Christmas Supplement

Christmas Eve Mass offers glimpse of mystery of God

By Linda Abner (Special to The Criterion)

It is snowing on Christmas Eve as people come from all directions in the dark, heads bent, stepping quickly to gain the church and warmth.

There are smiles of recognition, greetings and laughter. An undercurrent of excitement fills the air on this holy night.

The sanctuary is resplendent with greenery and candles everywhere. Evergreen trees, some trimmed only with small white lights and others left completely natural, fill the front and shelter a humble crèche.

We are given a taper as we enter the church. I feel a little sad that I see no one I know on this special night as families and loved ones all around me gather for Mass.

Thank you, Lord, that my daughter is here beside me. Bless her and keep her.

The choir leads us in Christmas carols for 30 minutes before midnight. “Ave Maria” is sung by someone with an angel’s voice.

Then the church is darkened but for candlelight, and at midnight the chimes begin—ringing, singing like the Heavenly Host on that night so long ago: “Christ is born! Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth!”

All across the city, the nation, the world, people are gathering to celebrate this night, this holy, magic night when peace among men actually seems possible.

I feel a small part of a very large and enduring mystery—the mystery of God.

When all kneel in the darkened church at the phrase in the Creed, “For us men and for our salvation, he came down from Heaven,” I feel a deep sense of reverence and gratitude—grateful to God for his great love for his creation, and grateful to be part of the larger Body of Christ.

When the Christmas Eve liturgy is over—I hate for it to be over—it is again a happy confusion of smiles and greetings and joy.

Father Jim waits to greet people at one church door, and Father Noah stands at another.

My daughter and I step out into a blessed winter night, kissed by a gentle, silent snowfall. It shimmers beneath the outside lights. Christmas is here.

(Linda Abner is a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis. She wrote this reflection in her Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults journal while preparing for her entrance into the Catholic Church a few months later at Easter. “I remember how eagerly I looked forward to my first ‘real’ Christmas Mass as a Catholic,” she wrote, “even though I would not be confirmed until Easter. And God, who is always generous with his gifts, did not disappoint.”) †