Tuesday, December 25, 2018

The Christmas Mystery

The mystery that confronts us this morning is the birth of a very particular infant, the birth of someone who alone shows us the road to oneness with God; someone who came and dwelt among us in order to lead us all into this communion that is the very life of God. Incarnation is not so much “what” but “what for.” This Nativity is full of purpose!

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jean Vanier expresses beautifully and in simple terms the meaning of this Christmas proclamation:

Here we have the heart, the center, the beginning and the end of the gospel: God, the eternal God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, became like us, a vulnerable, mortal human being. He became as a baby needing a mother, conceived in her flesh, nourished at her breast, needing her love and the love and presence of Joseph in order to grow and develop as a human being. Pitching his tent among us, he became a pilgrim and a brother, walking through the desert with us. He became part of history, revealing to us a way to God and to universal peace.

That humble birth in Bethlehem means that God is no longer distant or set apart from our world—indeed, it means a huge change for each one of us personally, for the Prologue of John's Gospel assures us that “from the fullness of life and love in Him we have received love upon love, grace upon grace.” In fact, we have received so much from him that his birth is, in a real sense, our birth

Excerpts from this morning's homily by Father Dominic