ECHOING THE WORD OF GOD

ECHOING THE WORD OF GOD:

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christ is born for us. Let us adore him.

1.     LITURDY OF THE WORD

First Reading: Is 52:7-10. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, proclaiming salvation, and saying to Zion, ‘Your God is King’.” How beautiful it is announcing the greatest news of all, the mother of all news: Christ is born – for us! He is the Christ, or the anointed one. He is Emmanuel, or “God-with-us.” He is Jesus, or God saves. Indeed, how beautiful it is to preach the Good News to the whole creation!

Second Reading: Heb 1:1-6. In the past, God spoke in varied ways through the prophets. Today He speaks to us through his Son, who is the Word of God. The Son of God, Jesus, is the definitive Word, the final word, the totally sufficient Word (St. John of the Cross). And, as the angels worship him, we also worship him by kneeling before his Crib.

The Holy Gospel: Jn 1:1-18. “The Word became flesh and makes his dwelling among us… Of his fullness we have all received – love following love.” What an incomparable love! “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son.”  To those who accept the Word, which is addressed to all, He empowers to become children of God. Thanks to the grace of Christ, we are children of God – dead to sin and alive in his love – and brothers or sisters to one another.

2.     MEDITATION: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

How many times have we said –and will continue to say- Merry Christmas? I say it again: May you have a Merry Christmas! What does Merry Christmas mean?

Christmas is Christ. Christ is the center of Christmas: the Child Jesus in a manger, the Child Jesus as the light of our Christmas – of our hearts. There cannot be a true Christmas without Christ. There can be no true Christmas if Christ is forgotten sidelined. The incarnation of Christ – and his resurrection – is the mystery of our faith: He became man – one like us, but without sin. Without Christ, Christmas is merely three meaningless letters: m, a, s. Truly, Merry Christmas means a happy encounter with Christ!

Christmas is love of God. It is God’s incredible love for us and our humble response to this love. How may we respond? We respond correctly by adoring the Child Jesus. Adoration ought to be our attitude through the Christmas season. It was the attitude of Mary and Joseph, the attitude of the shepherds, and the attitude of the Three Kings. Mary and Joseph kept everything in their hearts in an attitude of contemplative prayer. The shepherds knelt before the Child in the Crib. The Three Kings offered their gifts as a sign of worship. “O come, let us adore him.”

Christmas is love of neighbor. Love of Christ in the manger entails love of Christ in the “little ones.”  “What you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do it to me.” “Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God-with-us” (Oscar Romero). Christmas then is being closer to the poor around us and sharing something with them.

Christmas is joy. A birth in the family is always a great joy. How much more the birth of the Son of God, our brother and savior? “The Son of God is born in eternity without a mother; in time without a father, and became our brother” (John Tauler). This is yesterday, today and forever the greatest possible joy! Yes, Christmas is joy: “Joy to the world, joy to you and me.”

Christmas is peace. The angels sung: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men.”  Peace – like joy a consequence of love – means living together in justice and love, in harmony. As believers in Christ, the Prince of Peace, we are asked to be peacemakers in our communities, in our world – often an unjust and violent world. To become genuine peacemakers, we need to have inner peace: no one can give what he or she does not have. “Acquire inner peace and thousands around you will find liberation” (St. Seraphim).

3.     CONCLUSION

My co-pilgrims, may we have a Merry Christmas! That is, may your Christmas and mine be centered on Christ and permeated by love and joy and peace! Above all, may it be permeated by compassionate love for our suffering, needy, poor neighbor!

I have received a Christmas card with this message: “Christmas is any day of the year when a person approaches us and we regard him or her as our brother or sister, and treat him or her as a true brother or sister.” St. John the Evangelist tells us in the Prologue of his Gospel that we are God’s children if we accept Christ as our brother and savior. And if we are children of God, we have to accept and treat the others as our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Last September 2010, Fr. Amado Diago, a Dominican Spanish brother and a dear friend passed away in Taiwan, where he was a dedicated missionary for many years. I remember his words on a Christmas Night: “Fausto, place the Crib in your heart so that the Little One (el Pequeño) may continue growing in you.”

May the Child Jesus be born in our hearts in a deeper way, and may those around us notice it by the way we treat them with kindness and compassion – with love.

May you all have a Merry Christmas!

FR. FAUSTO GOMEZ BERLANA, O.P.

St. Dominic’s Priory,

Macau, December 2010