There is, with faith, an accompanying question: 'What am I to do?': Archbishop Nichols homily for Christmas Midnight Mass

One can get very philosophical about the relation between parts and wholes (Husserl's Third Investigation, for the cognoscenti). As far as the media are concerned, the point is rather simple. Sometimes the part that is covered by the media, or quoted in a news release, does not give a full picture of the whole. I think this is true of Archbishop Nichols' Midnight Mass homily, which has been criticised here.

The full text of the homily can be found on the website of Westminster Diocese (here, though I do not think this will provide a permanent link) and at Totalcatholic.com here. As one can see from reading the whole, the reference to the situation in Bethlehem was an exemplification of a general statement made in the homily, rather than being a major focus of the homily. Whilst it is not unreasonable that this reference should attract comment, it is a shame that it has hidden the rest of the homily from media attention.

....Without Jesus Christ there is no Gospel, no revelation of the immense love of God for each one of us, or of the true meaning of our lives. Yet without our witness to this truth, the Gospel will not be known.

Christ is central to the Gospel and we are essential to its proclamation. In this God, our creator, is dependent on us, his creation. God is waiting for our 'yes', just as he waited for Mary's. God needs our permission for the Gospel to be proclaimed....

There is, with faith, an accompanying question: 'What am I to do?'

Three things.

We are to see clearly the reality of the world around us. As we look at the real circumstances of Christ's birth so too we look with fresh eyes on the anxieties and insecurity which touch many peoples' lives. We are to be freshly attentive to the needs of those who, like Jesus himself, are displaced and in discomfort. We are to see more clearly all those things which disfigure our world, the presence of the sins of greed and arrogance, of self-centred ambition and manipulation of others, of the brutal lack of respect for human life in all its vulnerability. While recognising how complex moral dilemmas can become, we are to name these things for what they are. We too live 'in a land of deep shadow.'....

Then, secondly, we are to look with fresh wonder at those closest to us, seeing again their goodness and their loyalty, their readiness to forgive and their desire to care for us. In offering our 'yes' to the Lord, we are to respond together with kindness and forgiveness, with generosity and compassion to those in need....

St Paul also points to the third aspect of our task. He tells us that hope is the key. We live in a world in which the prospects for the future, in the terms the world can offer, are distinctly shaky. Yet we find an unshakable hope in our Saviour. As we celebrate his birth we remember that he is to come again. And it is this coming that gives us our enduring hope. St Paul tells us that we can only fulfil the duties of faith if we are a people who 'are waiting in hope for the blessings which will come with the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.'