December 25^th 2016. The Nativity of Our Lord

GOSPEL: John: 1:1-5; 9-14

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: John: 1:1-5; 9-14

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 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 overcome it.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.
But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God, 
to those who believe in his name, 
who were born not by natural generation 
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision 
but of God.
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.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel for Mass on Christmas Day is from the Prologue of St John. This poetic passage speaks of “word”, “light”, “darkness”, “life” and “creation”. Is it some kind of abstract philosophical treatise? No! The central verse tells us that our God has become flesh and has lived in our midst, giving us the opportunity to encounter this concrete person and behold his “glory”. But what is his “glory”? Glory - kabod in Hebrew - refers to someone’s real value. St John tells us that he has “beheld his glory”. When and where did St John behold the glory of Jesus? He saw it when Jesus was hanging from the cross. And we see it too when we contemplate Jesus on the cross and behold his self-giving love. The fact that God has become one of us helps us to realize the incredible dignity we have as human beings. Sometimes there is a tendency to think that our bodies and our materiality are something to be disparaged. But Jesus incarnation, death and resurrection teaches us that creation has been redeemed and that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. We can live the LIFE that Jesus lives. When I contemplate the fact that Jesus became human, then I begin to appreciate how wonderful it is to be human, what an opportunity it is to be human, what infinite potential I have as a human being. If Jesus can be a child of the Father in the fullest sense even as a human being, then I too, with and through Jesus, can live the LIFE of a true child of the Father.

This poetic passage speaks of “word”, “light”, “darkness”, “life” and “creation”. Is it some kind of abstract philosophical treatise? No! The central verse tells us that our God has become flesh and has lived in our midst.

The Gospel on Christmas Day comes from the marvellous Prologue of St John’s Gospel. This poetic hymn is an interpretative key for reading the entire Gospel. This Sunday we have the option of reading the full eighteen verses or following a shorter form. Here we will follow the shorter form which contains the more salient points for celebrating the feast of Christmas. The passage speaks of the Word who was with God in the beginning and who is the mediator of everything. All things were created through him and he is the substance of everything that exists. He is life and this life is the light of humanity. These beautiful notions of light, life and creation – are they abstract concepts that we are expected to exercise our intelligence in trying to understand? Is the language being used here some sort of coded message that we need to interpret? Hardly! The central verse is absolutely concrete and is the one we focus on at Christmas: “The Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us”. The Word is no abstraction if he becomes flesh! He is not something distant from us but actually comes to live in our midst. The original Greek says that he “pitched his tent among us”.

We encounter this concrete person and have the possibility of beholding his “glory”. But what is his “glory”? Glory in Hebrew refers to someone’s real value. We see the glory of Jesus when he is hanging on the Cross. It is then that we fully behold his self-giving love.

The passage tells us that “The word became flesh”. From this we can make three points: firstly, he is a person, not some kind of myth; secondly, he is not simply spirit, but is also flesh like us; thirdly, he dwells not in some other place distant from humanity, but among us. All of this points to the fact that we have the possibility to encounter this concrete person and contemplate his glory. “Glory” does not refer to something spectacular or ostentatious. In Hebrew the word for glory is “kabod” and signifies the weight or true value of something. The glory of God refers to his authentic value. To contemplate the glory of God is to appreciate something of how he really is. It does not refer to something that is flamboyant or visually impressive. When someone dies we often see his “glory” in this sense; we discover who he is in reality. It is in moments of difficulty that we see people’s real mettle; how they are inside comes to the surface. When St John says, “We have seen his glory”, what is he referring to? He is referring to the moment that the disciple turns his face to Christ on the cross and contemplates who Jesus really is. And this knowledge is brought to completion when the disciple sees him again after the resurrection.

The fact that God has made himself so banal for us entails that we have the opportunity to encounter him in this material world. Our bodies and our materiality are not something to be disparaged. Rather, creation has been redeemed and our bodies become temples of the Holy Spirit.

In this passage at Christmas, we discover that God has made himself visible and tangible. The first letter of John refers to what “our eyes have seen, our ears have listened to and our hands have touched”. Christmas announces that God is within arm’s reach, that he is not a distant figure, that he made himself flesh. We recall the experience that the apostles and early Christians have transmitted to us of their direct encounter with him. All of this tells us that God is not a concept to be understood; he is a child that has been born in a humble state; he has lived our life and therefore our life is the place that God manifests himself concretely. This means that it is possible for us, strange as it might seem, to see the glory of God. Our existence is not something that must be rescued from its materiality. Rather, our existence, materiality and all, has been redeemed. Our bodies have become the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is not just that we will contemplate the glory of God in the future if we make it to heaven: we can already meet God concretely here on this earth and have a genuine experience of him. Christianity is not a system of values: Christian values are derived from a personal encounter. Each one of us does not have to make an arduous search to encounter Jesus Christ. The shepherds found him in the most banal of conditions. A child with his mother. Leaving aside the sentimental visualisations of this scene, the picture of a child with its mother is the most concrete of all situations.

When I contemplate the fact that Jesus became human, then I begin to appreciate how wonderful it is to be human. I begin to see that I too, like Jesus, can become a child of the Father.

If I understand the flesh of Christ, I understand my own flesh. If I see his glory, then I begin to realize the relevance of my own life. If I appreciate the extent to which God has emptied himself for me, the efforts he makes to associate with me, then I begin to comprehend who I am. Through seeing him, I come to know my own dignity. It is not simply that the incarnation helps us to grasp the generosity of God. It is something that helps us to discover the dignity of our own nature. If the one who created the galaxies and the cosmos has made himself nothing in order to meet us, then we start to ask “Who are we that he has taken us so much to heart?” Christmas announces that I can live the life of a child of God. To see his glory and to welcome him is to be transformed into a man or woman who is capable of living fully his grace, to receive his grace and his truth. Jesus comes to us full of grace and truth. How many wrong ideas we have about God! How far off our impressions are at times! This Christmas, let us just look at him and see how he is. Let us recognise how humble he is, how tangible he is, how available he is, how complete a gift he is from God. Let us rejoice in this gift which is utterly for us. Let us rejoice that God has made himself flesh. How significant it must be to have flesh! How relevant it is to have a body, to be alive! As John Paul II said, if it was not beneath God to become human, then it must really be something special to be human.