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In the Christmas story, the absolute key people are all women, and without them nothing could happen. Even our “Hail Mary” mostly comes from Elizabeth saying, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” And it is Elizabeth who brings forth John the Baptist, who prepares the way for Jesus. And it is Mary who is the birth mother of Jesus. But, as the Christmas story advances, the women are largely silent and in the background. As the Christmas story goes on, it is the shepherds and the Wise Men who get into the limelight. It is the shepherds (all men) and it is the “Wise” (all men) who get the focus.

It has been suggested that, had we heard more from the women, things would have been greatly different. I am sure you have heard at least the suggestion that, had we had three Wise Women instead of three Wise Men, seven things would have happened. Number one, they would have asked for directions. Number two, they would have arrived on time. Number three, they would have helped deliver the baby. Number four, they would have cleaned out the stable. Number five, they would have made a casserole. Number six, they would have brought practical gifts. And number seven, today we probably would have peace on earth. But the truth is, for Mary, the key woman, how difficult! How very difficult!

A pastor friend of mine was in the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, a few months ago and a group of troops, Green Berets and Special Ops who had been spending the last two years in Afghanistan, were waiting to change planes. He got talking to them about how it was going. One of their officers said, “You know what is going on? We are being asked to bring democracy and democratic values to these people and there are two major problems. Problem number one is it is a system they have no experience of, and democracy is a system which their culture and their religion preaches against. And it is a system which they don’t think they need. Problem number two is the men have the education and the power and the ones who do all the work in that land are the women.“ This officer ended up, “Sir, you wouldn’t ever want to be a woman in that part of the world.”

For Mary, it was the same or probably worse, in giving birth to her child, in growing up, and in living her life. It was the same or it was worse. How difficult! How difficult! And let’s not leave Joseph out either. We look at Joseph, and scripture tells us next to nothing about him and what happened to him. But it could not have been easy. He had to live by faith with very little help or comfort along the way and no publicity whatsoever. First of all, with his young pregnant bride-to-be, he was looked on as scandalous in polite society. Then, he had to flee under cover of night while slaughter was taking place all around him. Then, he had to live, at least for three years, as a refugee in a foreign country. And then his wife thought she had given birth to the Son of God..... You think you have parenting issues! At one point, we know from the Bible, although Joseph isn’t mentioned, that the mother of Jesus and his relatives went to stop him from speaking and to bring him home because they thought he was crazy. It is quite possible that Joseph wasn’t there but had sent them. And finally, Joseph had to see his son publicly arrested and executed. How difficult! How difficult!

Now, here is the lesson. When we look at the heroic figures in the Christmas story, when we look at Joseph and Mary and Jesus, we find realism. We find Bible realism. We find Christian realism. We find that none of us, none of us are exempted or excused from difficulty, disappointment and even death. Life’s not ever easily settled. Life is never morally clear and simple and easy, right through old age and up to the end of our lives. And here is the problem. Somehow, most of us and especially most of us in the United States, have gotten the idea in the back of our minds that if we are relatively good people and if we follow the rules and if we are at least a little bit religious, then we should be exempt and excused from tragedy and difficulty and hard times. Now, we never say that and we never admit that even to ourselves. But when something terrible happens to a very young person, something terrible happens to a very healthy person, something terrible happens to someone who is particularly close to us, then we say or at least we feel strongly, “That’s not fair. That’s not right. God has ripped us off because life is supposed to be fair. Life is supposed to be fair.” Oh, really? Oh, really?

It is interesting, when the Buddha listed the four noble truths of Buddhism, the first one was, “Life is difficult.” That’s the theory. And the real life figures of the Bible give us not just the theory, but give us the facts. Real life figures who are not only good but they are great, and look what happens to them. John the Baptist, arrested and beheaded. Jesus, arrested and executed. Mary and Joseph with their very hard lives. When I was growing up, Christmas was Christmas and Easter was Easter, and the two were never connected. And, I don’t think, growing up, I ever heard a preacher connect the two of them, and I know Sister Mary Frances, when she taught us the catechism questions and answers in the fourth through eight grade never connected Christmas and Easter. But, it is amazing when you look at Christmas carols. Here are some of the lines in the Christmas carols we sing and will be singing during this season: “This Baby was born for to die....Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb.... The wood of the manger becomes the wood of the cross.... The cave of Bethlehem becomes the burial cave of Jerusalem.... All to bring us healing in his risen wings, to bring healing and hope and freedom from fear.” How does that work? It is not because life becomes easy but because we will never, we will never, we will never.... be alone. There is no pit so deep that God is not there already. There is no sorrow so painful that God is not there.

We really get two lessons as we celebrate Christmas. The first is the lessons from the angel, said first to Mary and then to the shepherds. “Fear not. Calm down. Fear not.” And that doesn’t mean that the hard times go away. What is the saying? “If you want to make God laugh, make plans?” It’s not going to all go our way. But even in absence, even in loss, even in aloneness, things that we rightfully and hopefully avoid as much as we can, at the same time, even in those things, we are not alone, and even in those things, they are part of our journey that leads to real hope, leads to life that really lasts. And through all of it, in the hardest of problems, our God, when there is no room in the inn, sustains us and walks with us. Emmanuel, God with us! That is the first lesson.

The second lesson is about self-fulfillment. You go to the bookstore and you can get any self-help book from “I’m OK. You’re OK” to “Dr. Atkins Diet.” We are always looking for self-fulfillment. The Christmas figures and the Christmas story tell us that self-fulfillment for the Christian and for the follower of Jesus comes as a by-product of the fulfillment of others. And Christ teaches us to focus on meeting the needs of others first. He says, “Don’t worry about what you are going to wear, how you are going to dress. God will take care of that. What you have to worry about is those who are in need.” And that will bring us self-fulfillment.

Let me tell you a story that more than half of you probably know. Last week, Father Brian Timoney went out to Oakley to hear confessions, and the people there were distraught. They were expected this Monday to give wrapped Christmas presents to over nine hundred young children. And during the week they got a call from the Marine Corps that annually brings those gifts to say that “we can’t bring you anything. This year, the returns are too small.” They were absolutely beside themselves. This past Saturday at our Saturday evening Mass, we announced that to people. We announced it at our Sunday Masses. We priests said, “Nine hundred wrapped gifts? Next to impossible, because we have gotten gifts for all kinds of people already. We have filled a truckload with food. On and on and on....” Monday morning, fourteen cars and vans left on a convoy from here to Oakley with close to three thousand gifts, all wrapped, plus $4750 to help with further gifts. And we found there that the Salvation Army had the same problem. They had nothing. So, the rest was given to them and to the Next Step Learning Center in Oakland. Amazing! The exciting thing was to see the delight, the joy of those doing this, giving one or two gifts, three or four gifts, adding up to three thousand gifts, the delight of those bringing them out, finding that it’s really true. Self-fulfillment comes through fulfilling others and blessing others.

So, this evening we celebrate small miracles that we ourselves can do. And we celebrate the big miracle, the gift of Jesus Christ to our world from our loving God. Merry Christmas.