Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noel, Buon Natale! A blessed and happy Christmas to everyone.
Every year we relive the wonderful Christmas story, of a newborn baby in a trough, a mother holding her child in her arms, her husband Joseph watching closely. It’s a story of angels singing, and shepherds running over the hillside to tell the child they love him. Of astrologers following a star across the wilderness to fall on their knees to worship this child. It’s the world’s greatest love story.
The Gospel according to John summed up the magnificent story in a single line: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
Consider the beginnings of the human family, in Genesis: man and woman walked with God, had a close friendship with God and one another. Somehow man and woman lost that friendship. Genesis describes very simply yet very powerfully how they tried to hide from God. They fell from grace. They now were at odds with God, one another and the elements of the earth.
But God did not leave us to ourselves. Remember the words of the prophet Isaiah: Can a mother forget her child? And even if she should, I will never forget you. So continued the story of our salvation.
Amid ancient Israel’s triumphs and tragedies, fidelities and infidelities to the covenant, God never reneged on his promises. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Rejoice!
The Word of God for the Christmas liturgies is like a prism through which we find multiple facets of this great mystery of the Incarnation.
Isaiah proclaims glad tidings: the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Paul writes that the grace of God appeared in Jesus Christ who made us “heirs” to the promise of eternal life.
In the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke, the Virgin Mary gave birth to her son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, a feed trough for animals.
The Gospel of John sums up the meaning of Christmas: The Word became flesh. That is God’s greatest gift to us.
Some of us may be stressed out and wondering if a so-called “perfect gift” is really what someone needs or wants.
Speaking of gifts, I remember going to Macy's and asking a saleswoman: I’d like a good perfume for my sister. What do you have? She placed a beautiful bottle on the counter. I asked: how much? $200. I said: I would like to see something less expensive? She showed me another: $150. I said: maybe I wasn’t clear. My sister only expects a “token” gift. I want to see something cheaper. She handed me a mirror.
Some gifts really can transform the lives of the people we love and cost little to nothing: gifts of teaching, of listening and encouraging, of sharing time and skills, of compassion and forgiveness, gifts of faith, hope and love. This kind of gift-giving begins in our own families and workplaces and communities. Enduring gifts that we can always share: gifts that can transform lives.
Back to the Christmas phrase: The Word became flesh. That single act changed our destiny forever. Christmas means not simply God in Bethlehem centuries ago but God within us.Yes, we carry within ourselves Emmanuel, God with us. How? Initially by virtue of the life-giving waters of baptism.
We gather to worship and proclaim the awesome Word of God, to celebrate the presence of the living Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity, and to nourish our life with God in communion.
For we are by grace what Jesus Christ is by nature: sons and daughters of God, heirs to the kingdom of God, called to live a god-like life.
That great truth of our faith, God within us, ought to challenge us always to be a good finder: looking for the good in ourselves, looking for the good in others, looking for the good in all situations in life.
And who is the ultimate good finder. God so loved us that he became one of us. Jesus Christ is that good finder. Jesus had a unique relationship with the God of ancient Israel. He was one with God. He is a God-man, a healer, a teacher, a peacemaker. Think of all the people in the Gospels that Jesus met. Jesus found goodness in all of them.
The promised Messiah has come, He is with us mystically in the word proclaimed and the sacraments celebrated, and He will come again in glory at the end-time.
In the meantime, let us be grateful for God’s immense gift to us: a baby born like ourselves. Jesus has inspired many people to celebrate the miracle of God’s creation. Noteworthy is the primary patron saint of children: Saint Nicholas, the 4th century bishop known for his gifts of food and coins to the needy.
Let us pray this Christmas season that the Lord will help those who doubt to find faith; those who despair to find hope; those who are weak to find courage; those who are sick to find health; those who are sad to find joy; and those who have died or lost loved ones to find eternal life in God. Amen.
