Dawn Mass

Yesterday morning, I returned to Carmel for the Dawn Mass of Christmas; I always aim to hear at least two, but rarely have the chance to assist at all three of the proper Masses of Christ's Nativity – as it is, the Midnight and the Dawn Masses go well together, since the Gospel passages read are from St Luke's ongoing account.

Of set purpose, said Fr Peter, is St Luke's habit of juxtaposing characters and their reactions.  The shepherds having told the people of the Child, they were amazed - full stop.  But, St Luke goes on, Mary pondered these things and treasured them in her heart.  Our faith must not be mere knowledge; it must partake of the Semitic sense of truly knowing through long heartfelt consideration - it is to be an intimate knowledge not of something but of Someone.

Taking another tack (and disconcertingly speaking it seemed directly to me), he went on about to-day's generation enmeshed in the Internet, partaking of instant information 24/7 thanks to modern information technology, blogging and googling away...   But God's information technology was and is to speak one Word everlastingly; His Revelation is necessarily a donation, a giving; it is the Communication vouchsafed our world: a Child is born for us, a Son given for us.

Like Our Lady, we must take the time to turn over in our minds these mysteries, take them to heart, treasure them – and, in the midst of the Christmas rush, take time for the one thing necessary: sit at the Lord's feet as Mary did, and not be Marthas only.