God Became a Baby

Coming to Mass in order to see a Baby

12/25/2021

Lk 2:15-20 When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

You will never guess who the newest employee is at Immaculate Conception Church. It is a baby! Actually it’s the baby of Cecilia Garcia, one of our church staff members. Every day we hope she brings little Juan Antonio to the office. Do you know how to translate “Juan Antonio” into English? It is “John Antony”! That’s my baby! We all love to take turns holding the baby because it feels like all our stress pours out of us while we are holding him. Some people have a “therapy dog,” well, we have a “therapy baby.” I’m sorry, that’s probably not an appropriate way to talk about a baby. Why not?

Well, because the proper human reaction to a little baby is one of love, care, tenderness, and protection. That is, when we see a baby, we forget about ourselves and focus entirely on the needs of the baby. We want to feed the baby, we want to caress the baby, we want to speak and sing to the baby, we want to play peek-a-boo with the baby. We do all that in the hopes of seeing a small smile on his chubby face. That angelic smile is more than ample reward for our countless sacrifices and silliness.

In other words, babies bring out the best in us because we stop thinking about our own happiness and are fully focused on the baby’s happiness. One friend of mine likes to say that having a baby is “induced maturity.” That is, babies make us better people almost overnight. We become more hard working and self-sacrificing and get up for midnight feedings and work two jobs and give up what we want to do: everything for the baby and nothing for us. You see, a mature person lives for others, not for himself.

Today we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, as a Baby born in Bethlehem. In a sense, Jesus is another Baby who is coming to work, the newest employee on Earth. But this baby is not working in the Church, but he is working to establish the Church. In the year 1098, St. Anselm wrote a famous book called, in Latin, “Cur Deus Homo,” which means, “Why Did God Become Man?” But I believe a better title – and a better book – would have been the question: “Why Did God Become a Baby?”

And I am convinced that he became a baby for the same reason he did everything else: not for his sake but for ours. That is, God knows better than anyone how people tend to react in the presence of a baby: we experience that “induced maturity.” In other words, we grow up. Instead of being selfish, we become self-sacrificing. Indeed, most people would die in order to save the life of a baby. That is why God became a Baby: to teach us what St. Paul said in Acts 20:35, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

My friends, I believe Christmas is the one day out of the whole year – maybe the only day – when we finally come to Mass for the right reason. What do I mean? Well, today we come to church to give something rather than to get something, because we come here to see a Baby. I’ll never forget Fr. George Tribou, the principal at Catholic High School, told us boys one day: “You don’t come to Mass to get something. You come to Mass to give something: to give an hour of your time, to give a little of your love, to offer some of your attention.” That totally changed the way I look at the Mass.

What is our attitude when we come to Mass the rest of the year? Well, we tend to complain: “I didn’t get anything out of the Mass! I didn’t hear inspiring music. The homily was long and boring. I couldn’t understand the priest who spoke with a foreign accent. The guy next to me was snoring,” etc. etc. But today at least for one Mass, and maybe for the only Mass out of the whole year, none of that matters. And we come to church in order to give something rather than to get something. Why?

Because there is a Baby here, and deep down we know when you are dealing with a baby, the proper human response is to give it some of your of care, and some of your love, and some of your tenderness, some of your protection, in a word, some of your sacrifice. It would be silly to come and demand something from a Baby.

And that is why God did not just become a Man, he became a Baby, in order that we might experience “induced Christian maturity.” But, as C. S. Lewis said, “tomorrow is a Monday morning” and we will all go back to business as usual. But at least for one day out of the year, we might actually have come to Mass for the right reason.

Praised be Jesus Christ!