Christmas begins with Vigil Mass. And, our Christmas celebration goes all the way to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. So, it goes beyond Christmas Octave and the feast of Epiphany.
Having made our Advent preparation to welcome the
incarnated Christ into our hearts, we are ready to receive the greatest gift of
all from God into our hearts. And the gift is God Himself, made visible and
sacramentally tangible to us, in the human flesh of a new born baby, coming out
of the womb of Mary. But, behind this event that has changed the history, there
has been a long way for Christ to come to us. And these readings from all
Christmas Masses: Vigil, Midnight, Dawn, and Day, in reflection of all Advent readings,
reflect this truth.
|
Christmas
Vigil |
Isaiah
62:1-5 |
Acts
13:16-17, 22-25 |
Matthew
1:1-25 |
|
Christmas
Midnight |
Isaiah
9:1-6 |
Titus
2:11-14 |
Luke
2:1-14 |
|
Christmas
Dawn |
Isaiah
62:11-12 |
Titus
3:4-7 |
Luke
2:15-20 |
|
Christmas
Day |
Isaiah
52:7-10 |
Hebrews
1:1-6 |
John
1:1-18 |
God breaks His silence, as the rising sun breaks the night darkness at dawn, announcing His promise to crown Jerusalem, renew and refresh Jerusalem, to redeem her as His wife. This promise to save and redeem Zion from her damnation-bound path for her sins is to be fulfilled by Christ, the Son. We begin Christmas celebration with God’s prophetic promise through Isaiah to vindicate Zion and to receive her as the bride of Christ (Revelation 19:6-9), making her shine to be the wife of Christ the light. Though it is “silent night”, the birth of the incarnated Christ in Bethlehem is how God began to break His silence, carried on by Jesus the incarnated Christ’s spoken words.
Acts 13:16-17, 22-25
On his first mission (Acts 13:4-14:28), after John
Mark dropped out of this mission (Acts13:13), Paul and Barnabas came to
Pisidian Antioch, and Paul spoke in the synagogue on God’s care for His people
upon His covenant with Abraham. In this context, Paul reminded how God
delivered His people from the slavery in Egypt through Passover to the Promised
Land. Furthermore, Paul spoke on how God continue to care for them by giving
judges until He commissioned Samuel to anoint David as king of His people, as
He found David to be a man after his heart (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). And,
from his lineage, God brought Christ to us, heralded by John the Baptist, who
prepared the way of the Christ’s coming by calling for repentance and baptizing
those who repent and reconcile with God. Then, Paul also made it clear that the
unfolding God’s salvific care for His people are not limited to the Jews but to
the Gentiles, as well, as long as they believe and revere God.
Matthew 1:1-25
Though it was the time of Isaiah, giving the
post-exilic hope, that God made his prophetic announcement to break His silence
and take His salvific action for His beloved Zion (Isaiah 62:1-5), as Paul
spoke in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:16-25), God has been
showing His care for His people upon His covenant with Abraham. So, in this
Gospel Reading, we trance the incarnated Christ’s human roots all the way, from
Abraham to David, and from David on (Matthew 1:1-16).
It was because Joseph, a descendant of David
(Matthew 1:6-16), took Mary, who was chosen by God to be the mother of His Son
to be incarnated and to be given human birth (Luke 1:28,30-33, 35; 2:7) as his
beloved wife, with his understanding that his marriage to Mary was to fulfill
God’s promise to have Christ be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14)(Matthew
1:18-25).
Isaiah 9:1-6
As we begin Christmas Midnight Mass, we begin to see
a great light in the midnight darkness, which metaphorically represents the
darkness of our sinfulness and the sinful world. This great light is the light
of Christ (John 1:4; 8:12; cf. Psalm 36:10), who is about to make his first
theophany to us, as the sun rises above the horizon, though Christ the sun
breaks the darkness from on high (Luke 1:78), as the rising sun of justice with
healing wings (Malachi 3:20).
What comes through this great light of salvation,
Christ the light, is joy of God’s providence, like rejoicing over great harvest
(Isaiah 9:1-2; cf. Isaiah 25:6) – also like the rejoicing of David and his
people over the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant, in which God resides, to
Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:1-36). Then, as God commissioned Gideon to deliver
Israel from the oppression of Median, which was result of Israel’s sin (Judges
6:1-8:28), Christ the great light will deliver us from what ties us to sins
(Isaiah 9:3; cf. Isaiah 25:1-9; 27:1-13; cf. Matthew 11:28-30), as we listen to
him, for he is the wisdom to deliver us from the burden (i.e. Ben Sira
51:23-30; cf. Proverbs 8:22-36). What follows the deliverance from the slavery
of sins, from the darkness of sin by the Christ the light and wisdom is peace
that is only given by him (John 14:27), because he is to be born to us as the
Prince of Peace, Wonder- Counselor, God-Hero, and Father-Forever, and his
Davidic royal dominion covers all over the world with everlasting peace and
justice (Isaiah 9:4-6; cf. Isaiah 2:2-4).
Titus 2:11-14
Paul tells one of his spiritual sons, Titus (the
other one is Timothy), that the first theophany of the incarnated Christ was
the appearance of the salvific grace of God (Titus 2:11). In other words, God
sent His only begotten Son out of His love to us (John 3:16), incarnating
God-Word (Theos-Logos)(John 1, 14)
through Mary’s womb (Luke 1:31) by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35),
having Mary give birth to him (Luke 2:7), as the greatest gift of love to
redeem us from the all wickedness to purity, turning our hearts from worldly
attachment to the godliness. And this gift, the incarnated Christ born of Mary,
was wrapped with swaddling cloths and place in a manger (Luke 2:7). And this is
how our Advent blessed hope has been fulfilled.
Luke 2:1-14
The time has come! The time to fulfill the Advent
blessed hope (i.e. Titus 2:13). In fact, this is the beginning of God’s
fulfillment of His promise in Genesis 3:15, Isaiah 7:14, Micah 5:1, and Malachi
3:20.
It was an predawn dark hour in Bethlehem. Mary was
going through labor. Joseph searched for a room for her to deliver the
incarnated Christ. But, not room for her, for the incarnated Christ to be born,
and for Joseph. The only place available to this Holy Family was a stable. In
spirit of such a difficult condition, Mary safely gave birth to her firstborn
Son, the incarnated Christ. The long-waited Christ with blessed hope for
salvation and redemption finally came as a baby boy humbly born to the abject
poverty, as he was wrapped with swaddling clothes and placed in a manger.
This is how God broke His silence (Isaiah 62:1) and
began to break the darkness with a great light (Isaiah 9:1) to gather all His
beloved people to His house on the holy mountain as one in peace, established
in the Davidic royal city of God (Isaiah 2:1-5; cf. 2 Samuel 7:10-16; cf. Psalm
23:6; cf. Isaiah 66:18-24; cf. John 10:9; 17:20-23; cf. Revelation 21:1-22:5).
And this is to save us by the blood of him through his death and resurrection
to fulfill Isaiah 52:13-53:12. And his blood is the new covenant (Luke 22:20).
Being placed in a manger upon his birth, the incarnated Christ has come to feed
us for eternal life, as the living Bread of Life (John 6:51). The manger is our
“bread basket”, and Bethlehem, where this took place, literally means “ a city
of bread”, in Hebrew. It was no accident that Mary gave birth to the incarnated
Christ in Bethlehem in fulfilling Micah 5:1.
Then, the angel of the Lord, appeared and announced
this theophany through the birth of the incarnated Christ to the shepherds, who
stayed awake in that predawn hour. So, the angel of the Lord said to the
shepherds:
Do
not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will
be for all people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for
you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an
infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger
(Luke 2:10-12).
And suddenly, a multitude of heavenly host joined
the angel of the Lord in praising God:
Glory
to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests
(Luke 2:14).
Thus, the arrival of the long-waited Christ has
appeared to us, born of Mary, wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a
manger, was announced by the angel of the Lord, with praising to God for His
favor of peace on earth. Thus, Prince of Peace, Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero,
Father-Forever (Isaiah 9:5), has arrived!
Isaiah
62:11-12
The proclamation of the good news of the arrival and appearance of the incarnated Christ by the angel of the Lord to the shepherds (Luke 2:10-12) has thus fulfilled this prophecy of Isaiah.
Titus 3:4-7
Having heard the good news of the birth of the incarnated Christ from the angel of God and heard the angel with the heavenly host, praising and glorifying God in the highest for bringing peace on earth through the incarnated Christ, Prince of Peace (Luke 2:10-12, 14), the shepherds said to each other to “check it out” in their own eyes, and rushed to the scene where the birth of the incarnated Christ took place. And they saw the incarnated Christ as a newborn baby wrapped in a manger, with Mary and Joseph in the stable. So, they spread this good news, as they witnessed, and those who heard were all amazed. And this was the beginning of the spread of the good news, which still continues today. It started in Bethlehem by the shepherd, who witnessed the newborn incarnated Christ with Mary and Joseph. And shepherds also glorified and praised God for what they witnessed, as heard from the angel of the Lord. Meanwhile, Mary treasured up all of what happened, from having labor, having difficulty in finding a place to give birth, giving birth in a stable, placing the newborn son in a manger, wrapped with swaddling clothes, visited by the shepherds, in her contemplation.
Isaiah 52:7-10
In
a motif of the battle field messenger, who run “marathons” on his mission, we
are now called to bring and spread the good news of the appearance of the
incarnated Christ, as he is now born of Mary! This was first done by the
shepherds (Luke 2:17-18). For this, Paul made three mission journeys (Acts
13:4-21:16) and St. Francis Xavier came all the way to the isles of the rising
sun in 1549. Now, we are called to follow their suits in bringing the good news
of the birth of the incarnated Christ and more good news that is brought by
him, to all nations!
We are messengers of
Chris the King, his ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), shouting the good news of
Christ for joy, for healing, redemption, salvation, and peace, brought by him.
And this is our apostolic mission.
But, first and foremost, we must witness the newborn incarnated
Christ by ourselves, as the shepherd did.
We can witness as we have prepared our hearts to receive the
newborn incarnated Christ, without rushing to Bethlehem.
Hebrews 1:1-6
When He was speaking I partial and various ways during the
time of the old covenant through prophets (Hebrews 1:1), God promised to break
His silence to vindicate us though we have sinned against Him (Isaiah 62:1).
And the silence has been broken with the birth of the incarnated Christ, the
Son (Hebrews 1:2), the incarnated God-Word (John 1;1,14), who is light and life
(John 1:4). And this light is the radiance of God’s glory, representing his
being (Hebrews 1:3). Through him, God made all things in the universe,
including us (Hebrews 1:2; Colossians 1:16-17), Christ has come to purify us to
redeem us to this heavenly throne (Hebrews 1:3; cf. Titus 2:14; cf. Revelation
7:13-14). Though Christ has come to us in the human flesh of Jesus, he is much
superior to angels, they also worship God (Hebrews 1:4-6) and praised Him when
His Son appeared in the human flesh (Luke 2:13-14).
The purification is an ongoing process. It was not done just
because John the Baptist called to be baptized with water for repentance and
conversion (e.g. Matthew 3:1-12) to prepare for the coming of Christ. As John
made it clear, Christ has now come to purify us with the Holy Spirit and fire
(e.g. Matthew 3:11). This is because he has come to redeem us to His Kingdom,
where only those who are clean and pure are allowed as saints.
John 1:1-18
This Gospel narrative captures the fundamental Christological
truth to explain why Christ, who is the God-Word, needed to come to us as in
the human incarnation of Jesus, born of Mary. This gives a logical reason for
Luke 1:28, 30-33, 35; 2:7. Basically, this Johannine Christological narrative
tells why we have Christmas.
God has made invisible God not only visible to us all but tangible
sacramental being to take as the living Bread of Life, with his blood, for
eternal life to inherit what He has in store for us, as Christ the Son’s
coheir. And for this, God-Word needed to come to us as incarnated in the human
flesh of Jesus, born or Mary to the poverty, as anav.
As it is anawim (plural
of anav),
blessed to inherit the Kingdom of God (Matthew 5:3), Christ being incarnated
in anav calling
us to be his fellow anawim and
shepherding us as our Good Shepherd (John 10:11) to his Kingdom.
Fr. Dave Gorski, SJ, of Loyola University Chicago, puts it well
with a story of guiding birds in danger to safety.
It is quite difficult for a human to guide birds in danger to
safety, as birds do not recognize a person as one of them. Likewise, it is
difficult for us, humans, to recognize the invisible God, unless you are like
Abraham or Moses or other biblical figures. Our ancestors did not listen to God
and perished in sins, in part, because of this – though God sent His
messengers, prophets. God still wants to save us from the slavery of sins and
redeem us to His house on the holy mountain.
Thus God has made himself not just visible to us but making
himself to dwell among us, by incarnating God-Word in the human flesh of Jesus,
who has called us his friends (John 15:13) – so that we recognize him as one of
us and more likely to listen to his words. This way, God, who is no longer
invisible but visible, audible, and sacramentally tangible, has come to us as
Jesus, our fellow anav, born of
Mary, also son of Joseph of the Davidic lineage – though he is the eternal
Davidic King, in fact, the King of the Universe.
Christ pre-existed the Creation (John 1:1; cf. Proverbs 8:22-31).
In fact, the Creation was through and for him (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17;
Hebrews 1:2). Though he was not created but begotten, Christ made himself as
one of those who are created by incarnating in the human flesh of Jesus and
dwelling among us, as Emmanuel (Isaiah
7:14; Matthew 1:23), which means “God with us”.
Having gone through all the Christmas readings from Vigil Mass to
Day Mass, we are at awe to the awesome providence of God for us, as we see how
Christmas has come, going back to Christ’s pre-existence to the Creation.
Yes, Christ incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus, born of Mary,
has come an unimaginably long way from the time before the Creation. God the
Father had decided to send the incarnated Christ as Mary’s Son to defeat Satan
(Genesis 3:15), upon the fall of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:15). But, it was not
just to destroy Satan but to heal and restore the broken relationship between
God and us the humans, by making the divine Son, who is Theos-Logos (John 1:1), appear
and come to us in the human flesh to be one of us (John 1:14), conceived in the
womb of Mary the Immaculate Conception, by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke
1:35), that God the Father sent His only begotten Son to us out of His love
(John 3:16).
As Fr. Arthur Bautista of Holy Child Jesus parish of Chicago has
put it, Christmas is also about Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit, in the hypostatic union as One God.
Now, this is really the Good News that Christ the Son has come to
us, as sent by the Father, incarnated in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy
Spirit, to save us from the slavery of sins and to redeem us into his Kingdom,
the house of God on the holy mountain of new Zion, where there is unshakable peace.
So, we now say “Merry Christmas!” in our “magnificat”, praising and glorifying
awesome God!
Today Christ Has Come to Us! Hodie Christus Nastus Est! Gloria in Excelsis
Deo! Animae Nostrae Magnificate Dominum Deum! – Merry Christmas!
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