It is important that we take the opportunity which this Mass offers us to step away for a moment from the external things and allow ourselves to be drawn into the mystery of Christmas.
These were the words of Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB during his homily for Christmas 2024.
Photo: Ron Tan/Archdiocese of Perth.
Speaking at the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, Archbishop Costelloe was joined by Vicar General, the Very Rev Fr Vincent Glynn, Cathedral Dean Rev Dr Sean Fernandez, Cathedral Assistants Fr Richard Smith and Jason Yeap, Fr Stephen Ochola from the Tribunal Office with Deacon Aaron Peters assisting.
Then for the Christmas Day Mass at 11am, Archbishop Costelloe was joined by Cathedral Dean Rev Dr Sean Fernandez.
For the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, the procession was led by Fr Jason Yeap holding a statue of the baby Jesus, which placed in the manger of the Nativity scene on the sanctuary.
A Children’s Mass was also celebrated at 6pm on Christmas Eve by Fr Jason Yeap which included a short Christmas Nativity re-enactment.
Children from the congregation gathered at the front of the Cathedral during which Fr Jason spoke about the meaning and importance of Christmas.
Continuing his homily, Archbishop Costelloe explained that this mystery, is expressed in a few short words from the opening chapter of St John’s Gospel: the Word became flesh and lived among us.
“The Word, of course, is God,” he emphasised.
All three Masses contained standing room only, as parishioners and visitors from across Perth and beyond came together for the special feast day of the birth of Christ.
“The most fundamental of all Christian teachings is this: that God, the creator and sustainer of the vast and mysterious universe, the giver of life in all its forms, the one on whom every single one of us depends for his or her existence, should so love and esteem humanity that he becomes one of us in Jesus Christ, so as to reveal to us the very reason why God created us – that we are made for endless life and joy with him – and to show us the way to follow if we are to fulfil this destiny,” Archbishop Costelloe explained.
What makes this great mystery even more surprising – highlighted Archbishop Costelloe – is that the way of Jesus, the way to our eternal destiny, is not the way of power or control, and certainly not the way of violence and domination, but rather the way of simplicity and of humility.
“One of the great saints of the early Church, Saint Augustine, once said in a prayer, “You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you”.
“Saint Augustine was right, and the words of his prayer can help us understand why we find the Christmas story so beautiful and so compelling.
“It is also why, as we enter more fully into the story, we find it more and more challenging. Humility and simplicity are not the ways of the world in which we live. They certainly do not seem to be the ways of worldly success, of ever-increasing financial prosperity, or of coercive power and control over others.
“But the Christmas story, and the Christian faith, assure us that they are the way to the fullness of life, to true happiness, and to deep and lasting peace,” he said.
Photo: Ron Tan/Archdiocese of Perth.
