Midnight Mass: Bishop Strickland says ‘prepare room in our hearts for Jesus’

Published 7:00 pm Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Although there is much darkness in the world, Jesus Christ shines the light.

That was the message of Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler as he welcomed not only Catholic parishioners but all congregants from denominations in the area to Midnight Mass early Christmas morning at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Tyler.

“On this blessed night, we rejoice because our Savior has been born,” Strickland said to the packed cathedral, decorated for Christmastime with evergreen trees adorned with white lights, a nativity scene and awash with red and white poinsettias.

His message incorporated the Christmas carol “Joy to the World.”

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King,” Strickland said. “Those words … let them resound every day in our hearts. Christ is King. We have presidents, prime ministers and even kings and queens in the world, but for us it is always Joy to the World, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing.

“Let our hearts prepare him room because if I and if all of us do not prepare room in our hearts for our Savior and King, His love is wasted. He came to dwell in our hearts. Let us prepare Him room.”

He added, “The light of Christ is simply too powerful, too bright. He is light from light.

“May the God of infinite goodness, who by the Incarnation of his Son has driven darkness from the world and by that glorious Birth has illumined this most holy night, drive far from you the darkness of vice and illumine your hearts with the light of virtue.”

The parish was founded in 1878 and the current church was dedicated in 1935. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is the mother church of the Cathloic Diocese of Tyler (33 counties in Northeast Texas).

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