“SEEDS OF LIFE”
Sunday, 25th December 2016.
Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord
Is 52: 7-10;
Ps 97: 1-6;
Heb 1:1-6;
Jn 1: 1-18
THE WORD MADE FLESH – OUR GREATEST GIFT!
Today the Church along with whole creation breaks forth into joy for it has been remade into a new creation through the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The “Word” let there be light (Gen 1:3), which brought forth creation is now spoken again, through the birth of our Lord and Saviour. The light (Jn 1:8), now shines on in the darkness. The light, who gives light to every man has come into the world. The unknown God, is now made known, the Father now reveals himself, through his Son, Jesus. The Word becomes flesh and now dwells among humanity. The Nativity or Christmas is the celebration of this joy - our God becomes flesh and comes to dwell with us, mankind.
Christmas not only signifies the love God has for us but also the humility and sacrifice he undertook for our sake. Jesus the light of the world was born so that he may lead us to eternal life. Christmas is not just about the birth of Jesus, but rather the beginning of the love story between God and Mankind, between God and us.
The gospel reading from John indeed has no Bethlehem story narrated. Instead it revolves around one theme that is ‘Word’ (‘logos’ in Greek). Though there is no birth story narrated, no manger, no shepherds around and no star seen; there is deep meaning in the Gospel, which manifests in full the mystery of the incarnation. There are two set of words in the text of today’s gospel which explain to us this mystery: word and flesh, darkness and light.
In the first set i.e. word and flesh, John presents the mystery of incarnation in just few words – ‘and the word became flesh’. The word who is God, who created the entire universe, who is the Supreme Being, who remained as a mystery is now born in the flesh, has become man and manifested himself to the entire humanity. This might make us wonder why would God become human? God became man since he cares about us, he loves us and wants to save us. Thus, as we reflect on the word-flesh aspect of the mystery of incarnation it is not important for us to know ‘how did word became flesh’ which is a mystical story rather let us ponder upon ‘why did word became flesh’ which is indeed a love story.
John also presents the mystery of incarnation by telling us that Jesus is the true light came to live among us in order to drive away the darkness from our lives. We do know have sin darkens the life of human beings. It blinds us, for we are unable to see what is true and right. However, John announces the arrival of Jesus the true light brings sight to us from our blindness. If we don’t open our physical eyes, we cannot see, even though we have sight. In a similar way, Jesus gives us spiritual sight, but if we are unwilling to open our spiritual being to Jesus, we will not be able to see the path to our redemption.
A story is told about Rudolf the reindeer who had a very shiny nose. Rudolf the reindeer had a very big nose which would radiate light and because of this he was estranged by the other reindeers. Santa used to take these reindeer to pull his sleigh to distribute the gifts. However, one Christmas there was dense fog all around arctic and Santa could not find his way. At this instance Santa sees some light, when he goes closer he finds Rudolf. Santa asks Rudolf to join and to lead his sleigh with his shiny nose. And from that day onwards he becomes the world’s best and most famous reindeer. Christ has given us light to cast away our blindness, to avoid the traps of sin, to walk on the path of truth and to work our salvation. But it is not sufficient that the light of Christ remains with only few. As Christ offered his light to everyone here on earth irrespective of caste, religion, gender and age; so also as He is born in us every Christmas we have to radiate the light of Christ to the entire world which is shrouded in darkness.
Christmas is a time filled with many exciting things. Often there are gifts and gatherings, food and good times. But more than anything else, Christmas must be seen as a time for us to step back and take in the deep and rich meaning of this sacred event. We must see, first, that God entered our human condition and, in doing so, is able to identify with all that we experience in life. God understands human life! He lived it. Second, we must understand that the birth of the Savior of the world reveals that each and every one of us is invited to come and meet Him. God humbled Himself in the most profound way so that we could come to know Him and His perfect love for us. Do not be afraid to come to meet Him, love Him, adore Him and get to know Him. Do not be afraid to gaze upon His humble presence and to give glory to God for His blessed coming. May the Lord be with us always as with joyful hearts, may his Word become flesh in us, may his light remove all darkness from our lives and may we accept the gift of Jesus and treasure it as we celebrate Christmas.
Prayer: Lord, I love You and adore You. I thank You for the unfathomable gift of Your divine presence among us. I thank You, especially, for the invitation You offer me to come to adore You. May this Christmas celebration be one in which I understand, more deeply, the incredible love You have for all Your children. May I know that You came for me, to save me and to invite me to worship. May I, this day, enter into that worship and adoration with all the Heavenly Host. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.
JOYCAT (Joy Catholic) and FURKAT (FurahaKatoliki) wish you all and your families a Blessed Christmas. May Jesus be born in your heart, in your family and in your communities and may his love dwell amongst us all.