Flesh from Our Flesh

December 25, Saturday

THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD (CHRISTMAS) 

Two thousand years ago, in the immense and powerful Roman Empire, Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken. Somewhere in the border region of Palestine, a young, humble couple, Mary and Joseph, set out from the insignificant town of Nazareth and traveled to the town of Bethlehem in Judea. There was no room for them in the inn, and so Mary gave birth to a son and had to put him in a manger. An angel said to poor shepherds: “That child lying in the manger is the Savior born to you and to the world: He is Christ the Lord.” This same news is proclaimed to us: Your Savior is born to you. You are happy and you smile. But now you must proclaim in word and deed that Jesus is your Savior and Lord. Let your mercy and love proclaim him. Let your sense of justice and fairness proclaim him. Let your love and unity proclaim him. Let your concern for the poor and your welcome to the weak proclaim him. Then we can really sing with one voice tonight: “Glory to God in the highest and peace to the people he loves.”

 

First Reading: : Isaiah 52:7-10

How beautiful on the mountains
    are the feet of the messenger bringing good news,
Breaking the news that all’s well,
    proclaiming good times, announcing salvation,
    telling Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Voices! Listen! Your scouts are shouting, thunderclap shouts,
    shouting in joyful unison.
They see with their own eyes
    God coming back to Zion.
Break into song! Boom it out, ruins of Jerusalem:
    “God has comforted his people!
    He’s redeemed Jerusalem!”
God has rolled up his sleeves.
    All the nations can see his holy, muscled arm.
Everyone, from one end of the earth to the other,
    sees him at work, doing his salvation work.

 

Second Reading: Hebews1:1-6

Going through a long line of prophets, God has been addressing our ancestors in different ways for centuries. Recently he spoke to us directly through his Son. By his Son, God created the world in the beginning, and it will all belong to the Son at the end. This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with God’s nature. He holds everything together by what he says—powerful words!

After he finished the sacrifice for sins, the Son took his honoured place high in the heavens right alongside God, far higher than any angel in rank and rule. Did God ever say to an angel, “You’re my Son; today I celebrate you” or “I’m his Father, he’s my Son”? When he presents his honoured Son to the world, he says, “All angels must worship him.”

 

Gospel: John 1:1-18

The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
    God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
    in readiness for God from day one.

Everything was created through him;
    nothing—not one thing!—
    came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
    and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
    the darkness couldn’t put it out.

There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.

The Life-Light was the real thing:
    Every person entering Life
    he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
    the world was there through him,
    and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
    but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
    who believed he was who he claimed
    and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
    their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
    not blood-begotten,
    not flesh-begotten,
    not sex-begotten.

 The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighbourhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish.

 John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”

We all live off his generous bounty,
        gift after gift after gift.
    We got the basics from Moses,
        and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
    This endless knowing and understanding—
        all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
    No one has ever seen God,
        not so much as a glimpse.
    This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
        who exists at the very heart of the Father,
        has made him plain as day.

 

Prayer
Glory to you, God in the highest,
for bringing peace on earth to your people
and for letting your Son Jesus smile on us
from the arms of Mary, his mother.
Let him be our hope and our joy,
our forgiveness and our life.
Create us anew in the image of Jesus,
for then we become more like him,
you may recognize us in him
and our love can become deep and faithful.
Help us to give him to the world,
that all may become fresh and new again
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

An Invitation to Join the Babe in the Manger
Wish you all joys and blessings of Christmas. Wish you good health, lots of happiness and God’s blessings in abundance in this Christmas!
Christmas is actually a celebration that reminds us of the fact that Christ has been born, Christ lives, and Christ is present now in our lives. Through the lives of the people in the Nativity narrative, Christmas reminds us, of the importance of helping to bring the presence of Christ to the world around us. Christmas calls our attention to be attentive to the occasions when the Lord comes to us in the least expected people, and in unexpected places and situations. In this Christmas, the word of God invites us to welcome Christ by recognizing Him in the people around us.

The Lord finds a space for himself in the manger – identifying himself with the homeless, the refugees and those abandoned by the society and those in power. Manger is the utensil used for feeding the cattle. What is kept in the manger is the fodder for the cattle. God became man and found a place in the manger to become food for the people. The Christmas crib invites us to focus on the manger. The Holy infant in the manger invites us to join him in the manger. Do we dare to join him? Or are we happier to leave him there and return to the cosiness of our luxuries? If you ever plan to join him in the manger, be mindful of the following:

There isn’t room in the manger for all the baggage we carry around with us. There’s no room for our pride and self-righteousness. There’s no room for our human power and prestige. There’s no room for the baggage of past failure and unforgiven sin. There’s no room for our prejudice, bigotry and hostile national pride. There’s no room for bitterness and greed. There is no room in the manger for anything other than the reality of who and what we really are: very human, very real, very fragile, very vulnerable beings who desperately need the gift of love and grace which would be found in abundance in the presence of Jesus, in the company of Blessed Mother and St. Joseph.

Video available on Youtube: An Invitation to Join the Babe in the Manger