Rome, 25 December 2025 — The Redemptorist community at the General Curia joyfully celebrated the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. At the Shrine of Perpetual Help, Fr. Ivel Mendanha, CSsR, General Consultor, presided at Midnight Mass.
In his homily, Fr. Ivel drew attention to the transforming power of Christmas as a symbol of peace and brotherhood. Through the moving memory of the Christmas truce of 1914, when enemy soldiers laid down their arms to meet as brothers, he emphasised that peace is not a utopia, but a concrete choice that comes from the heart of man. Christmas, with the birth of Jesus, reminds us that God gives himself as a gift to teach us to overcome hatred and build a world of justice, love and harmony.
Fr. Ivel invited participants to live this peace every day, through gestures of forgiveness, kindness and solidarity, thus becoming instruments of the Kingdom of God on earth. Peace, he said, is not simply the absence of conflict, but the fullness of life, a gift that everyone can share with their neighbour.
The celebration was a moment of deep spirituality and reflection, in which the Redemptorist community renewed its commitment to be witnesses of hope and builders of peace in the world.
Below is the full text of Fr. Ivel’s homily.
Homily: Christmas Midnight Mass 2025
It was Christmas Eve, the year 1914, the time: the 1st World War. The Germans and the English faced each other from the trenches filled with mud and rats. In the English trenches letters and cards arrived from the homes of the soldiers and this cheered them up a little. By midnight some of the soldiers began to sing a few Christmas carols and popular Christmas songs, in their tired and weary voices. Then suddenly a sentry shouted excitedly: ‘Listen!’ They listened and heard that the Germans were singing too. A short while later two brave soldiers, one from each side, met out in the open. More joined them. From a military point of view it made no sense. As soldiers they were supposed to fight each other, to kill each other, they were told to hate and hate they did. To stop suddenly and be friends just did not make any sense. And yet, it did, for there was a greater force than armies at work at the war front that night.
When Christmas day dawned, soldiers with smiling faces were strolling around No-Man’s land. There wasn’t a trace of hatred to be seen. They exchanged food, souvenirs and cigarettes. About mid-day as the friendship was growing, a football match between the two sides started up. But it did not last too long. The news of this camaraderie reached the generals, and sharp orders were issued to put an end to the whole thing. The officers reluctantly herded the men back into their trenches. It was all over. On Christmas night the war had started all over again.
If this proves nothing else, it proves the power of Christmas.
The Power of Christmas: It is the Power of Peace, the Power that results when one is willing to go beyond oneself, to transcend oneself. It is the Power that transforms, changes, brings life. It is the Power that we all share, that we all have, that we all have been blessed with. It is the Power that we celebrate tonight. It is the Power of God.
This was the Peace that the Prophets foretold as we heard read all through the Advent season. The Prophet of Advent is Isaiah. All the 3 prophets who make up the Book of the Prophet Isaiah form one whole together. Isaiah is considered the greatest of the prophets, and his writings deserve to be one of the principal sources of reflection during advent. The prophet offers hope in the midst of tragedy, despair, and destruction. He can foresee the day of a new city, new life, a new covenant, and the renewed presence of God. Isaiah exhorts all to remain faithful to the Lord and to watch, wait, and expect his coming in order to share fully in his approaching kingdom. There is no reason to live in fear, the prophet proclaims. The best approach is to long for the new era, to hunger for it, to remain joyful, and to rejoice in the daily coming of the Lord into everyday life.
The Prophet Isaiah lived in a real world, and was just as dismayed by its horrors and injustices as we are. Yet the three prophets had a dream of a new world, a world free from injustice and war. Through faith in God, they were able to rise above their dismay. What saved them from despair was their messianic vision and their sense of our capacity for repentance. History is not a blind alley. There is always a way out – through repentance, through turning to God.
The marvellous vision of the peaceable kingdom, in which all violence has been overcome and all people live in loving unity with nature, calls for its realisation in our daily lives. Instead of being an escapist dream, it challenges us to anticipate what it promises. Every time we forgive a neighbour, every time we make a child smile, every time we show compassion to a suffering person, take care of animals, prevent pollution, and work for peace and justice among peoples and nations, we are making the vision come true.
We must open our hearts to the dream which the prophets cherished of a world rid of evil by human effort and the grace of God. Jesus had a word for the new world. He called it ‘the Kingdom of God’. He inaugurated that very Kingdom. He wants his followers to dedicate themselves to the building of that kingdom.
Ordinary people help to spread that Kingdom by being kind, truthful, honest, just, and so on. Even though it is a struggle that we will never win completely, the struggle is good for us. It awakens everything that is best and precious within us.
Isaiah’s vision lives on in our midst as a task for today and a promise for tomorrow.
Shalom means Peace in Hebrew but is far richer a word than our English word for Peace. Shalom is not merely the absence of war or dissension. It is something deeper and richer. It means a completeness, a state of well-being, a state of right relationship with God, with each other and with creation. A state of inner calm. Is this state of inner calm, of Shalom, of Peace a possibility? Yes, indeed, that is precisely the message of Christmas.
God in Jesus came among us as a fragile baby showing us the way to Peace, He empowered us to the possibility of having peace. Yes, he gave us the Power to bring peace, to enjoy peace, to share peace and to live in completeness and wholeness.
The message of Christmas is precisely this, that God gave of himself, God shared his life, in Jesus with us. The Christmas story is about The Giving of Oneself, the transcending of one’s selfish desires and the giving of oneself to the other. Mary gave of herself to the Spirit of God. Joseph transcended his fears and gave of himself to God’s plan and Jesus gave of himself, stripping himself of his divine dignity and embraced our life, our fragility, our pain and suffering in the little baby of Bethlehem. This is what brought about Peace. This is what makes the midnight of Christmas so magical, this is what makes Christmas day the world over so special, so enchanting, so exhilarating, that we wait and wait for Christmas day. We are willing to share, to laugh, to embrace, to celebrate, to yes, give of ourselves, to transcend our selfish interests on this most special day of the year.
But then is this Peace a possibility when there is so much of war, hatred, anger, bitterness on the world scene, in our country, in our state, in our city, in our parish, on our street and perhaps even in some of our families? Is this peace a possibility. Yes, it is. This is precisely the message of Christmas. We have the Power of Christmas with us. The Power of Peace, the Power of the Lord, the Power to bring peace and make peace. Even if it be for a few minutes, we have been empowered by the Lord Jesus himself. St. Athanasius says, God in Jesus became one of us, so that we may become like him. The Divine God became human so that we humans may be divinised. The practical meaning is simple: that in the incarnation, God becoming one of us, a little baby, from that first Christmas the whole human race has been empowered to do what God does, to bring Peace, to share Peace, to make Peace and to enjoy the fruits of Peace: well-being and happiness.
So, my dear friends, let us all as tonight, today, Christmas day, realize the divinity in us. Let us release the Power of Christmas within us, the power that the soldiers enjoyed in the midst of the heat and blood of battle on that Christmas day in 1914. Let us be realistic, it may not last for the whole week but at least for today, let us make peace, share peace and bring Peace among us. Ask Yourself, whom do you find the most difficult to be with, to share with, whom do you hate the most, he or she, let the Power of Christmas take over you, surprise yourself, this is the opportunity to so, call them up, go over and wish, whatever the consequences. You will be the better for it, You will be the happier for it, You will experience the Power of Christmas, the Power of the Lord, the Power of the Prince of Peace himself.
As we bow before the Prince of Peace tonight, Jesus in his crib, let our one prayer be, “Lord that I may be filled with your Peace, Lord that I may be an instrument of your peace, Lord that I may be you peace, Lord, Prince of Peace empower me with your Peace.”
Amen.
