Christ is Born for Us: Christmas 2023
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God…
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son,
full of grace and truth.
—John 1:1-2, 14
In the entrance antiphon for Christmas Mass “in the Night,” the cantors proclaim: “The Lord said to me: ‘You are my son, today I have begotten you.’” Quoting from Psalm 2, these words remind us that the Solemnity of Christmas is about much more than remembering Jesus’ birthday. This is because what we are really celebrating is the truth that—in Jesus of Nazareth—God became a human being. This belief is so essential that to deny it or to try to explain it away is to give up the foundational belief of Christians. This is why Pope Saint Leo the Great, one of the greatest preachers about the mystery of the Incarnation, could say, “Dearly beloved, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.” And so, the Solemnity of Christmas asks us to pause and reflect on what all of this really means.
It is one thing to simply profess the words “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man” (from the Nicene Creed). It is quite another to allow these words to effect a change in our lives. As Cardinal Basil Hume observed, “The words are simple and direct, but their meaning is far beyond our power to comprehend.” Hume continued,
”But it is not flesh and blood that leads us to the truth. It is our Father in heaven who gives us the light to say ‘I do believe’ and with conviction. His touch is gentle. There is no force as he moves us to share his secret thoughts. He, Emmanuel, is God among us, a man to lead us where we truly belong, wrapped in his love for us.”
—from The Mystery of the Incarnation
Although it is something that many of us might take for granted, to say that Jesus is Emmanuel—God-With-Us—requires a profound and dynamic statement of faith. But it is only faith which allows us, like the shepherds and sages of so many centuries ago, to make our way through the darkness to make our way to the manger, even as war, disease, poverty, and the senseless loss of innocent life can make us ask, “Where is God?”
But what we, as people of faith, celebrate at Christmas is the reality that God is here, present among us.
Ultimately, as Henri Nouwen wrote, Christmas means saying “Yes” to something beyond emotions and feelings. It is saying “Yes” to hope and the knowledge that salvation is God’s work:
“The world is not whole… But it is into this broken world that a child is born, who is called Son of the Most High, Prince of Peace, Savor. I look at him and pray, ‘Thank you, Lord, that you came… Your heart is greater than mine.’”
—from The Road to Daybreak
So, let us accept that Christmas invitation to pause and reflect on what these holy days are truly about:
How can you say ‘Yes’ to the presence of God-With-Us in a new way in these Christmas days?
How do the celebrations of Christmas renew your sense of faith in God’s transforming love?
What gift can you offer the Christ Child in these holy days?
O God, who wonderfully created the dignity of human nature
and still more wonderfully restored it,
grant, we pray,
that we may share in the divinity of Christ,
who humbled himself to share in our humanity.
Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Solemnity of the Lord, Mass during the Day
