Word to the Wise
Sunday, December 25, 2022 - Christmas: Mass during the Day - ABC
[Isa 52:7-10; Heb 1:1-6; John 1:1-18 or 1:1-5, 9-14,]The Lord has bared his holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will behold the salvation of our God. [Isaiah] In times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe....[Hebrews] All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not over come it......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]
"AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH!" That is the simple profound message of the celebration of Christmas! God entered human history in a new and decisive way by becoming a human person. The Letter to the Hebrews, in the second scripture for Mass During the Day on Christmas Day, sums up the history of salvation and captures the prophetic voice represented in Isaiah's words so that they may be seen to be fulfilled in God's Son. The Gospel According to John, in its magnificent "Prologue," gives us a wonderful expression of the whole truth of the Incarnation: "And the Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us..."
This truth, like the star that is so prominent in the story of the Magi and in our nativity scenes, shines on that scene but also draws the Magi from afar and draws us, too, to the truth that transcends the stable scene! The Word, through whom the entire universe came to be, took on human life to draw us closer to divine life. Each celebration of the Eucharist and each act of compassion in which we "put skin on faith" proclaims what the nativity scene says for the celebration. The nativity scene will likely be put away along with the star when the liturgical season has passed, but the truth of the event must continue to be proclaimed: And the Word was made flesh! CHRIST IS BORN!
To each of you, my Beloved Congregation, I wish a blessed celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. I will gratefully remember you at Mass During the Day! AMEN