Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Merry Christmas and welcome back to another edition of our diocesan podcast, Big City Catholics, with Bishop Robert Brennan, the Bishop of Brooklyn and Queens, and myself, Father Christopher Henu. This week's edition of our podcast is Bishop Brennan's Christmas Homily. We hope that you and your families had a blessed Christmas and continue to enjoy this Christmas season and enjoy Bishop's Christmas message.
[00:00:34] Speaker A: Good morning and Merry Christmas.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, Announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation and saying to Zion your God is king. What good news we proclaim today.
Earlier this year I was asked to review a manuscript for a book by Ruth Nelson called Our lady of the World's Fair Bringing Michelangelo's Pieta to Queens in 1964.
Published in July, it recounted all the ambitions and all the complications in accomplishing this reality.
Many of you would remember the experience of the World's Fair in 1964, and many of you are a good bit younger than I am and probably are thinking I'm talking about ancient history.
I was glad to be asked.
You see, the World's Fair is probably my earliest memory of an event, not just of people telling me about it, but I can actually picture and I can remember scenes from that.
Now, full disclosure, to tell you the truth, I don't remember the Pieta.
I don't remember the Vatican Pavilion at that age. To me, things like It's a small world were the big things.
The second reason I was glad to be asked is that even more importantly, serving here now as bishop in Brooklyn and in Queens, I feel a certain connection to this event which is part of our shared diocesan history.
In fact, at our Immaculate Conception center in Douglaston, Queensland, there is a replica. We have a beautiful life size replica of the Pieta that was created from one of the molds that was used to transport the artwork over.
And that replica sits on the original stand that the Pieta stood on in the Vatican Pavilion at the World's Fair. So it's a constant reminder of that moment in history, needless to say, of that very powerful moment of Mary holding her son in her arms with love at the end of his life.
It said that millions came to see this magnificent piece of art.
Now remember, in 1964, while air travel was possible, it wasn't that long ago, but still it was a new reality.
International travel was not something in the reach of very many people.
An experience otherwise inaccessible for many people became very possible and vast crowds took advantage of that rare possibility.
During the Christmas season, we Often hear from the apostle John, a friend of Jesus, who speaks after Jesus's resurrection.
John says, what was from the beginning.
What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the word of life.
For the life was made visible.
We have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us.
What we have seen and what we have heard, we now proclaim to you so that you too may have fellowship with us. For our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
Hearing, seeing, looking upon and touching through our senses, we experience reality.
Those senses are themselves a beautiful gift from God.
Think about what you see, hear, touch, taste in ordinary human life.
Experience the richness of life.
That reality comes home in a very powerful way at Christmas time, doesn't it?
With all of the customs. Think of all the customs and the traditions that are part of our celebration at this time of the year.
Think of the beauty of your own homes and neighborhoods. Think of the beauty of this Coke Cathedral itself. A beautiful work to begin with, but now glorious. With all of the signs of Christmas, the familiar story of Jesus's birth in Bethlehem is proclaimed anew. And who tires of hearing that beautiful story?
Sometimes it comes to life for us, as it did for me. And a couple of times this Advent by children in different pageants.
We look upon the manger scene here and in our homes, and we touch the figures with our own hands.
We listen to the beautiful sounds, the music, the carols here again so beautifully offered to us, raising our hearts and minds to God. But even throughout the city season, this time of year is rich in color, beauty, sounds, smells, taste and touch.
Hearing, seeing, looking upon and touching.
God didn't come as a statue, nor as a figure in a display of other figures. No, no, God didn't come as his appearance, did not come as a vision or as a philosophical idea.
No, God came to us in person.
God assumed human flesh to live among us.
We hear from the beginning of the letter to the Hebrews. Today, brothers and sisters, in times past, God spoke to us in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets in these last days. He speaks to us through His Son.
God speaks directly to us in the flesh, in His Son, in Jesus.
In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God, we hear in the Gospel.
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
And we saw his glory, the glory of the Father's Only Son, full of grace and truth.
During Mass, we pray, for in the mystery of the Word made flesh, the light of your glory has shone upon the eyes of our mind, so that as we recognize in him God made visible, we may be caught up through Him.
Love of things, invisible, hearing, seeing, looking, upon touching.
Jesus, whose birth we celebrate today, came as one of us, not one like us. He came as one of us. He assumed everything of human flesh.
God is no longer only invisible.
He's visible, accessible.
He dwells among us, risen from the dead. He dwells among us now.
He lived, suffered, died, and rose so that we might live and we might live forever.
He came to experience what we experience, the messiness of human life and to help us along the way, to carry our burdens with us.
He encourages us along the way. As Pope Francis said, here in New York, he comes to be God with us, Emmanuel, the God who walks alongside of us, who gets involved in our lives, in our homes, in the midst of all the pots and pans.
And nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from his love.
What came to be through him was life. And the life was the light of the human race. And this light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
True, there is darkness on the earth, but nothing can separate us from the love of God.
The light overcomes the darkness.
There's darkness in the world.
In the homeland of many of the people who are here in Brooklyn and Queens, we see war and violence.
In Haiti, we see such terrible suffering and violence.
In much of Latin America, many of the countries from which our people come, we see persecution and gang violence.
We're reminded regularly of war in Ukraine, war in the Holy Land, the hostages that are still held, the reality of terrorism.
There is darkness in the world.
There's darkness in our city.
This week alone, we've seen unspeakable acts of violence.
We fight constantly to promote the dignity of the human person, the sanctity of human life at every moment, the evil of anti Semitism, which is so prevalent in our city, of racism, using people as political footballs, as human trafficking.
We promote the dignity of the human person in refugees and all of our neighbors and all around us.
Yes, there's darkness in our city. And let's face it, there's darkness in each of our lives.
We all experience it very different ways. Sometimes it's grief, sometimes it's regrets, sometimes it's worry or fear takes different forms.
But we hear today the solemn declaration.
Yes, there's darkness, but the darkness will never overcome the light of Jesus Christ, whom we proclaim today.
In fact. In fact, I'm going to say something odd. The darkness is sacred.
What?
Yes, it's holy.
Yes, it's holy because it is in the darkness that the light of Christ breaks through.
He transforms and he sanctifies the darkness. He searches out the dark places of our hearts and of our world. He enters into that darkness.
The darkness and the disappointments in our hearts become holy because that's precisely where Christ enters in the messiness of my life, of your life is holy because that's precisely what Jesus comes to live, the messiness of human life. Christians, we hear, remember your dignity, what we have seen, heard. We proclaim to you so that you too may have fellowship with us.
For our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
John goes on to say that we are writing this so that our joy may be complete. Friends, our joy, our Christmas joy, is complete in sharing the good news of him whom we ourselves have heard, seen, looked upon and touched.
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation and saying to Zion, your God is king. How beautiful are the feet of him who brings glad tidings. How beautiful are you, how beautiful are you who bring glad tidings, Tidings of peace, tidings of good news announcing Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem and alive and living in Brooklyn, in Queensland, all over.
Yes, in faith, our hands have touched the word of life.
He was born in a manger, but he lives forever. And he reaches out to us in word and in sacrament. Yes, we see, hear and touch Him.
Friends, remember, God loves you.
He loves you more than you can ever imagine.
And nothing, no darkness will ever separate us from that love of God that Jesus came to bring.
All of this is for you.
Merry Christmas.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: That was Bishop Brennan's Christmas homily for Christmas 2024. We wish you all a very blessed Christmas season and a a blessed new year.
Next week's podcast will be Bishop Brennan's homily for the opening of the Jubilee year. Pilgrims of hope, we pray that this new year may be a blessed year in your families, in our diocese, and in our church. Universal God.
