will as any parasite or a tumor could be. When Blessed Virgin Mary visited St.Elizabeth the baby John the Baptist leapt for joy at the presence of another baby growing in the womb of Mary. Here the Gospel clearly advices us that we should regard a baby in the womb just like a baby already born, with a soul and identity of its own, as a child of God. Most expectant mothers speak to their babies in the womb when they make movements in the womb. Even some husbands try to listen to their unborn babies voices bringing their ears closer to them. Do they really think the unborn babies are just a thing ? No way. Unborn babies react to the moods and emotions of their mothers. God loved us into existence. Each human being is called into existence by God. And that is why we hear God telling Jeremiah, that he called him to do the work of a prophet even from his mother’s womb. Only those who share the view of the blessed Virgin Mary has the right to celebrate Christmas. Those who hold that abortion is ok, for them their savior has been aborted… and their savior is no more alive, because Bl.Virgin Mary had enough reason to abort him.
So Christmas teaches us that life has to be protected at every stage, from womb to tomb, from conception to natural death. This has been the teaching of the Church and it will be the teaching of the church forever. Because Jesus taught us that not a word or iota will be deleted from his word.

Jesus said the evil one comes to steal, destroy and kill. So killing the innocents is Satan’s work. God comes to give life. And give that in abundance. Wicked Herod had destroyed the lives of some innocent babies in the process of trying to eliminate Jesus from the earth. Those who advocate death to unborns are no less wicked that Herod. Jesus had to flee to Egypt to protect his life from the cruel Herod. And he had to settle down in Galilee fearing the cruel successor of Herod, Archalaus. God on the run! Jesus, the Christ, fleeing for his life!... He is running for his life. This happens even today. Those who work to defend the right to life of innocents will find meaning in celebrating Christmas, because it is celebration of the birthday of a baby.

Christmas tells us that God chose to make himself vulnerable. Vulnerable from crib to cross. The vulnerability of Christ is a great thing also because it makes it easier for us to admit our own vulnerability.
The simple little statement about “there being no room in the Inn” becomes a symbol for Luke. As he writes his gospel it almost becomes a theme. Luke takes this one line, "There is no room in the inn," and shows us how this phrase was recurrent throughout Jesus' ministry. The question that Luke leaves for us is--will there ever be any room for him, and his teaching or respecting life in every stage ?, Respecting human dignity irrespective of caste, creed or age or sex or beauty ?

In the fall of 1775, the manager of Baltimore's largest hotel refused lodging to a man dressed like a farmer, because he thought his lowly appearance would discredit his inn. So the man left and took a room elsewhere. Later, the innkeeper discovered that he had turned away none other than the Vice President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson! Immediately he sent a note to the famous patriot, asking him to return and be his guest. Jefferson replied by instructing his messenger as follows: "Tell him I have already engaged a room. I value his good intentions highly, but if he has no place for a dirty American farmer, he has none for the Vice President of the United States."

There was no room for Jesus in the economic world. There was no room for Jesus in the realm of the religious order. There was no room for Jesus in the world of politics.
Let's look at us today--to you and to me. Do we have room for Christ in our lives?