26/12/2018

“The Silent Of ‘The Silent Night’”

It’s the 2018 Christmas Eve message at the St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Tokyo.

Whenever my husband and I are the out-of-towners to spend the Christmas holiday here in Tokyo, we would make a point to participate the midnight Mass on the Christmas Eve.

This year, Christmas 2018 marked the most meaningful Christmas ever for us. First, on 23rd December, the 4th Sunday in Avent, we were blessed to listen to Pastor Symington’s (Tokyo Union Church) sermon that expounded scriptures from Psalms 111 as the Psalms for the lowly, and in line with the scripture reading on the gospel of Luke 1:39-55 to explain that we, as Christians also need to have room in our hearts to reverent Mary.

In the afternoon, my husband was led to read and meditate on Luke chapter one again concurrently with the Revelation chapter 12 that prepared our hearts for Midnight Mass the next day.

Christmas Eve is the real ‘Holy Night’ for the season. The church structure has had a very high ceiling but with a small mezzanine floor for the choir team; the welcoming but not the suffering Christ was before the huge Cross on the wall.

When the altar boys are holding candles leading all Catholic priests clothed in white walking toward the platform, the entire sanctuary was filled with strong sense and spirit of reverence.

When the choir team led the sing of the Christmas Carols from the mezzanine floor, it was like the real ‘Angel Sings.’ After the opening prayers, scripture reading and the responsorial Psalm 95 was the message for the night.

The Catholic priest gave a brief history from its first performance in the Christmas Eve 1818 and the popularity of the Christmas Carol, ‘The Silent Night.’

I was a bit disappointed as the message was more factual than spiritual. However, I was blessed to be able to experience the silent in my spirit when I start to sing the carol, then I was able to be still inside the Catholic church and know that my High Priest is the LORD of my life.

The closing Hymn of ‘St Thomas,” has always brought me tears at the Christmas Eve Mass.

Blessings.