The Light of God is born into the world...
Reflections on the readings for the Nativity of the Lord – Mass During the Day (December 25, 2019): IS 52:7-10; PS 98:1,2-3,3-4,5-6; HEB 1:1-6; JN 1:1-18
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
As we rejoice at this Christmas Mass during the day, we are reminded through each Scriptural reading that the Infant Jesus is the Christ or Messiah.
He was born to the Virgin Mary to rescue every person every created or who would ever be created from the ugliness of sin and the finality of death. But, unlike the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke that we hear at the other Masses, John’s Gospel starts at the very opening of the story. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be” (John 1:1-3). The very first words echo Genesis and Almighty God’s creation of the world. And so, we are told that that our Redeemer is not just an extraordinary man sent to redeem us, but Christ the King, the beloved Son of God.
We might prefer concentrating on the beautiful retelling of the Holy Family’s experience at Christmas that we know so well. We can envision the Star of Bethlehem gleaming above the stable where Jesus was born. Yet we must always remember that the star shone so brilliantly because the Blessed Mother gave birth to the Light of the world. We worship Him who reveals the Father to us; who is Himself God come to save His people. Through the unending, unchanging, and immeasurable love of our Lord, we, too, are born anew on this holy day.
