Romans,
Chapter 1, verse 5-7:
5 Through him we have received the grace of
apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his
name, among all the Gentiles, 6 among
whom are you also, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ; 7 to all the beloved of God in Rome, called to be
holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
We are all called to be leaders
in the body of Christ; Christmas is a time in which we can declare to all the
world our faith and the peace of Christ which it gives us. This is our joy in
Him that took us sinners from the greatest to the least which deserve God’s
eternal judgment. But He not wanting this took the punishment for us and lavished
on us his graces.
2. Mysterium: event and mystery. A man is born, who is the Eternal Son of the Almighty Father, the Creator of heaven and earth: in this extraordinary event the mystery of God is revealed. In the Word who becomes man the miracle of the Incarnate God is made manifest. The mystery sheds light on the event of the birth: a baby is adored by the shepherds in the lowly stable, at Bethlehem. He is "the Saviour of the world", "Christ the Lord" (cf. Lk 2: 11). Their eyes see a newborn child, wrapped in swaddling cloths and placed in a manger and in that "sign", thanks to the inner light of faith, they recognize the Messiah proclaimed by the prophets.
3. This is Emmanuel, God-with-us, who comes to fill the earth with grace. He comes into the world in order to transform creation. He becomes a man among men, so that in him and through him every human being can be profoundly renewed. By his birth he draws us all into the sphere of the divine, granting to those who in faith open themselves to receiving his gift the possibility of sharing in his own divine life. This is the meaning of the salvation which the shepherds hear proclaimed that night in Bethlehem: "To you is born a Saviour" (Lk 2: 11). The coming of Christ among us is the centre of history, which thereafter takes on a new dimension. In a way, it is God himself who writes history by entering into it. The event of the Incarnation thus broadens to embrace the whole of human history, from creation until the Second Coming. This is why in the liturgy all creation sings, voicing its own joy: the floods clap their hands, all the trees of the wood sing for joy, and the many coastlands are glad (cf. Ps 98: 8; 96: 12; 97: 1). Every creature on the face of the earth receives the proclamation. In the astonished silence of the universe, the words which the liturgy puts on the lips of the Church take on a cosmic resonance:
Christus natus est nobis. Venite, adoremus!
4. Christ is born for us; come, let us adore him! My thoughts already turn to Christmas next year when, God willing, the Church will inaugurate the Great Jubilee with the opening of the Holy Door. It will be a truly great Holy Year, for in a completely unique way it will celebrate the 2,000th anniversary of the event and mystery of the Incarnation, in which humanity reached the apex of its calling. God became man in order to give man a share in his own divinity. This is the good news of salvation; this is the message of Christmas! The Church proclaims it tonight, by means of my words too, for the peoples and nations of the whole earth to hear: Christus natus est nobis Christ is born for us. Venite, adoremus! Come, let us adore him!
Come and
redeem us with outstretched arm. O Lord and Ruler of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on
Sinai: Come and redeem us with outstretched arm.
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