Once they saw they understood what had been told them concerning this Child

The Gospel has interesting bookends. Toward the beginning of the Gospel we read of the Humble Shepherds who heard, went in haste, saw, understood, and proclaimed what they saw.

At the other end of the Gospel we have Peter and John running to the tomb. They heard, went in haste, and saw. At that moment John believed.

It took the rest of the apostles a little while to catch on. Thomas, incredulous, would not believe until he saw the living Christ.

For forty days Jesus worked with his apostles and disciples. He appeared to them, healed them, and reassured them. He gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit, and ten days after His ascension the power of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled in them and they began to preach —“ to proclaim Him.

St. Paul tells Titus:

He saved us through the baptism of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit He lavished on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, that we might be justified by His grace and become heirs, in hope, of eternal life.

Brothers and sisters,

The poor shepherds were there at the beginning. They heard, went in haste, saw, understood, and proclaimed Him. Later the apostles and disciples, aided by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, heard, went in haste, saw, understood, and proclaimed Him.

Today our Holy Church celebrates the witness of those men, the memory of the humble shepherds who took action.

[They] returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.

Now it has been told to you. You have been baptized, you have received the Holy Spirit, the Word of God has been proclaimed to you. We are past the bookends of the Bible and into the reality of life lived as witnesses to the Word, to the Gospel.

Witnessing is a living and breathing thing. Your witness is alive and vital —“ and God, while He doesn’t necessarily need it, asks it of you, for through you all men will come to be saved, not on their own merit but because of His mercy.

From St. Matthew:

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

From St. Mark:

He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.

And From St. Luke:

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

You are witnesses of these things. The Bible is replete with references to the Lord. Co-eternal with the Father He came as man, taught us, healed us, suffered for us, died for us, was buried, and was raised as our hope and as St. Paul tells us the first fruits of all those who have died.

Jeremiah began today with a simple instruction:

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, proclaim it on distant coasts.

The shepherds in their humility got it right. The apostles, some incredulous, got it right. We too must get it right.

We must hear, go in haste, see, understand, and proclaim what we see. Through us, our witness, all will be brought to Jesus Christ, regenerated through baptism, and made alive in Him.