Some Christmas Words

Details: 16 December 2011

Light

Pope Benedict XVI has given us some interesting Christmas reflections on the meaning of "light". They are particularly meaningful when we see and admire so many Christmas illuminations and decorations which feature beautiful lights. He remarks, "In our hemisphere, the Feast of Christmas coincides with the days of the winter solstice, after which the daylight time gradually lengthens, in accordance with the sequence of the seasons. This helps us understand better the theme of light that overcomes the darkness (John 1:4-5). It is an evocative symbol of a reality that touches the innermost depths of a human being. I am referring to the light of good that triumphs over evil, the light of love that overcomes hatred, the light of life that defeats death. Christmas makes us think of this inner light, the divine Light that returns to propose anew to us the proclamation of the definitive victory of God’s love over sin and death. Let us remember in particular as we look at the streets and squares of the cities decorated with dazzling lights, that these lights refer to another Light, invisible to the eyes but not to the heart. While we admire them, while we light the candles in churches or illuminations of the crib and the Christmas tree in our homes, may our souls be open to the true spiritual Light brought to all people of good will."

The Holy Father says, "The grace of God has appeared. That is why Christmas is a feast of light. Not like the full daylight which illumines everything, but a glimmer beginning in the night and spreading out from a precise point in the universe, from the stable at Bethlehem where the divine Child was born. This is Christmas, the historical event and the mystery of love, which for more than two thousand years has spoken to men and women of every era and every place. It is the Holy Day on which the great Light of Christ shines forth bearing peace. Certainly, if we are to recognize it, faith and humility are needed, the humility of Mary, who believed in the word of the Lord, and, bending low over the manger, was the first to adore the Fruit of her womb. The glory of the true God becomes visible when the eyes of our hearts are opened before the stable of Bethlehem. Only if people change will our world change, and, in order to change, people need the Light that comes from God, the Light, which so unexpectedly on the night of Christmas entered into our earthly night."

Smallness

In his Christmas reflections, our Supreme Pontiff often has talked about the divine condescension. "God has made Himself small for us. God comes not with external force, but He comes in the powerlessness of His love, which is where His true strength lies. He places Himself in our hands. He asks for our love. He invites us to become small ourselves, to come down from our high thrones and to learn to be childlike before Him. He speaks to us informally. He asks us to trust Him and thus to learn how to live in truth and love. In the Child of Bethlehem the smallness of God-made-Man shows us the greatness of man and the beauty of our dignity as children of God and brothers and sisters of Jesus."

The Pope goes on to say, "God’s sign is His humility. God’s sign is that He makes Himself small. He becomes a little Child. He lets us touch Him, and He asks for our love. How we would prefer a different sign, an imposing, irresistible sign of God’s power and greatness! But, His sign summons us to faith and love, and thus it gives us hope. This is what God is like. He has power. He is Goodness Itself. He invites us to become like Him. Yes indeed, we become like God if we allow ourselves to be shaped by this sign, if we learn humility, and hence true greatness, if we renounce violence and use only the weapons of truth and love. Having become a Man, Christ gave us the possibility of becoming, in turn, like Him. The Heart of God on the holy night of Christmas stooped down to the stable. If we approach this humility of God, then we can touch heaven even now, and we help the earth too to be made new."

Our Involvement

The Successor of Saint Peter notes that the mystery of Christmas profoundly involves all of us who are Christ’s disciples.. "Wake up, O men and women of the Third Millennium! At Christmas the Almighty becomes a Child and asks for our help and protection. His way of showing that He is God challenges us and our freedom. He calls us to examine how we understand and live our lives. In being born again among us (by grace in our hearts), may the Child Jesus not find us distracted or merely busy beautifying our houses with decorative lights, but rather let us deck our soul and make our families a worthy dwelling place where He feels welcomed with faith and love. Christmas is the day when God gave a great Gift to us, not something material, but His Gift was the Gift of Himself. He gave us His Son, so Christmas became the feast of gifts."

"The tree and the crib are elements of that typical Christmas atmosphere which is part of the spiritual heritage of our communities. It is a climate steeped in religiosity and family warmth, which we must also preserve in contemporary society, where the consumeristic rush and the search for material goods alone sometimes seem to prevail. Every Christmas crib is a simple yet eloquent invitation to open our hearts and minds to the mystery of life. It is an encounter with the immortal Life Which became mortal in the mystic scene of the nativity. Joy is the true gift of Christmas, not expensive presents that demand time and money. We can transmit this joy simply, with a smile, with a kind gesture, with some small help, with forgiveness. Let us give this joy and then the joy we give will be returned to us."

"Christmas brings joy and peace to those who, like the shepherds, accept the Angel’s words. This is still the sign for us, too, men and women of the Third Millennium. There is no other Christmas. In the divine Newborn, Whose image we place in the manger, our salvation is made manifest. In the God Who makes Himself Man for us, we all feel loved and welcomed. We discover that we are precious and unique in the eyes of the Creator."

Genuflection

At Midnight Mass and at all the Christmas Masses we genuflect at the words in the Creed: "For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became Man." Pope Benedict says, "We genuflect at this clause because at this point the heavens, the veil behind which God is secluded, are swept aside and the mystery touches us directly. The distant God, our God, becomes "Emmanuel", God-with-us (Matthew 1:23). The Word became Flesh, that Word Who is with God and Who is God (John 1:1).