Friends, this is the last and greatest Mass of Christmas Day, the Day Mass we call it. Last evening, there were Vigil Masses, then Night Masses (the Midnight Mass), then came another with the Dawn, and now capping and crowning everything comes this Mass during the Day. Christ, says the Liturgy, is has arrived, he’s here. Christ is born for us, come let us adore him. The purple vestments have gone, the white has come, the decorations are up, the Gloria is sung, the bells are rung, the organ’s unbound and the child in the crib is revealed. On behalf of the diocese and on behalf of this Cathedral Church may I wish you a joyful and holy Christmas, everyone of you. “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God” – one of the charisms of this Cathedral is to make that visible (and audible!).
In the Gospel readings of these 4 Masses, there’s a progression. First, St Matthew delivers Jesus’ long genealogy, from Abraham on and ends with his conception by a virgin through the Holy Spirit; then at night and at dawn, St Luke tells the age-old, ever-new story: the birth in Bethlehem, the child in the manger, the angels and shepherds. And now, just now, the microphone was passed to the 4th Evangelist, St John, and we heard the famous Prologue to his Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word…and the Word became flesh…and from his fulness we have all received.” Hopefully this Gospel has touched our hearts and opened our minds. St Matthew begins with Abraham, St Luke gives us the story of Jesus’ conception and birth, St John goes further, higher back and takes us further on and in. He begins with Jesus’ timeless origin from God, from the Father. He begins with him as Word of God, God from God and follows him down to his becoming flesh (human), and further still into our receiving of him by faith, our birth as the children of God.
This Day Mass has a message clear as day: the baby born in Bethlehem, the child in Mary’s arms, is not just human, but in a mysterious union, all at once God as well. God first, God in eternity, then man in time, Word become flesh, Son of God become Son of Mary, never now ceasing to be either. “Awesome”, as they say. Today’s Opening Prayer speaks of Jesus’ divinity. The 2nd reading too: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son…He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” And then St John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Remember this receiving Holy Communion!
In a moment we will proclaim the Creed, the Profession of Faith. This year is the 1700th anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of the Church that formulated it (or most of it) at Nicaea; hence its name the Nicene Creed. That was in 325. It was slightly added to some 56 years later, at a Council held in Constantinople, hence its full title: the Nicene Constantinopolitan Creed. This Creed is professed by almost all Christians. It holds us together. It voices our unity. And in this Creed, against the errors of the day, the Church professed especially her belief in the divine Sonship of Jesus Christ. We know the words well: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from God, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father, through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and – today we kneel at this point – by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary.” It’s a dreadful clatter this kneeling – but what else can we do? The Son of God has come down from heaven, has become the Son of Mary. The least we can do is go down on our knees.
Brothers and Sisters, this is the Christmas deep dive. Let’s never say, what has his being God got to do with anything? It has got everything to do with everything. It’s because he is radically God that he can rescue us and raise us from the dead. It’s because he is the Son of God that his human words and deeds are also the words and deeds of God, and can reach us as no other. Let’s never say, Oh, I don’t bother with all this doctrine and dogma. I’m a simple Christian. No, this Creed is a hymn of faith and love to Jesus’ divinity. It’s faithful to Scripture and Tradition, the Apostles and the Fathers. Recently, Pope Leo has written about it beautifully in an Apostolic Letter, In Unitate Fidei. Earlier this year he visited the town where this Creed was formed. And its message is this: God, the Father, the Creator, has not played games with us. He has not short-changed us. In Jesus, he hasn’t sent us a few more commandments or a heavenly problem-solver or a magic drug to cure us of everything. He hasn’t sent us yet another messenger or prophet. Christ is not a further Buddha or Confucius or Mohammed. In giving us Jesus, the Father has given us his all, his co-equal, co-eternal, consubstantial Son, his beloved Son, his other Self. And in giving us him, he has given us himself and the Holy Spirit. In Christ, the whole Trinity embraces us. God has loved us, says Pope Leo, with all his being (IUF 11). To put it humanly, in Jesus his Son, he has lifted us up and held us to his cheek, he has kissed us with the kiss of his mouth, he has pressed us to his heart. In his Son, he has come down to us, into the darkest places, to take us up and into his life, his light, his love. In the Incarnation, the Son of God has tattooed himself with us for ever. He has loved us with all his being. And so at last we can start to love one another.
Happy Christmas! Happy indeed if we just have a glimpse of this. Amen.
St Mary’s Cathedral, Aberdeen, 25 December 2025
