Merry Christmas!
From the Gospel of Saint John we are instructed: “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” Therefore, on this Christmas Day we rejoice at the fact that God’s love is so great that He was willing to take on our human flesh and dwell among us. This is not just a child who is born, but it is He who is both fully human and fully divine. As important as His humanity may be we cannot allow ourself to forget about His divinity.
It was for this reason that shepherds came to do Him homage, that angels came to rejoice, and magi came from afar to adore. The manger becomes the scene where the great light which is Christ the Lord shines forth for the whole world to see. With all that we have been through this past year we are in need of this great light which shines forth from the darkness. We need this glimmer of hope which is manifested by the one who comes to dwell among us.
The Church will remind us on the days following Christmas that to be a Christian is not easy and therefore we must embrace our faith not with complacency, but with fervor. On these days following Christmas we will celebrate the Feast of Saint Stephen who was the first Christian martyr, we will have the Feast of the Holy Innocents who were slain due to Herod’s fear, and we will commemorate Saint Thomas Becket who died if defense of the church. Likewise, just because we celebrate Christmas and profess Christ with our lips does not mean that our walk of faith will be easy. Therefore, no matter what may lie ahead for us we must always stay close to Christ.
There are some who would state that this world would be so much better if Christ was still present with us. We cannot forget that Christ remains present with us in the gift which is the Most Holy Eucharist. You see what we celebrate this day is one and the same with the Eucharist.
As was stated by Saint John Paul II: “Bethlehem! The city where Jesus was born in fulfillment of the Scriptures, in Hebrew means “house of bread.” It was there that the Messiah was to be born, the One who would say of himself: “I am the bread of life.” In Bethlehem was born the One who, under the sign of broken bread, would leave us the memorial of his Pasch. On this Holy Night, adoration of the Child Jesus becomes Eucharistic adoration. We adore you, Lord, truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar, the living Bread which gives life to humanity. We acknowledge you as our one God, a little Child lying helpless in the manger!”
With that we should continue to flock towards the light of the manger which is Christ’s Eucharistic presence. There will come moments of difficulty, but with Christ all things are possible. The shepherds and magi came to the manger to be spiritually fed by He who is the Bread of Life and we come to communion in order to receive Him into our life. Year round we have the opportunity to adore our Lord present in the Most Holy Eucharist, but so often leave Him unattended as we believe that we have something more important and pressing. In this year ahead let us dwell with Christ as the shepherds, magi, and angels did and in return may our fears, temptations, and hardships be calmed as we place our trust in Christ our Lord who is the Word made Flesh.
