Feast of the Nativity: Mass During the Night

“For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord” 

Jesus is indeed the reason for the season, and so as we glory in the Lord we are moved by the Holy Spirit to sing Gory to God in the highest!
 
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Those words are also joyfully repeated in the Christmas Hymn, ‘Angels we have heard on High’.  Although we are not singing that hymn this year, we would do well to reflect on its words every year.
 
​Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
 
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be?
Which inspire your heavenly songs?
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
 
Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!

 
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop (Sermo 185: PL 38, 997-999)
Awake, mankind! For your sake God has become man. Awake, you who sleep, rise up from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you. I tell you again: for your sake, God became man. You would have suffered eternal death, had he not been born in time. Never would you have been freed from sinful flesh, had he not taken on himself the likeness of sinful flesh. You would have suffered everlasting unhappiness, had it not been for this mercy. You would never have returned to life, had he not shared your death. You would have been lost if he had not hastened to your aid. You would have perished, had he not come.
 
Let us then joyfully celebrate the coming of our salvation and redemption. Let us celebrate the festive day on which he who is the great and eternal day came from the great and endless day of eternity into our own short day of time. He has become our justice, our sanctification, our redemption, so that, as it is written: Let him who glories glory in the Lord.
 
Truth, then, has arisen from the earth: Christ who said, I am the Truth, was born of a virgin. And justice looked down from heaven: because believing in this new-born child, man is justified not by himself but by God. Truth has arisen from the earth: because the Word was made flesh. And justice looked down from heaven: because every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. Truth has arisen from the earth: flesh from Mary. And justice looked down from heaven: for man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.

Justified by faith, let us be at peace with God: for justice and peace have embraced one another. Through our Lord Jesus Christ: for Truth has arisen from the earth. Through whom we have access to that grace in which we stand, and our boast is in our hope of God’s glory. He does not say: “of our glory,” but of God’s glory: for justice has not proceeded from us but has looked down from heaven. Therefore he who glories, let him glory, not in himself, but in the Lord.
 
For this reason, when our Lord was born of the Virgin, the message of the angelic voices was: Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. For how could there be peace on earth unless Truth has arisen from the earth, that is, unless Christ, were born of our flesh? And he is our peace who made the two into one: that we might be men of good will, sweetly linked by the bond of unity.
 
Let us then rejoice in this grace, so that our glorying may bear witness to our good conscience by which we glory, not in ourselves, but in the Lord. That is why Scripture says: He is my glory, the one who lifts up my head. For what greater grace could God have made to dawn on us than to make his only Son become the son of man, so that a son of man might in his turn become the son of God?
 
Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and see whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace.
 
The Gloria that we sing was first sung by the Angels, the first Christmas hymn on earth that is being sung from all eternity in heaven. It is the ancient and venerable hymn in which the Church, assembled in the Holy Spirit, praises and entreats God the Father and the Lamb. Every note, every word rightly rises from the hearts of the sons and daughters of God in thanksgiving for the mystery of the incarnation. 
 
Pope Benedict XVI, during his homily at Christmas Midnight Mass in 2010 said: “The Church, in the Gloria, has extended this song of praise, which the angels sang in response to the event of the holy night, into a hymn of joy at God's glory - 'we praise you for your glory' ". In the Gloria, we praise the love and goodness of God who does not hesitate to send his only son as the savior and redeemer in the mystery of the incarnation. God’s love and goodness are made visible and tangible in the birth of Christ. 
 
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will.
 
We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory,
Lord God, heavenly King, O God almighty Father. 
 
Lord Jesus Christ, only Begotten son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,
You take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
You take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer;
You are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
 
For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit. in the glory of God the Father. Amen.