Christmas Mass 2025
In Die Nativitatis Domini
Ad Tertiam Missam
Chapel of the Seminary of Saint Philip Neri
Gricigliano
25 December 2025
Heb 1, 1-12
Jn 1, 1-14
Sermon
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
So great is the mystery we celebrate at Christmas that we offer three distinct holy Masses, each of which expresses a fundamental truth of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed Columba Marmion reflects upon the distinctness of the three Holy Masses of Christmas:
Faith tells us that this Child is God’s own Son. He is the Word, the Second Person of the Adorable Trinity; He is the Son Who receives Divine life from His Father, by an ineffable communication: As the Father hath life in Himself, so He hath given to the Son also to have life in Himself. [Jn 5, 26.] He possesses the Divine nature, with all its infinite perfections. In the heavenly splendours. [Ps 109, 3.] God begets this Son by an eternal generation.
It is to this Divine Sonship in the bosom of the Father that our adoration turns [first] of all; it is this Sonship that we extol in the midnight Mass. At day-break, the Holy Sacrifice will celebrate the Nativity of Christ according to the flesh, His birth, at Bethlehem, of the Virgin Mary; finally, the third Mass will be in honour of Christ’s coming into our souls.[1]
The great mystery we celebrate is, at once, historical and actual. It is a living mystery.
Of God the Son Incarnate, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Bethlehem to die for our salvation on Calvary, the Epistle to the Hebrews declares:
He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs.”[2]
God the Son was born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem, and, by His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, He continues to be born of us, to live in us, by the outpouring of the sevenfold gift of the Holy Spirit into our souls. In what is rightly described as the “Admirable Exchange” (“Admirabile Commercium”[3]), “God takes our nature so as to unite it to Himself in a personal union”, and “[w]hat the Word Incarnate gives in return to humanity is an incomparable gift; it is a participation, real and intimate, in His Divine nature: He hath made us partakers of His divinity.”[4] In the words of Blessed Columba Marmion, “thus is accomplished the most wonderful exchange which could be made.”[5] Thus, the Infant Redeemer, in the words of Saint Paul is “the first-born among many brethren.”[6]
Kneeling before the sacred image of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ today and throughout the Season of Christmas, we confess our faith in the mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation of God the Son and are filled with desire of a more intimate communion with Him as He remains alive for us and our sanctification in the Church. We trust with all our being the truth announced in the Gospel:
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only-begotten Son from Father… And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace.[7]
Thus, we are, most of all, filled with the desire to receive Him – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – in the Heavenly Bread of the Holy Eucharist.
Contemplating the historic fact of the Birth of Our Lord of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem and desiring to be more completely of one heart with His Most Sacred Heart, we are attentive to anything – be it great or small – which diminishes our intimate communion with Him, our share in His divine nature, the end – the Admirable Exchange – for which God the Son became man. Blessed Columba Marmion exhorts us:
Oh! if the contemplation of the Birth of Jesus and participation in this mystery by reception of the Bread of Life would bring us to free ourselves, once and for all, from everything that destroys and lessens the divine life within us; from sin, wherefrom Christ comes to deliver us: whose wonderful nativity destroyed the old man; [Post-communion for the Mass of Day-break.] from all infidelity and all attachment to creatures; from the irregulated care for passing things: denying worldly desires; [Tit 2, 12. Epistle for the midnight Mass.] from the trifling preoccupations of our vain self-love!…
If we could thus be brought to give ourselves entirely to God, according to the promises of our baptism when we were born to the divine life; to yield ourselves up to the accomplishment of His will and good pleasure, as did the Incarnate Word in entering into this world: Behold I come… that I should do Thy will, O God; [Heb 1,7.] to abound in those good works which make us pleasing to God: a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works! [Tit 2, 14. Epistle for the midnight Mass.]
Then the divine life brought to us by Jesus would meet with no more obstacles and would freely expand for the glory of our Heavenly Father; then “we who are bathed in the new light of the Incarnate Word should shew forth in our deeds what by faith shineth in our minds”; [Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who are filled with the new light of Thy incarnate Word, may shew forth in our works what by faith shineth in our minds. Collect for the Mass at Day-break.] then “our offerings would befit the mysteries of this day’s Nativity”. [Secret for the Mass at Day-break.][8]
The truth, beauty, and goodness of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ is strong in grace for us who have been born to life in Christ through the Sacrament of Baptism that we may do all that God asks of us, especially in responding to our vocation in life.
May the Heavenly Bread of Christ’s true Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity nourish and strengthen us along the way of our earthly pilgrimage, accompanying Christ on the way of the Cross which leads to happiness in this life and to its fullness in the life which is to come. Kneeling before the sacred image of the Nativity of Our Lord and uniting ourselves completely with Him in His Eucharistic Sacrifice, may we cast out all temptations to fear, discouragement, and betrayal before the demands of divine grace at work in our souls. Rather, let us renew our trust in Our Lord’s promise of the unfailing help of His grace. May we imitate His Mother, our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary who never failed to trust what God had promised.[9] Blessed Columba Marmion instructs us:
Let us then draw near to the Child God with great faith. We may wish to have been at Bethlehem to receive Him. Yet He is here giving Himself to us in Holy Communion with as much reality although our senses are less able to find Him. In the Tabernacle as in the Crib, it is the same God full of power, the same Saviour full of tender mercy.
If we will have it so, the admirable exchange still continues. For it is likewise through His Humanity that Christ infuses divine life into us at the Holy Table. It is in eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood, in uniting ourselves to His Humanity, that we draw at the very wellspring of everlasting life: he that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life… [Jn 6,55.]
Thus, each day, the union established between man and God in the Incarnation, is continued and made closer. In giving Himself in Communion, Christ increases the life of grace in the generous and faithful soul, making this life develop more freely and expand with more strength; He even bestows upon such a soul the pledge of that blessed immortality of which grace is the germ and whereby God will communicate Himself to us fully and unveiled: that as the saviour of the world, born this day, is the author of divine generation to us, so he may also be HIMSELF the giver of immortality. [Postcommunion of Christmas Day.][10]
Let us now give ourselves without reserve to the Admirable Exchange which God the Son Incarnate offers to us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. With the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us give our sinful hearts to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in which they will be healed of sin and animated by Divine Love Incarnate. From the Royal Heart of the Infant Jesus, the Heart pierced by the Roman soldier on Calvary, there never ceases to flow the blood and water of His living presence with us in the Church, in our souls.[11]
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
[1] “La foi nous dit, d’un mot, que cet enfant est le propre Fils de Dieu. Il est le Verbe, la seconde personne de l’adorable Trinité, il est le Fils qui reçoit de son Père la vie divine par une communication ineffable : Car, tout comme le Père dispose de la vie, ainsi a-t-il donné au Fils d’en disposer aussi. [Jn 5, 26.] Il possède la nature divine, avec toutes ses perfections infinies. Dans les splendeurs des cieux, dans les honneurs sacrés[.] [Ps 109, 3.] Dieu engendre ce Fils par un éternelle génération.
C’est à cette filiation divine du Christ dans le sein du Père que s’adresse tout d’abord notre adoration ; c’est elle que nous exaltons dans la messe de minuit. A l’aurore, le saint sacrifice célébrera la nativité du Christ selon la chair, sa naissance, à Bethléem, de la Vierge Marie ; enfin la troisième messe honorera l’avènement du Christ dans nos âmes.” Dom Columba Marmion, “Le Christ dans ses mystères,” Oeuvres Spirituelles (Paris: Lethielleux-Maredsous, 1998), p. 418. [Hereafter: Marmion]. English translation: Dom Columba Marmion, O.S.B., “Christ in His Mysteries,” Spiritual Writings (Paris: P. Lethielleux-Maredsous Abbey, 1998), p. 394. [Hereafter: MarmionEng].
[2] Heb 1, 3-4.
[3] “Ant. 1, Ad I Vesperas, Die 1 Ianuarii, In Octava Nativitatis Domini,” Breviarum Romanum ex Decreto Ss. Concilii Tridentini restitutum Summorum Pontificum cura recognitum, 1960.
[4] “Dieu nous emprunte notre nature pour se l’unir dans une union personnelle… Ce qu’en retour, le Verbe incarné donne à l’humanité, est un don incompréhensible ; c’est une participation, réelle et intime, à sa nature divine : Il nous a offert généreusement sa nature divine.” Marmion, pp. 420-421. English translation: MarmionEng, p. 396.
[5] “… c’est ainsi que s’accomplit l’échange le plus admirable qui se puisse célébrer.” Marmion, p. 421. English translation: MarmionEng, p. 396.
[6] Rom 8, 29.
[7] Jn 1, 9-14. 16.
[8] “Oh! si la contemplation de la naissance de Jésus et la participation à ce mystère par la réception du pain de vie nous amenaient à en finir, une bonne fois, avec tout ce qui détruit ou amoindrit la vie divine en nous : avec le péché, dont le Christ vient nous délivrer : Celui dont la naissance humaine a chassé l’antique déchéance ; [Postcommunion de la messe de l’aurore.] avec toute infidélité, toute imperfection et toute attache à la créature, avec le souci déréglé des choses qui passent : renoncer aux convoitises mondaines ; [Tite 2, 12. Epître de la messe de minuit.] avec les préoccupations mesquines de nos vains amours-propres !…
Si elles nous amenaient à nous donner à Dieu entièrement, comme nous l’avons promis au jour du baptême, quand nous naissions à la vie divine ; à nous livrer à l’accomplissement plénier de toutes ses volontés et de son bon plaisir, comme le faisait le Verbe incarné entrant en ce monde : Je viens, ô mon Dieu, pour faire ta volonté ; [Heb 10,7.] à abonder en ces bonnes œuvres qui nous rendent agréables à Dieu : Un peuple qui lui appartienne en propre, et zélé pour le bien ! [Tite 2, 14. Epître de la messe de minuit.]
Alors, la vie divine apportée par Jésus dès sa naissance ne rencontrerait plus d’obstacles et s’épanouirait librement pour la gloire de notre Père des cieux ; alors, “nous ferions resplendir dans notre conduite les enseignements dont la lumière nouvelle du Verbe incarné inonde notre foi” ; [Oraison de la messe de l’aurore.] “alors, par toutes nos œuvres nées de la grâce, notre célébration de la nativité du Christ répondrait dignement à la grandeur du mystère et au don ineffable qui nous y est fait” : Puissent nos offrandes, Seigneur, correspondre au mystère de la nativité que nous célébrons aujourd’hui. [Secrète de la messe de l’aurore.] Marmion, p. 422. English translation: MarmionEng, p. 398.
[9] Cf. Lk 1, 45.
[10] “Approchons-nous donc de l’enfant-Dieu avec une grande foi. Nous eussions voulu être à Bethléem pour le recevoir. Voici que la communion nous le donne avec autant de réalité, quoique nos sens l’y trouvent moins encore. Dans le tabernacle comme à la crèche, c’est le même Dieu plein de puissance, le même Sauveur plein de bonté.
Si nous le voulons, l’échange admirable se continue encore. Car c’est aussi par son humanité qu’à la table sainte le Christ nous infuse sa vie divine ; c’est en mangeant sa chair et en buvant son sang, en nous unissant à son humanité, que nous puisons à la source même de la vie éternelle : Qui mange ma chair e boit mon sang, a la vie éternelle… [Jn 6,55.]
Ainsi, chaque jour, se continue et se resserre l’union établie entre l’homme et Dieu dans l’Incarnation. En se donnant dans la communion, le Christ accroît dans l’âme généreuse et fidèle la vie de la grâce ; [Dieu qui, par le vénérable échange qu’opère ce sacrifice, nous rendez participants de votre divinité, une et souveraine, faites qu’après avoir connu votre vérité, nous arrivions par la sainteté de votre vie à la posséder pleinement. Secrète du 4ème dimanche après Pâques.] il la fait se développer plus librement et s’épanouir avec plus de force ; « il lui confère même le gage de cette immortalité bienheureuse dont la grâce est le germe, et où Dieu lui-même se communiquera à nous en toute plénitude et sans voile” ». Que le Sauveur du monde qui en naissant aujourd’hui nous fait naître à la vie divine, nous accorde aussi un jour l’immortalité. [Postcommunion de la messe du jour.]” Marmion, p. 429. English translation: Marmion, p. 405.
[11] Cf. Jn 19, 34.