First Reading
Mass During the Night (Isaiah 9:1-6)
Mass at Dawn (Isaiah: 62:11-12)

1. “For a child is born to us, a son is given us. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace.”

Isaiah said this in the First Reading for Midnight Mass. Would you expect to see someone born in a stable to be named God-Hero? Ok, why was he? Who would be the most likely candidate to be born in a stable, the child of a president or a homeless person’s child? Today who is actually born in stable-like places?

2. The First Reading for Christmas Mass at Dawn says, “They shall be called a holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you shall be called ‘frequented,’ a city that is not forsaken.”Why will they be called holy? Is God with them constantly? What is it that Emmanuel (meaning God with us) does for all people? What about for you? 

Second Reading
Mass During the Day (Hebrews 1:1-6)

1. “In time past, God spoke in partial and various ways.” What are some of the various ways God speaks to you? Do you look for God in the lowly/painful events of your life as well as the great ones and everything in between?
 
2. What does St. Paul mean when he says that the Son is the very “imprint of the Father’s being”? What would a person look like (be like, act like) if they are like an imprint of Christ? Could Pope Francis, or your grandma, and/or Syrian refugees be imprints of Christ? Where do you find imprints of Christ?

Gospel
Mass during the Night (Luke 2:1-14)

1. God’s relationship with humans rises to the topmost level with the arrival of Christ. But he lives with constant rejection, and loves the humble and the poor of the world! Outside of his family why were the shepherds the first to meet Jesus? If you want to find God today where might you start looking?

2. Pope Francis tells a story about the shepherds at the stable, the night Jesus was born. What happened to the one shepherd who was poor and had nothing to give? How can “feeling loved” change things for the better? Can we as individuals, as a country, and as a Church, change chose things that need to be changed with love?

A charming legend relates that at the birth of Jesus the shepherds hurried to the stable with different gifts. Each brought what he had; some brought the fruits of their labor, others some precious item. But … there was one shepherd who had nothing to give. He was extremely poor; he had no gift to present. … He stood apart, embarrassed. … Saint Joseph and Our Lady found it hard to receive all those gifts, especially Mary, who had to hold the baby.

Seeing that shepherd with empty hands, she asked him to draw near. And she put the baby Jesus in his arms. That shepherd … became aware of … holding in his arms the greatest gift of all time. He looked at his hands, those hands that seemed to him always empty; they had become the cradle of God. He felt himself loved and, overcoming his embarrassment, began to show Jesus to the others, for he could not keep for himself the gift of gifts.

Pope Francis, Midnight Mass
Dec. 24, 2019