Christmas Day
Isaiah 9:1-7 Psalm 95:1-3, 11-13. Rv. Luke 2; 11 Titus 2:11-14
They rejoice in your presence.
Today a Saviour has been born.
God’s grace has been revealed.
I bring you news of great joy.
Luke 2:1-14
Gospel Lk 2:1-14
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child,
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them,
"Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
"Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
that the whole world should be enrolled.
This was the first enrollment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town.
And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth
to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem,
because he was of the house and family of David,
to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they were there,
the time came for her to have her child,
and she gave birth to her firstborn son.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger,
because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields
and keeping the night watch over their flock.
The angel of the Lord appeared to them
and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
and they were struck with great fear.
The angel said to them,
"Do not be afraid;
for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
For today in the city of David
a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.
And this will be a sign for you:
you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes
and lying in a manger."
And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel,
praising God and saying:
"Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."
Finding love and keeping it
In his book, “The Secret of Staying in Love” John Powell S.J. says the secret is communication and sharing of self, ideas, feelings, desires etc. Today we celebrate how God communicates and shares himself with us. He was a distant God. No one had seen him or could see him. He never directly communicated with human beings. He had sent prophets. We didn’t know him well at all.
Now God is one of us. ‘He has pitched his tent among us’. He speaks our language, eats our food, lives our life and will die our death. He will always be human. Why did he come? He came simply, because he loves us, you and me. He came in all the weakness and fragility of a human body and one day will become fully divine in that body of flesh and blood. His desire is to make us divine too. Christmas begins the drama of the divine love story.
Once among us as a human being he will never leave us. His love for us makes him present everywhere. He is constantly communicating with us through all the events of life as well as through inspirations. Most are lost on us because we don’t recognize him.
We came to know him when we first came to believe. Later, Baptism was the public act of committing ourselves in love to him. But as in all human relationships love can grow cold. We need to know the secret of staying in love with Jesus.
If we have love in our heart then we need to show it. We need to meet and to share. It is the same with Jesus. We need to hear his words of love, experience his sharing and we need to be in constant communication. The deeper we can share and the more frequently we can meet, then the deeper and more fruitful and fulfilling will our lives become.
Now that God is human, we will find him in the heart of our human story. He will reveal himself and share himself in a human way, in our human situation. We should look for him everywhere.
The Christian life is the act of staying in love with Jesus. It is the act of growing in our love for him. This, one day, will reach its apex in a divine-human love lasting all eternity. The secret of staying in love with Jesus is to go apart with him, listen to his Word and share ourselves in prayer. We join other believers and together listen and meet him in faith. He has many ways of speaking to us. The fruit of this love relationship is the joy and peace, which the angels proclaimed today.
Ask him to speak to you and be sensitive to his Word. Meet him with other searchers. “A Happy Christmas with Jesus”
Father, may I taste your love as it appears in human form and may I ever be your child too.
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