'The True Light...Coming into the World'
Connections to the readings for The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas), Mass During the Day: 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 each Christmas approaches, we get ready to celebrate the feast of the Nativity of our Lord. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke take us back two thousand years to proclaim the wondrous story of Jesus’ birth to Mary. This young Jewish woman would have lived a simple, anonymous life except that Almighty God chose her to bear His Son and our Savior. The whole Jewish nation anticipated the coming of the Messiah, yet over the course of Jesus’ life relatively few recognized Him.
John’s Gospel reminds us that the Christ Child was the Son of God, come to make us His own brothers and sister. “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world and the world came to be through Him, but the world did not know Him.… But to those who did accept Him He gave power to become children of God” (John 1:9-10, 12). It is heart-warming to think about an infant in His mother’s arms. But it is earth-shaking to recognize Him as our God and King.
