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Following is the homily at the Cathedral Parish of St. Raphael in Madison given at Christmas Midnight Mass by Msgr. James Bartylla, diocesan administrator.
There is often an accusation made against Christianity that is called the “Scandal of Particularity”. In its essence, it emphasizes the difficulty of believing a single man (Jesus) could be the Savior of all mankind and the only way to the Father.
It argues that it is “unreasonable” or “fanciful” to believe in this salvific universality of Jesus Christ. After all, he was born in Bethlehem, during a census by Caesar Augustus, under the governorship of Quirinius, and raised in Nazareth? How could the Savior of the whole world, including Rome, Greece, Persia, and Africa, and for all time, be from little Bethlehem?