CHRISTMAS
INTRODUCTION
In most
Christian homes, we have built the crèche to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Maybe, without reflecting too much, we have contemplated this infant, the son
of Mary, led by the tenderness that a newborn always inspires, expressed by
songs, meals and pleasant words of congratulations: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
All this
is beautiful but it is accidental. The contemplation of the mystery of
Christmas as the Word, is much more important. We
understand by Word the second person of the Most Holy Trinity, who is the Son
who has become man out of love for us.
Today’s
gospel has briefly said to us, in a theological way, what Christmas is about: The
Word was God... And the Word became
flesh and made his dwelling among us (Jn 1:1,14).
We all
know what the human word is. The word is the precious gift by means of which we
communicate with one another. It is the gift by which others know what we think
and what motivates us. The word is the expression of our thought.
With the
word we declare to others, our love, admiration, respect or contempt. With the
word we destroy or we build and we show our degree of maturity. By means of the
word, we can manifest our happiness or our pain. Many other things could be
said about the human word. All that and more, we can apply to Jesus who is the Word made man.
Let us
now focus our attention on what the gospel we have just heard says to us. It is
a wonderful theological gospel, full of doctrine, of which I will try to give
you some ideas to help you in your Christian life.
The
Word became flesh (Jn
This infant
that we contemplate in the
SOME
QUALITIES OF THIS WORD
These
words remind us of the first words of Genesis.
We firmly
believe that Jesus is God.
This is
the fundamental reason why millions of people have followed, follow and will
continue to follow and to give their lives for Jesus.
All things came to be through him, and without
him nothing came to be (Jhn 1:3).
Everything
was created though Him. Created things can lead us to the Creator. If we admire
this created world, which we enjoyed, it is thanks to God, who created it through
the Word. This Word is Jesus, the Son of Mary that today we contemplate, full
of joy, in the
What came to be
through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness (Jn 1:3-5).
Jesus is
the light that shines in the darkness of the world to bring the revelation of
God to men and women. Jesus, with his Word, has made the Father known to us.
His person is the revelation of the Father because he
who sees Jesus, sees the Father. The
only Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him (Jn
But to those who did accept him he gave power to
become children of God, to those who believe in his name (Jn
Jesus
incarnated Himself so that we could become children of God. When the apostles
asked Jesus to show them how to pray, His first words were: Our Father in
heaven (Mt 6:9); and
Here and
now, in the Eucharist, we have the opportunity to penetrate in the mystery of
Christ, as the Word of God.
Whenever
we meet to celebrate the Eucharist, we have to realise that the bread and the
wine, turned into the body and blood of Christ, are the Word,
that became flesh out of love for us, as
Lord
Jesus, I give you my most heart felt thanks for having come into the world to
reveal something of heaven to me, and to make me a son of God.
Thank
you, Jesus!
MAY
YOU HAVE A GOOD CHRISTMAS DAY!!