Protect the Life of Christ in You - Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermon

0:00 Peace be with you. Friends, we come to this great feast of the Holy Family, which follows immediately upon Christmas. And I think that juxtaposition itself is very interesting. So the first Sunday after Christmas, the Church wants us to think about the Holy Family. Now, take it out of a merely sentimental context. I think there's a deeper theological reason. The child has come. So the Christ child, the Son of God, the Savior, but who comes as a little baby, who therefore requires what? The protection and nurturance of a family. We're asked to think right away about those figures, Mary and Joseph, who surround and protect this child. Now, this will be of great spiritual significance for us because Christmas, as you know, is finally about the birth of Christ in us. So what do we need to protect that Christ child being born in us?

0:57 I think that's what this juxtaposition is about. So what I want to do is make a really explicit connection to Christmas, but especially with this idea of the child that requires protection. Now, to do this, I'm going to draw attention to a little thought about, but fourth telling of the Christmas story in the New Testament. In St. John, we have the austerely metaphysical account, right? the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Okay, we know that. Then we know the two historical narrative accounts in Matthew and Luke. So Matthew's account has the star and has the magi and has the massacre of the innocents. Luke's account is distinctive because it has the census and the stable and the shepherds and the angels. Usually when we think about Christmas, we kind of mash together Matthew and Luke. But we have those three more familiar accounts.

1:52 But then there's a fourth one. It's found in the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation. You say, the book of Revelation? How's that about Christmas? Well, look how the 12th chapter of Revelation begins. A great portent appeared in heaven. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. Well, who is this? People read her as symbolic of Israel and so on, But, you know, Catholic interpretation has long seen her as an evocation of the Blessed Mother. The 12 stars in her head, where there's the 12 tribes of Israel, because she kind of sums up the longing of Israel. And this interpretation is given strength by what follows. Listen, she was pregnant and crying out in birth pangs in the agony of giving birth. So here's Mary, the mother of God, about to give birth.

2:52 What are we talking about here but Christmas? Not in an austerely metaphysical way, not through historical narrative, but through this kind of strange apocalyptic symbolism. You know, you might say it's looking at the Christmas story from the highest vantage point, from the vantage point of God. How does God see what's happening? So the woman about to give birth. But now here's what I want you to focus on. Now listen. Wow. That's a very powerful, frightening image, isn't it? Mary, the mother of God, about to give birth, you think, well, how wonderful!

3:49 The Son of God is being born into the world. Angels will sing, the shepherds will visit, the little drummer boy will come. What a wonderful, wonderful moment. Yeah, true enough. But when we squint at this scene through the lens of an apocalyptic imagination, what do we see? that from the beginning, the birth of this child is opposed. By forces we can see, but behind them, and this is so typical of the Bible, both Old Testament and New, behind those forces we can see, there's an unseen force of malevolence. There's the enemy of the human race to give him his ancient name. The one who stands opposed to God's intentions. The dragon about to devour the child.

4:47 That's the great dark power that is opposed to God's entry into the world. Does that make sense? Now, does he have, as I suggest, lots of visible minions around? Yeah, lots of them. Lots of them. But he's the power behind all of them. And he's the one who stands opposed to the Son of God. You know, with that in mind, by the way, take a look back at Luke's more familiar Christmas story, and you'll see it's not just a nice little tale you tell to kids. How does it begin? Well, one of the dragon's minions, Caesar Augustus, the emperor of the whole world, calls for a census. He's expressing his domineering power over the world. Because of that, Mary and Joseph are chased out of their home and they've got to make their way to Bethlehem.

5:43 When they seek shelter so Mary can give birth, they are turned away. The baby is wrapped in swaddling clothes. Well, see, the church fathers didn't miss this. They saw the swaddling clothes around the baby as evocative of the varial claws that will wrap his dead body some 30 years later after it comes down from the cross. He's placed in the manger, the place where the animals eat, because at the climax of his life, he'll be offered as his body and blood. His blood poured out on the cross, his body offered on the cross, will be presented as food for the world. The point is, there are overtones and echoes of the opposition to Christ from the beginning, and they come throughout that story.

6:37 The Revelation's account of the red dragon states it very bluntly and clearly, but you can see it echoed elsewhere. Now, are we meant to be discouraged by all this? No, no. And again, the book of Revelation is our key. The child we hear is born and then immediately is snatched away from the dragon and brought up to reign on a throne in the presence of God. What's the point, everybody? Yes, Christ was opposed. Listen now. Yes, Christ being born in us will be opposed. Don't be surprised by that. Expect it. That when Christ, the Christ child, as it were, is born in you, when you're being transformed into Christ, expect opposition.

7:36 But that child, that kingly child, is more powerful than anything that's in the world, is more powerful even than the great dragon that threatens him. Listen to this now as the book of Revelation account goes on. War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the angels fought back, and they were defeated. There it is. It's such a liberating message. The war breaks out between the spiritual powers, good and evil.

8:13 The good forces are led by this baby king, and they win the victory. That's the confidence, everybody, we should have, the confidence we should have in the spiritual power that can overcome anything that opposes Christ being born in us. Okay? Now, with that in mind, that's that great Book of Revelation Christmas story. With that in mind, let's look at the gospel for today, this Feast of the Holy Family. When the Magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord, there's one of the good angels, appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother, lead Egypt, stay there until I tell you. Why? Because Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him. Now, link this, everybody, link this passage to what we just heard.

9:13 From the moment of his birth, there's this great dragon. symbolic of the dark power, the dark invisible power, the enemy of the human race. As I've been saying, that power has minions throughout the world, Caesar Augustus being one of them. And here we see one of his nastier minions, Herod, this pathetic figure, spending his whole life clinging to power, destroying his enemies, even his own family, putting his own sons to death. And he's threatened because he's heard about this baby king.

9:56 And this is too much. Even though he's an old man, the end of his life, it's too much. He's got to wipe out this child. And so we know the story, this desperate, desperate, horrific act where he sends his troops into Bethlehem to murder any child under two. The massacre of the innocents. Yeah, that's the red dragon's minion. That's the red dragon's servant. but God snatches the Christ child away from the dragon. And now, listen again to this story.

10:36 Joseph, wake up. Take the child. Herod's after him. Take the child into Egypt. And so Joseph, and again, I find it so beautiful about St. Joseph. He never speaks, never once in the scripture, never speaks. He just does what he's told He obeys the higher voice Takes a child Imagine his fear Imagine the danger of this He knows that the king of that area is after him With the full force of his army Makes his way All travel was difficult in the ancient world But to cross the Sinai and to get to Egypt Joseph here is the great protector of the Christ child I've mentioned now, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus long ago, yes, but it's also about the birth of Jesus in you.

11:36 Christ wants to be born in you. And maybe that life, that new spiritual life, begins as something very vulnerable, like a baby. Is there a red dragon eager to devour it? Yes, there is. Count on it. Bank on it. Does the red dragon have minions? Yeah, lots of them that don't want Christ flourishing in you. The good news is that God, listen, using his own minions, using his own secondary causes, finds a way to protect that Christ life in us. Can I suggest to everyone, I think it's what the Church wants us to see on this feast. Be aware of St. Joseph especially.

12:31 Silent St. Joseph. Faithful St. Joseph. Listening to the higher voice. I love what José María Escrivá said, that the greatest male saint in the history of the church is not a pope or a cardinal, an archbishop, a bishop, a priest, a friar. The greatest male saint in the history of the church is a layman, is a husband, is a worker.

13:00 But he's the patron of the universal church. What's his job? It was to protect the Christ child long ago, And now, now, it is to protect the Christ life that is being born in us. Don't be naive. The dragon is around, you bet. Don't be naive about the minions that he uses. They're everywhere. But can I urge everybody on this Feast of the Holy Family, this Feast of the Protectors of Jesus, that we look especially to Joseph.

13:37 Go to Joseph. Ask for his intercession. Ask for his help that he might cultivate the Christ life in us and keep the dragon at bay.