It’s fitting that for the Mass during the day on Christmas the Gospel should be taken from the prologue of John the Evangelist: daytime is the brightest moment on Christmas Day, and John’s Gospel reflects a long life contemplating the wonder and mystery of God. We need spiritual light to reveal the profundity of this day. We need to gaze upon the manger, gaze upon the baby Jesus, and remind ourselves: “this is God, and he’s come to save and love me.” In a cave in Bethlehem, probably in a little hollowed out part of rock filled with some straw, God was born as a baby boy for me. What does that say about him, and what does that say about me?
As John reminds us in today’s Gospel, the true light that enlightens everyone has come into the world with the Incarnation and birth of Jesus. The Second Reading reminds us that in Jesus God has now said it all. It was unexpected and, to many, unobserved, but starting with the Holy Family those who received him in faith gained the ability to become, like the Son, children of God. We gaze today upon the baby Jesus in a manger and see the Word whom God the Father had in mind when he created the whole world. The baby Jesus is the key that unlocks the meaning of our existence here on earth; and even in a manger the Word is communicating to us.
Let’s kneel in spirit today before God in a manger and ask him to fill us with grace and truth.
Readings: Isaiah 52:7–10; Psalm 98:1–6; Hebrews 1:1–6; John 1:1–18.
