28. December 23

Meditations no. 28 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The blessings of the Incarnation.

At the dawn of creation, on the sixth day, the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. God was pleased by everything he had made, but when he created man, God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. That new creation, a marvellous unity of soul and body, spirit and matter, was the fruit of the Creator’s love. God looked on man with such love that he adopted him as his son, filling him with grace. Divine Wisdom tells us that God delights in us: rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the sons of men.

But man sinned. He rebelled against God, against his Father. Then that divine work was shattered; and that unity of grace, soul and body, was broken up. Yet God’s infinite goodness was shown once again. In an outpouring of love and mercy which our minds can hardly begin to grasp, God showed that he was not satisfied with re-establishing what sin had undone. He went much further, giving our human nature a dignity it had never had before: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

During Christmas the Church invites us to contemplate the inexpressible mystery of the Incarnation: God-made-man. St Thomas says that there was no other course more fitting for healing our wretchedness. The Incarnation helps our faith, making it easier for us to believe, since it is God himself who speaks to us. It helps our hope, since it is a proof of God’s great desire to save us. It helps our love, since if until now we have been slow to love, we can no longer be slow to love in return. It helps our actions, since we now have the model of Christ’s earthly life to imitate. And as regards our goal, it gives us a more intense sharing in God’s life, through God’s sharing in our own. By taking on human flesh, God has exalted the dignity of our body and shown us how valuable it is in his eyes, so that we may keep it free from sin. The humiliation and abasement of the Incarnate Word also serves to check our pride, which is the first sin and the root of all other sins.

With Christmas so close, let us ponder the many blessings that have been showered upon us through Christ’s becoming man.

We can come to know God-made-man.

God became man to reveal himself to men, so that they could see him and follow him. The Incarnation of the divine Word marks out a path for man which rises gently up towards the love of God. It is true that God is infinitely lovable in himself; nothing is more worthy of our love than the Blessed Trinity, nothing more apt to arouse our love. But as St Thomas says, because the human mind is weak, it must be led to knowledge and love of divine things through sensible objects. Chief among these sensible objects which dispose for devotion is the Passion of Christ; thus the Preface for Christmas prays “that knowing God visibly, we may be lifted up to the love of things invisible.”

God himself becomes visible to us through Jesus’ sacred Humanity. We can repeat his very words and portray him in our imagination, following the Gospel accounts. This makes it easier for us to grow in love for God. Christ is the image of the invisible God. In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. In looking at him, we become contemplatives.

If we want to love Jesus, we have to spend time with him. We don’t have two hearts: one for God and one for the things of this earth. You should spend time with him daily, putting your heart into everything, with the ardour of people in love. God has captured our heart, our whole life. One day, by his infinite goodness, we felt the dart of love that conquered us for ever. And we must see to it that this love endures, and becomes more intense and refined every day.

What must I do to ensure that my love continues and increases? My child, it’s a question of leaving aside the “old man”, and of giving up those things which, although good in themselves, are no longer compatible with what God asks of us. Say to our Lord, with deeds, and with constancy: Ecce ego quia vocasti me; here I am for you called me.

We are sorry for not having kept close enough to Jesus; and for not having made good use of all the riches he has brought us. Therefore, now that Christmas is at hand, let us try to be prayerful souls who seek to live in God’s company, since God chose to live among us. That is the very meaning of Emmanuel: “God with us”.

O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expected of nations and their Saviour. Come, and save us, O Lord our God!

A resolution for Christmas: to get to know Jesus as Mary and Joseph did.

Through the mystery of the Incarnation, God’s goodness, wisdom, justice and power have all been shown to us. His goodness, because he did not think the weakness of our human flesh beneath him; his justice, because, given that man had been overcome by the tyrant, it was God’s will that it should be a man who would overcome the tyrant and snatch us from death. His wisdom was made manifest, because he found the best remedy for such a grave disorder; and above all, his infinite power was displayed, because there could be no greater deed than that God should become man.

We see the radiance of divine perfections in this Child who comes to us at Christmas. Just looking at him we find ourselves praying, lost in bewilderment at the thought of how much he loves us. Our pride is confounded, our piety enkindled once more. And we feel the pressing need to become children before God, and to be poor, humble, mortified… We have, now and for ever, a model for our actions, a consolation in our weakness, a support in our difficulties. We have a human name by which to call upon God, and a human heart to confide in.

Jesus our Lord loved us so much that he took on our flesh, our nature, and he lived on earth for thirty-three years in daily contact with poor people and rich, with the just and with sinners, with young and with old, with Jews and with Gentiles. Do you want to learn from the example of Christ’s life? Let us open the Gospel and listen to God’s dialogue with men.

This Christmas we resolve to get to know Jesus, to listen to him and talk to him constantly, trustingly, lovingly, tenderly, as did our Lady and St Joseph. Seek God hidden in the depths of your pure heart, in the depths of your being when you are faithful, and never lose that intimacy.

And if you ever find that you don’t know how to speak or what to say, and you dare not seek the Child again within your own heart, turn to Mary, tota pulchra, our Lady, our wonderful Mother, and say: the Lord wanted you, with your own hands, to take care of God; teach me to get to know your Son.

Joseph, my Father and Lord, so humble and pure, worthy to carry in your arms, to care for and embrace the Baby Jesus, teach us how to approach our God, how to be humble and pure, worthy to become other Christs. And how to live and teach - as Christ did - the ways of God, both hidden and bright, telling all men and women that in their everyday lives here on earth they can attain a wonderful holiness, an extraordinary fruitfulness.