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Christmas Midnight Mass, Years A, B, & C, December 25, Annually Lectionary index # 14

A digest for the congregation: Arrange with your liturgy committee to have these brief historical introductions read to the assembly before you do each reading.

The presider may speak these before the first and second readings, and before rising for the gospel acclamation. Print this page, cut it at the blue lines, and give the introduction paragraphs to the person who will speak them.

Christmas Midnight Mass
Before the first reading:

The prophet Isaiah addresses a people gloomy becuase they've been divided and conquered. He encourages them with the promise that God will give a new king, descended from the great ancient king David, who will drive out their enemies and unite them. They will praise this king with grand titles.
Between responsorial psalm and second reading:

This reading is about the next coming of Jesus, at the end of time. It explains how the prior coming of Jesus enabled us to prepare for the next.

[The familiar gospel passage needs no introduction.]
To pay for use of the words above, please subtract an equal number of optional words from other places in the liturgy (click here for some suggestions).

First reading, Isaiah 9: 1-6 [Jerusalem Bible, U.K. Catholic, translation]

The Historical Situation: In the late eighth century B.C.E., God's people in the promised land had become divided into a northern kingdom, Israel, and a southern kingdom, Judah. Assyria was the dominant power in the region, and lay especially heavily on the northern kingdom. Concerned about both kingdoms, Isaiah prophesies relief for both in this way: A new king will come to the throne in the southern kingdom, Judah, and will see to the reunion of the north and south and the expulsion of the Assyrians from the north. The king whom Isaiah had in mind is, interestingly, Hezekiah, the successor of King Ahaz whom we heard about on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A.

So the people once in darkness are the dwellers in Israel oppressed by Assyria. The child/son born to us is the new king in Jerusalem in Judah. He inherits the throne of David (whose glorious reign roughly four centuries earlier was still the source of national pride and hope). Royal titles verging on the divine were normal for such kings at the time.

Proclaiming It: There is much here deserving careful proclamation. Don't make it run together but divide it, by three pronounced pauses, into four sections, thus:

Proclaiming It: Here's a way to prepare for this reading that might be appropriate to your situation. Think of your proclamation in the context in which these Notes were first edited: late 2001 in a nation at war with global terrorists. That nation still sees itself walking in a kind of darkness, and looks forward to deliverance and peace. But unlike Isaiah and ancient Judah, you will almost certainly be proclaiming this prophecy in a nation decidedly secular, and you would not dream of calling even the greatest of future national leaders "God-hero," etc. But that's the way Isaiah believed God was at work in the world. You'll have to work to put yourself in the prophet's frame of mind, but try to convey his enthusiasm for the prospect.

Second Reading, Titus 2:11-14 [Jerusalem Bible, U.K. Catholic, translation]

Our Liturgical Setting: This reading is an interesting choice for Christmas midnight mass, for it focuses on the other coming of Jesus, at the end of time, and on the changes that we are called to make in our lives. So its theological plainness and moral starkness make it a worthy counterpoint to the sentimentality that dominates Christmas. (If there will be an enthronement of the Bambino in the manger at your parish before midnight mass, then this reading deserves all the more emphasis.)

Proclaiming It: Your country's edition of the Lectionary may render this as one very long sentence. That won't do rhetorically. Even though the sentence doesn't end there, insert pauses after "worldly desires," after "devoutly in this age," and after "savior Jesus Christ." Lector Joe Gerhard of New Haven, Connecticut, USA, suggests "raise the pitch of your voice slightly at the end of each phrase. A slight rise in pitch makes it clear that there is still more to come, allowing you to insert pauses, yet still maintain the sense of a single, albeit run-on, sentence." And Edna Boyette of Gainesville, Florida, USA, suggests "that the Lector establish a good eye contact with the congregation delivering the Word as if his/her own." Both ideas seem very smart to me, and I thank Edna and Joe for writing. Your suggestions (about any day's readings) are welcome, too. Clike here to email me your ideas.

Several other commentaries on these passages. All are thoughtful, all quite readable, from the scholarly to the popular.
Links may be incomplete more than a few weeks before the "due date."
Bible Study pages of Saint Charles Borromeo Church, Picayune, Mississippi The Text This Week; links to homilies, art works, movies and other resources on the week's scripture themes. Note the multiple links for readings in Catholic masses at midnight, dawn, and during the day. Reginald Fuller's thorough commentaries on the readings, from the liturgy site of Saint Louis University.
(Caveat lector as of December 3, 2009. Lector's Notes' author is speculating about the exact future URL of SLU's offering, since it's not yet posted. If you get a 404 Not Found, try here).

The Lectionary selections in the frame at the left, if any, are there for your convenience. The publishers of the page in that frame have no connection, except for membership in the one Body of Christ, with the publisher of this page. Likewise the publishers of the pages on the links above.
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Last modified: December 3, 2009