In 1914, as
World War I was breaking out, something spectacular happened on Christmas
Eve. The great truce broke out. A soldier named Graham Williams of the Fifth
London Rifle Brigade described the event in detail:
“First
the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours,
until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately
joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I
thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both
singing the same carol in the middle of a war.”
It is estimated that up to 100,000 troops all along
the Western Front participated, and that there were barbecues, gift exchanges
and even games of soccer that broke out Christmas Eve into Christmas Day
There seems to be, every year, a peace and a
silence that descends upon the Earth, a silence and peace that people literally
feel not just because of food or lights or celebrations, but because it is a
real and tangible thing at Christmas.
This silence and peace is mentioned in all our favorite Christmas hymns
and carols – “Silent Night,” and “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” as a few
examples.
A silence that could bring to a grinding halt
humanities first attempt at a global war, bring it to a halt such that both
sides were celebrating and feasting together on the field of war.
Here’s the question I’d like us to consider – is this
silence and peace something that God wants us to experience only one night and
one day a year?
The answer to that is, quite clearly, no!
The silence and peace of Christmas are what God
wants for us to experience year round by living our lives in Christ and living
our lives from within His Church.
Sometimes, people fault God for being too silent,
too quiet. But the failure of those
people is a failure to recognize that God, in a sense, is FOUND in the
silence. God prefers silence.
Let’s look at the evidence, beyond the peace and
silence we experience and love tonight
The three people we particularly look to tonight,
Joseph Mary and Joseph, were all people who cherished silence. Mary has just a few lines in the
Gospels. Joseph has none. Most of Jesus’ life is lived in silence and anonymity
and it is only has final three years or so where he begins his public ministry.
There’s also one of my favorite passages of the Old
Testament where God comes to Elijah – and Elijah stands in the cave and God
promises to pass by. It tells us that
there was an earthquake, but God was not in the Earthquake. There was fire and wind, but God wasn’t in
any of that. Then there was a still
small sound, an almost silent whisper, and Elijah knew that it was God.
We can also look at the great changes that God
brings about – they almost entirely happen in silence. Baptism, ordination, confirmation,
Transubstantiation of the Eucharist – these things are brought about silently
We live in a world of constant noise bombardment –
we are addicted to it because we fear silence because we think in silence we
are alone. But this celebration of
Christmas I hope is an opportunity to remind you that the peace that comes to
us today amidst silence is accessible year round
Our Catholic Faith is one that encourages us,
gently, to not be afraid of silence. We
do not fill every moment of our worship with noise. We have opportunities to pray in silence in
this Church, and before Mass, and after Mass.
Yes we have our Glorias and Alleluias, but I talk with a lot of
non-Catholics, and they are always telling me that they are surprised by two
things when they come to a Catholic Mass
1)
The sitting and standing and
kneeling
2)
The silence
If you want to keep Christmas year round, flee the
noise daily and do not fear silence. Run
to it. Seek it out. If you are assaulted by distractions, don’t
worry about it. Press on. As Psalm 46 says so beautifully, “Be still
and know that I am God”
May this taste of peace and silence these days of
Christmas give us the encouragement to seek God where God may be found – and not
despair anymore that God is silent.
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