Dear Family and Friends,
As a little boy, one of my favorite moments of the year was
getting up early on Christmas morning, trying to get mom and dad out of bed so
we could open presents.
As a priest, one of my favorite moments of the year is
getting up early on Christmas morning, not to try to get mom and dad up, nor to
open presents, but to celebrate one of the three masses of Christmas, the “Mass
at Dawn”. I got up early this morning and went by myself to the chapel. It was
a candlelight service until the rising sun lit the little altar with its glow.
There weren’t any presents wrapped with bows, but there was one present, the
present, baby Jesus himself coming down to earth in my hands. Just Him and
me – life doesn’t get any better than that!
The Mass at Dawn is also known as the Mass of the shepherds
since the Gospel you read is the story of the shepherds from Luke 2. I’ll leave
you with a little Christmas present - a poem I wrote about one of the
shepherds:
The Shepherd's Christmas
I cursed that eve the night watch fell to me,
For cold it was and dark the fields around.
On such a night fell wolves were bound to be,
And so I watched, until I heard the sound
Of harps and flutes and myriad voices telling
A tale that rocked me to my very bone.
A King was born, a story plainly spelling
That life was new, that we do not watch alone.
So to the cave I brought myself and flock,
And blessed those simple walls of barren rock,
And kissed his tiny, holy baby feet,
And he blessed me, and then he went to sleep.
I prayed for all of you during mass this morning, have a
Blessed Christmas!
Father Kevin
