Today we meet the Word among us and the Light within us…
Reflections on the readings for Christmas Mass During the Day (December 25, 2018): 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.
This splendid holy day of Christmas shows us the light that came to shine in the earth’s darkness and to illuminate the lives of people in every generation.
The Gospel of John does not speak directly about the circumstances of the Christ Child’s birth in Bethlehem to a young Jewish woman. Instead, it commemorates and rejoices in the grace and glory Almighty God lavishes upon the world in the person of His beloved Son. “From His fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed Him” (John 1:16-18).
The Word of God became flesh through the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. While today is certainly a day for every family and every child to celebrate the Holy Infant born two thousand years ago, it is not because the image of the Holy Family is simply sweet and sentimental. It is because God loves us with such an overwhelming compassion and personal concern that the Divine Newborn has come to shake the universe to its foundations. Jesus came to teach us the true meaning of life on earth, to destroy death, and to open wide the gates of heaven for us. We can only really appreciate the joy, beauty, and peace of Christmas if we grasp its full meaning in time and eternity.
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Featured Image: Winning artwork from the annual Missionary Childhood Association Christmas Artwork contest.
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