So, a friend of mine sent me this homily given by a Latin Mass priest this past Christmas. It is, in a word, unsound. This is the kind of theological mess Catholic traditionalists constantly accuse Novus Ordo priests of delivering.
Let's take a look (my comments are in red):
Christmas Day, Mass at Dawn
Dear friends in Christ, on this Christmas morning we celebrate the birth of Our Lord, or rather births! 3 "births", if you like. They are reflected in the three different Masses for Christmas - Midnight, Mass at Dawn, means during the day, each with its own propers, each with its own emphasis. First, as God, Christ, the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity (the logos or Word of God) is "born", begotten, generated, and yet always existed. He was externally begotten of the Father, without a mother! At Christmas we celebrate this "birth" of the 2nd Person of the Trinity from all eternity![The Son of God becomes "Jesus Christ" on March 25 (Feast of the Annunciation), not December 25. The name "Jesus Christ" is a title. Just as I have always been and will always be Steve, but I took on the title "husband" and, later, the title "father", so the Son of God took on the title "Jesus Christ" at a specific point in time - the Incarnation in Mary's womb. That title, "Jesus Christ", THAT has a beginning. The Son of God Himself has no beginning and no end, but the title definitely has a beginning, and it begins on March 25, not December 25. The priest apparently doesn't understand the ENORMOUS difference between being begotten/generated and being born. It is incredibly wrong to use the two terms "begotten" and "born" as if they were interchangeable.
"He was externally begotten of the Father... " Yeah, that may be a simple typo, because the phrase "externally begotten" is never used in reference to the Son. Perhaps that should be "eternally begotten"??]
2nd, we celebrate Christ's birth into our world, the world of space and time - the birth of the baby Jesus - God incarnate! God became man, "for us men and for our salvation". As St. Irenaeus of Lyons says, "How could we be saved unless it were God who effected our salvation? In His immeasurable love for us, He became what we are, in order to make us what He is. How can man go to God, if God has not come to man?
And so, we rightly celebrate Our Lord's birth into this world at Christmas. As a man, He was born in time, of a mother, but without a Father![Nope. Absolutely wrong. Frighteningly wrong. Protestant-style wrong. We can say that Jesus was born of a virgin, but we CANNOT say He was born without a father. The latter statement is wildly erroneous. It is de fide that St. Joseph was a true father in every sense except the biological.
As St. Thomas Aquinas points out "According to Augustine (De Consensu Evangelistarum ii), Joseph is called the father of Christ just as ‘he is called the husband of Mary, without fleshly mingling, by the mere bond of marriage: being thereby united to him much more closely than if he were adopted from another family. Consequently that Christ was not begotten of Joseph by fleshly union is no reason that Joseph should not be called his father, because he would be the father even of an adopted son not born of his wife’” (ST III:28:1 ad 1)."
Pope John Paul II: "Scripture recognizes that Jesus is not born of Joseph’s seed, since in his concern about the origin of Mary’s pregnancy, Joseph is told that it is of the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, he is not deprived of his fatherly authority from the moment that he is told to name the child. Finally, even the Virgin Mary, well aware that she has not conceived Christ as a result of conjugal relations with Joseph, still calls him Christ’s father.’"
“The Son of Mary is also Joseph’s Son by virtue of the marriage bond that unites them: ‘By reason of their faithful marriage both of them deserve to be called Christ’s parents, not only his mother, but also his father, who was a parent in the same way that he was the mother’s spouse: in mind, not in the flesh.’ In this marriage none of the requisites of marriage were lacking: ‘In Christ’s parents all the goods of marriage were realized—offspring, fidelity, the sacrament: the offspring being the Lord Jesus himself; fidelity, since there was no adultery: the sacrament, since there was no divorce.’
“It is to Joseph, then, that the messenger turns, entrusting to him the responsibilities of an earthly father with regard to Mary’s Son” (Guardian of the Redeemer 3; cf. Augustine, Sermo 51, 10, 16: PL 38, 342; De nuptiis et concupiscentia I, 11, 12–13: PL 44, 421)."
In that sentence, this priest essentially denied the existence of the Holy Family.]
And thirdly, we celebrate the spiritual "birth" of all of us who believe in Him, receive Baptism and become members of His mystical body the Church.[Well, not at Christmas we don't, at least, not liturgically. We celebrate our baptismal birth in Christ at Easter Vigil, not on Christmas. It is at Easter Vigil that all the faithful receive a plenary indulgence when they repeat their baptismal vows. There is no similar plenary indulgence at Christmas, or any other day of the year, save the anniversary of one's own baptism. Lex orandi, lex credendi.
Now, you could argue that the Baptism of Christ ends the Christmas season, is part of the Christmas season, and therefore the Christmas season celebrates baptism. Ok, that's a fair argument. But it is in the Baptism of Christ that we celebrate our baptism, not the birth of Christ, i.e., Christmas Day.
Indeed, it would be a better argument to say that our baptism is celebrated on January 1, the Feast of the Circumcision, since that is the first drop of Christ's blood to be spilled for our salvation, and January 1 is - not coincidentally - also the Feast of Mary, Mother of God.
Notice the Feast of Mary, Mother of God is NOT celebrated on December 25 (Christmas) or March 25 (Annunciation), but on January 1, Feast of the Circumcision. Mary becomes Mother of God on March 25th, but she becomes Mother of the Church on the first day Christ sheds His blood and thus forms the Church. January 1, THAT is the day when the mystical body of the Church is conceived, as it were. It is at the Crucifixion that Christ gives birth to the sacraments via the water and blood that flow from His side, and it is at Pentecost that the Body of Christ, the Church, is made visible.]
There are only two Persons who can call Christ- "My only begotten son". The Eternal Father, and the Blessed Virgin Mary!
It's just amazing, and not easy to get your head around, but think about it, Mary is both the Mother and the daughter of her son because her Son is God! At Christmas, Mary (a mere creature) gave birth to her Creator!
The Divine child in the manger on Christmas morning is also God. He is the Father of His own mother![Yeah, that's not entirely correct either. The priest is confusing God the Father with God the Son. The two Persons are not the same. While all three Persons participate in every divine action (so in that narrow sense, the priest is not wrong), in each divine action one of the Persons predominates. The Father is Creator, the Son is Redeemer and the Spirit is Sanctifier. Now, sure, the whole of creation is created for, through and by Jesus Christ, but that doesn't make the Son the Creator. Sure, we refer to the Holy Spirit as "Creator Blest", but that is in reference to the new creation the Spirit makes of us in the sacraments and the breath of life He gives us at conception.
"CCC 14 It develops these in the three chapters on our baptismal faith in the one God: the almighty Father, the Creator; his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior; and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, in the Holy Church..."
There are many more passages like this one. You would search the CCC in vain trying to find the phrase "God the Son, Creator" ]
In today's epistle, St. Paul's letter to Titus, we read, "Not by the works of justice which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us, by the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost; whom He hath poured forth upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ Our Savior." Our Lord became man so that one day we might partake of the Heavenly banquet - we receive a tremendous gift from God. What gift? The best Christmas present ever! This gift is His Son, Jesus, who restored the order of grace, allowing us to partake once again of the Divine Nature. Again, as St. Irenaeus says, "He became what we are in order to make us what He is." Or, as St. Augustine says, "God became man so that man might become "god"- small "g"! To share in His Divine Nature, in other words. What an incomparable gift - the gift of grace!
I've mentioned 3 "births", I could add a 4th - a daily Bethlehem in our midst, if you like. And that is the tremendous mystery of the Mass, when daily Jesus Christ comes down or becomes present on the altar. The miracle of transubstantiation.
I remember a few years ago at Christmas, it was the Midnight Mass, not here, when a creep, very probably a Satanist, tried to steal a consecrated host - he took it out of his mouth and was seen by a vigilant parishioner - you notice the Satanists never try to steal communion from Anglican or Lutheran services? The Satanist know that in the Protestant communion, they only receive bread! It's not Jesus Christ they receive. But it is in the Catholic Mass.
2,000 years ago, the 2nd Person of the Blessed Trinity became man. He took on a human nature and became the God/man Jesus Christ. And He is still on earth - in the Holy Eucharist. Every Catholic Church is a mini - Bethlehem, because Christ is truly present there, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. He is "born" upon our altars![That really doesn't make sense. Transubstantiation is not like birth, not at all. Birth is a physical movement from one location to another. Transubstatiation is not a physical movement at all, it is a change in Aristotelian substance. So, you can say in transubstantiation the Son of God is conceived on our altars... that would make a certain level of sense, because conception transforms simple physical entities into an immortal body-soul unity that will be separated for only a short time at death, but re-established at the Last Judgement and Resurrection. That change, made by God at conception, is a change in Aristotelian substance, transforming simple physical things into human persons. Thus, conception IS a change in substance, and in that sense, it is somewhat like transubstantiation.
But birth does not involve a change in substance, it is just movement from one physical location (in the womb) to another (outside the womb). By comparing "change in substance" to a simple "physical movement," the priest's comparison actually undermines the very meaning of the word "transubstantiation."]
At the 1st Christmas 2,000 years ago, the Son of God came in the flesh. The Holy Eucharist is the 'miracle' which continues that presence. We still have Christ near us - we have Emmanuel - God with us!
Christ became a man to save us, He becomes our spirit food to strengthen us, and both are done out of love for us!
What should our response be?
Gratitude!
Let us be grateful to God for sending His Son, eternally begotten; born into our world, to save us.
Let us thank Him for the sacrament of Baptism whereby we can be brought from the state of enmity to state of friendship with God - for allowing us to become sons and daughters, in fact heirs of His Kingdom.
And finally, let us be grateful for the gift of Christ Himself in the Most Holy Eucharist.
O Sacrum convivium, in quo Christus sumitur - O holy banquet, in which Christ is received, the memory of His Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with grace, and there is given to us a pledge of future "glory".
In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti
Christmas Day Homily by Traditional Latin Mass Priest
Conclusion:
The priest who gave this homily is not well-formed in his theology. He could have given a much better homily if he had actually taught correct theology instead of this.... stew. This mixes all kinds of theological errors together and pours them into the laity's ears. This good priest needs to have his homilies thoroughly vetted. He shouldn't be saying stuff like this from the ambo during Mass, especially not at a Christmas Mass, where this may be the first Mass/homily some of the members of the assembly have heard in months and/or years.
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