Gospel Reflection for December 25th 2019 – Christmas Day The Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord
Emmanuel: God is with us
The shopping is done; all the presents are wrapped, the house is clean, all the decorations are up, fully lit and shining brightly. So what has all this hectic shopping and business over the last fours week really been about?
It was my nephew Daniel’s birthday last week. With his birthday being so close to Christmas, as a family we always make an extra effort to mark it. We do what any family does when there is a birthday; we remember and we celebrate. We remember the time and date the person was born. We look back and recall the day they came into our family. We might look at photographs of them when they were younger. Then we celebrate with them. We give thanks and are glad for the joy they bring us and the difference they make in our family.
This is exactly what we do at Christmas; we remember and we celebrate. We recall and tell the story of how, where and when Jesus was born. We remember how Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem looking for shelter. We tell the story of the shepherds and the kings arriving to see this child. Then we celebrate the difference Jesus has made to us and continues to make in our lives and in the world.
We have to be careful that we don’t just think of Christmas as something that happened in the past in a country far from us. The birth of Jesus ripples and echoes through the centuries right down to us today into our homes and families, wherever we are. We are asked not just to experience Christmas and the birth of Jesus as just a nice romantic thing that we see on Christmas cards. Through the birth of Jesus, God enters our world, our time and our lives. In and through the person of Jesus, God reaches out to embrace each of us and speak to us. Through the birth of Jesus, God comes and lives amongst us and deep within us. So Christmas is not just about remembering the birth of Jesus; it is also about celebrating the presence of Jesus in our world and lives this very day and every day.
When he was Pope, John Paul II wrote; ‘The mystery of Jesus that took place over 2000 years ago must be lived to day and every day. The Word of God that found a dwelling place in and through Mary comes to knock on our hearts this Christmas and every Christmas, today and every day’.
This Christmas Day and the days that follow are wonderful days; they are full of magic and meaning. They are days to rejoice and celebrate with friends, family and neighbours. Perhaps we could take just a few minutes each of these days to remember what we are actually celebrating. We are celebrating ‘Emmanuel’: God – is – with – us; not just for today or the remaining twelve days of Christmas, but forever.
This Christmas, may the Light of Christ and Christ the Light fill our hearts, our homes, our families and our daily lives with all the love, joy and presence of God.
Merry Christmas.
-Br Michael Moore OMI
Gospel for December 25th Christmas Day : John 2:2-8 ©
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John . He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.
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