By MARY STADNYK
Associate Editor
Bishop O’Connell blesses the Nativity scene in the narthex of St. Gregory the Great Church, Hamilton Square, where he celebrated Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Mike Ehrmann photos
Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., smiled broadly while surveying the faithful who had filled the vast nave of St. Gregory the Great Church in Hamilton Square on Christmas Eve.
“Who said people don’t come out for Midnight Mass?” the Bishop quipped. “What a great joy it is for me to be here with you.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Bishop celebrates Midnight Mass in Hamilton Square church
Just before the entrance procession, the Bishop blessed the large Nativity display in the narthex. Then, standing at the entrance to the church proper, Father Michael Hall, pastor, chanted the Proclamation of the Birth of Christ, otherwise known as the Christmas Proclamation, which is sung in Catholic churches around the world at the beginning of the Christmas Eve Vigil. An historical timeline, the Christmas Proclamation cites significant events through the years going back to the Birth of Christ.
In his homily, Bishop O’Connell observed that “the whole world becomes different at Christmas” even though the Christmas story never changes.
Bishop O’Connell greets parishioners after Mass.
“Same characters, same stable, same angels, same shepherds, same star, year after year after year,” the Bishop said. “You would think after 2,000 years, Christians would get tired of telling the same story and, yet, they never have and I suspect they never will.”
“The real miracle of the Christmas story is precisely that: it never gets old! That God became man — that the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us — has an impact upon us; it influences us; it means something important and changes us,” Bishop O’Connell said. “Humanity is different because Jesus Christ — the Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace, the long-awaited Messiah, the Eternal Savoir — became one of us. How could we be the same after recognizing that? It is news, it is a story truly worth repeating.”
Bishop O’Connell referenced the Mass Readings: the First Reading, which proclaimed that “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light,” and the Second Reading, which reminded that “the grace of God has appeared, saving all.”
“This Christmas is an invitation to us and to all believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to let the mystery in, to let it warm our hearts and make us feel new, to let it influence our way of looking at the world he came to save, to give glory to God as we embrace one another in love, compassion, forgiveness and mercy,” the Bishop said. “God’s loving, saving mercy comes alive in us and all around us again as it did in Bethlehem that first Christmas night.”
Dr. Jason Briggs, principal of St. Gregory the Great Academy, and his family participated in the Presentation of the Gifts.
For St. Gregory the Great parishioner Kathleen Zuccari, attending Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve is a longstanding tradition that began during her childhood. She, along with her husband, Danny, and two grown sons have continued the tradition.
Zuccari remarked, “The Mass is so beautiful, there’s nothing like it. The music fills the air and my heart. The candles, flowers, incense, it puts you in such a great spirit. All your senses are tuned into the beauty of the Scripture. That warm, peaceful feeling washes over me as we celebrate the joy of Jesus’ Birth. I feel so blessed at that very moment that I have a relationship with our Lord. Even as a baby, he knows and loves me, he knows my heart. That, to me, is what peace feels like.”