On this Christmas Day, we celebrate the glory of God’s Son
Reflections on the readings for the Nativity of the Lord – Mass during the Day (December 25, 2021): IS 52:7-10; PS 98:1,2-3,3-4,5-6;HEB 1:1-6; JN 1:1-18
MISSIO offers “Mission In Scripture” to nurture a missionary heart, providing reflections on the missionary themes in the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
God’s Son came to His people as a baby, to grow among us, and to rescue us from all that is evil on earth and to invite us into His heavenly home forever.
Some two thousand plus years after Jesus was born, the world celebrates His coming along with the gifts He brought us in His precious infant hands. God loved His people even before He made us. And, knowing all things, He understood what we could not – that we would need to be saved. Sin came into the world when our first parents disobeyed God and put themselves and their desires first. They willingly let themselves to be deluded by evil. So they and all the rest of us, God’s precious people, needed to be rescued. We were not capable of saving ourselves. The Father knew that His own Son would have to sacrifice Himself for our redemption. Christmas day does not seem like the time to contemplate the passion of Christ. After all, it is enjoyed and revered as a time of peace and joy. Yet that is only true because with the birth of our Lord came hope for an eternity with Him that we could not have without His life, death and resurrection here on earth.
On this happy celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, we need to recall both the stable in Bethlehem and the sepulcher in Jerusalem. A helpless Infant in swaddling clothes will, in time, escape His shroud and rise up. He will take us with Him away from sin and death and into light and life. Christ will tell us and show us all we need to follow Him in time so that we may claim eternity. “(God) has spoken to us through the Son, whom He made heir of all things and through whom He created the universe … as far superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say: You are My Son; this day I have begotten you? Or again: I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me?” (Hebrews 1:2,3-5). We rejoice in the Son of God whose love calls us to His everlasting embrace.
Suggested missionary action: Today, as we gather with family and friends, or otherwise connect with them, let us make a point of letting our loved ones know that they are just that – beloved by us. Let us thank God for them, even as we thank Him for His own precious Son.
