With God’s help, we have arrived at the beautiful liturgical season of Christmas.
What is the true reason for this special season? It is not merely the joy that it brings, though that is important. It is not just the sense of bond and unity we feel with one another. The central reason is Jesus: God made man, the incarnation.
If we miss this point, we lose everything. As St. Paul teaches us, there is no foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 3:11)
What is the incarnation? The term means “clothed in flesh” and refers to the Christian belief that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity became human. The Son entered human history, taking on a body like ours. Born of a woman, without the intervention of a man, as the Church teaches and as the Gospel, interpreted by the Magisterium, explains: When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman. (Gal 4:4)
This was a unique moment in human history that brought new meaning to our existence. T.S. Eliot, in his pageant-play The Rock (1934), captures the beauty of the incarnation in these few verses:
A moment not out of time, but in time, in what we call history transecting,
bisecting the world of time, a moment in time but not like a moment of time.
A moment in time was made through that moment:
for without the meaning there is no time, and that moment of time gave the meaning.
The incarnation was God’s vision for humanity, elevating us to a divine level. It was unimaginable that God would become a man like us in all things except sin.
It is no wonder that the incarnation continues to amaze us! St George Preca used to say that Jesus’ humility surprised not only humans but also the angels and even Satan and his followers. This is a fundamental mystery of our faith.
In The Year of the Lord, St George Preca writes: “In the Incarnation, we see God’s excessive love for humanity.” God’s profound love for the sinful man is evident in all of Jesus’ actions.
Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for becoming one of us so that we can call you our big brother!
